TWINK ASCENDING

THE SECOND COMING!

Twink Ascending is a camp trip into the realms of the modern gay man! From the beautiful, inspiring and sexy to the disgusting, embarrassing and hopeful, this show leaves no stone unturned in it's exploration of queer male culture.

A sass pot of cabaret, theatre, song and drag set amidst the ruins of a post-apocalyptic world, this piece is unlike anything you've seen before. "I’ve written the cute, glittery cabaret about growing up, coming out and falling in love." explains creator and performer Andy Johnston "That was funny and hopeful and came from a place of being blissfully unaware of struggle. This show - Twink Ascending - is about the next chapter in my life. It's still full of humour but it’s what I like to call part-two of the coming of age journey. It explores the tedious task of adulting, bad sex, social politics, social media, masculinity, unsolicited dick pics and finding your place in the world, in the community." 

DESIGN

The set will have a post-apocalyptic feel to it. The final realised design will provide an environment that will encapsulate the entire perfomance space and audience. It will verge on being an art installation rather than traditonal theatre as Time and Place are not important to the show, it is more about creating a sensory experience to support the work. Amongst this broken down, gritty environment, neon lights will cut through the haze providing a sense of a futuristic world. Inspiration has been drawn from films such as Blade Runner, Star Wars and The Hunger Games. The set will be made with mostly recyclable materials like cardboard and plastic. Andy wants to be as environmentally friendly as possible and also efficient and practical with the creation, transportation and disposal of the set. 

                                                                    All Images sourced from Pinterest.

THE ARTIST

ANDY JOHNSTON

Creator/Performer/Producer

A 2016 VCA Music Theatre graduate, Andy has mostly recently appeared in Priscilla Queen of The Desert as Adam/Felicia for NCL. During his time at VCA he played Melchior in Spring Awakening (Dir. Tom Healey, VCA), Mike in How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found (Dir. Alister Smith, Don't Be Down Productions/VCA) which he co-produced with friend and classmate Alessandra Merlo and Mr Mushnick in a workshop of Little Shop Of Horrors (Dir. Danielle Carter, VCA). 

Andy is a queer artist and feels the importance of making sure his story telling always come from a place of curiosity and truth "I endeavour to create work that gives insight into the queer world, so that those who live in that world can laugh, cry and connect to its truths and those who are unfamiliar with it can learn about a world that isn't their own. Hopefully that inspires a change of mind or even a giggle or tear or hell a sense of connection! After all we are all human!". Creating this type of work also allows him to explore the intricacies of his own sexuality and sharing that personal exploration is what makes his work so special. 

                                                                     Image: Odd Socks Cabaret Midsumma Festival 2015

This is Andy’s first time creating work under his new production company Don’t Be Down Productions and his first self-devised solo show since Odd Socks cabaret back in 2015. Andy created Don't Be Down in 2016 to follow his passion of producing and creating work that is fresh, well executed and powerful in it's methods of bringing stories to life.

In just under two years the company already has some impressive credits including Strangers In Between by Tommy Murphy, starring Simon Burke, Guy Simon and Wil King for both Midsumma Festival 2018 and Sydney Mardi Gras 2018. Directed by Daniel Lammin and in collaboration with the powerhouse independent producer Cameron Lukey.

                                        Image Credit: Sarah Walker

Comedy solo hour It’s Not Me, It’s Lou by the hilarious and wonderfully talented Lou Wall followed at The Coopers Malthouse for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Andy has signed up co-producer Sarah X Spandex (Kong's Kings, Glitterfist: Libertine) to help with the mammoth task of taking this show to two fringe festivals across a three week period. 

Taking on production design for the show is Dann Barber who's work was most recently seen at The Hayes Theatre with their production of Carmen, he also worked on Strangers In Between. There are more creatives to be announced as the show gets closer to workshops and rehearsals! 

Overall this project has massive potential, it is heading in the right direction and has a passionate, experienced and devoted team bringing it to life. Unfortunately all of this doesn't equal a big delicious bank of cash to make it all happen and most importantly make sure everyone gets paid for their work or get all the resources they need to do excel at their job!

This is why your support is so important.

Your donations will help to cover the below costs:

- Travel expenses for taking the set from its place of construction, Melbourne, to Sydney for the first week of shows and then bringing it back to Melbourne again for the closing week of shows. No matter what it is, the set is going to be designed to be transportable/tourable as the show is being created with the vision to be able to eventually take it around the country and the world. Therefore airline freight, and potentially flights for Andy and a show tech are included in this.

- Paying the creatives and designers for their work and providing each with the right resources to be able to do their job. Often in the Arts people are asked to work for free or for a fee that doesn't reflect the amount of hours spent working on a job. Andy is very committed to paying his team for their work! He is lucky enough to have already had a small donation toward the show's budget which he has allocated to small fees for each role, however this small fee doesn't reflect the full amount they are worth or usually work for. Your donation would help boost these fees.

- Boosting marketing opportunites in both cities. This includes printing and distribution fees that allow posters and flyers to be distributed in prime locations. 

- Capturing show footage. Because the show is being developed as a piece to tour to fringe festivals over the country and the world, having professional archival video footage and photographs will help with future applications. 

You can take a look at the pie chart below for a break down of the budget:

Raising enough funds to cover the costs is the biggest challenge faced by Andy and the Twink Ascending team.

There is a juggling act between realising the artistic vision, meeting festival requirements and properly paying creatives for their work. 

As this is the first time the show is being performed it is being handled as a piece 'in development' that will grow and evolve over time and hopefully become something that can be toured around the country and even around the world! 

This is also the first time Andy has toured his own show and his first time on the overwhelming wondrous ride that is the Fringe circuit! While there is an air of confidence amongst the team, there are a number of challenges they anticipate may arise  during the next few months, such as: transporting the set from Melbourne to Sydney and back again, reaching out to Sydney audiences who are unfamiliar with Andy and the show and obviously dealing with the costs if the campaign isn't successful.