30 years of Indigenous storytelling with depth and generosity

This year marks 30 years since the establishment of what is now one of Australia’s most prominent Indigenous theatre companies. Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company was founded, and still remains, on Noongar Country (in Perth/Boorloo), and in its first three decades it has paved the way for a long list of Indigenous playwrights, actors and directors to share their stories with each other and the world.

As Yirra Yaakin’s Artistic Director Maitland Schnaars explains, these artists, and the works that have emerged through the company’s early support, are a result of Yirra Yaakin’s commitment to creating safe and welcoming creative spaces for Indigenous artists to test their new ideas, while encouraging them to make final works of depth and complexity.