Bundanon

Meg Tarato (she/they) and Ivy Crago (she/they) are emerging multidisciplinary Theatre Makers based in Naarm/Melbourne.

They are graduates of the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre. Their work celebrates the natural world and timeless stories that begin when we are young. Drawing on them for their joy, understanding, empathy and wonder. Their recent short film, Even the Dinosaurs Were Young, which premiered at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (2023), is an ode to queer platonic love and the natural world. Through their storytelling, they aim to celebrate the many facets of queerness as a way of experiencing the world. Meg and Ivy are currently undertaking a queer reading of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, investigating how these childhood stories lie dormant within who we are as adults. They are exploring how these stories, like the Velveteen Rabbit, become more “real,” every day, as we grow older.

In Residence at Bundanon

The project we are planning to undertake is the development of a work that adapts and responds to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. Our work, Wild Thing, explores a queer reading of the text. We plan to use mask work and clowning techniques to develop the script, while also responding to the natural landscape of Bundanon – the animals, insects, and the beauty of the forests. Both Meg and Ivy draw inspiration from artists like Mary Oliver and Rainer Maria Rilke, who emphasise the connection between art and nature. We are excited to engage with and respond to this unique environment, hoping it will deepen our understanding of how the environment can inform our storytelling. We are very grateful to begin our work in this wild and storied place.