East Coast Theatre Company (ECTC) is proud to present the World Premiere of Steal Back Light from the Virtual, a prescient play by the renowned multi award winning contemporary playwright Caridad Svich. A unique and uncompromising voice who has never previously been produced in Australia, Svich was born in the US of Cuban-Argentine-Spanish-Croatian parents.

Steal Back Light from the Virtual is a complex and confrontingplay dealing with themes of abuse, both physical and mental. The play explores lives of unprotected young people exploited by a powerful and successful journalist. Most of the characters are society’s underdogs, survivors of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, hoping to improve their lives. They strive to survive in a harsh world in spite of constant oppression and manipulation by the rich and powerful. They rebel against their life predicament. They want to live, laugh, cry. They need to feel. They need to love and be loved.

The recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has brought harrowing stories to the attention of the general public, as well as an appreciation of the scale of the issue. However, to ensure changes are made and the community better understands the needs of survivors, it is important that the conversation continues – we are not at the end of the process but rather looking at ways to continue the healing. That often happens first in the arts and cultural sphere, and this production of Steal Back Light from the Virtual aims to provoke those conversations in the audience.

The production has a brilliant creative team behind it including Maddison Roseman as Set and Costume Designer, Martin Kinnane as Lighting Designer, Mattison Tabone as Sound Designer, May-Brit Akerholt as Consulting Dramaturg, Jeremy Ghali as Producer and an esteemed veteran director in Joseph Uchitel. The wonderful cast, which includes Kitty Simpson, Ethan Gibson, Ryan Hodson, Brittany Santariga, Christine Aldridge and Garth Holcombe, is a mix of established professionals and young early career actors.

ECTC has entered into a partnership with SAMSN (Survivors and Mates Support Network) to ensure this important message reaches a wider audience and to provide opportunities for those close to survivors to tell their personal stories.

Director Joseph Uchitel is thrilled to be directing the World Premiere of this wonderful play. “Caridad Svich is a unique and uncompromising voice.  Her work has never been produced in Australia. Her writing is complex, passionate and confronting, but poetic, compelling and very funny at the same time. It’s a great challenge and privilege to work on writing of this calibre and I’m extremely excited and honoured to embark on this journey of boundless exploration and discovery with an extraordinary team of artists who chose to join me on this project.”