Creative pivots, meaningful allyship and why the world would be better place if we were all dogs! Director, Producer and all round creative master Dean Drieberg slipped into The V Spot earlier this year for a stimulating conversation with yours truly.

*The audio quality on this one is a little shit, I do apologise. Zoom was not co-operating on my end and either was my microphone!*

But Dean's story is crystal clear and one you don't want miss.
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Dean Drieberg is an in-demand creative with over two decades’ experience in theatre, advertising and events. In 2019, Dean co-directed Stephen Sondheim’s SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE for Watch This, receiving two Green Room Award nominations for Best Direction and Best Multimedia Design. In 2020, he directed a virtual reading of Harrison David Rivers’ THIS BITTER EARTH for Antipodes Theatre Company. In 2021, Dean will co-direct INTO THE WOODS with Sonya Suares for Watch This and will direct a reimagined production of DIAL M FOR MURDER for Smoke & Mirrors Productions. In 2019, he completed the Australian and New Zealand tour of MADIBA THE MUSICAL and MATADOR at the Sydney Opera House. Dean directed and designed BARE THE MUSICAL and the Australian Premiere of MEMPHIS THE MUSICAL for StageArt at Chapel Off Chapel. 

Dean was Associate Producer for StageArt’s acclaimed production of FALSETTOS and was Company Manager for their Australian Premiere productions of THE COLOR PURPLE, DREAMGIRLS and IN THE HEIGHTS as well as their productions of SPRING AWAKENING, TITANIC THE MUSICAL and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.  Dean has worked on over 20 national tours such as THE 39 STEPS, BOMBSHELLS and AUSTRALIA DAY; playing at over 50 regional and capital city venues around Australia. Dean has produced numerous advertising campaigns and major events across Australia, New Zealand, Tokyo and New York recently including New York Fashion Week and PROJECT RUNWAY USA.

Dean is Co-Artistic Director of Watch This, is a member of Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Equity Diversity committee, The People of Cabaret Council and is an advocate for theatre that is inclusive of Bla(c)k, Indigenous, people of colour, artists with a disability and LGBTQIA+ artists.

If you love the The V Spot please share it with your friends and post on the socials. 

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook and RATE, SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW The V Spot on Apple iTunes so others can find it. 

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

Transitioning during drama school, booking a major Hollywood gig and modern masculinity with trans actor and writer Harvey Zielinksi.

Harvey Zielinski is a transgender actor (he/him) based in Melbourne, Australia. He is represented by Mollison Keightley Management in Australia and Grandview in L.A. Harvey graduated from The National Theatre Drama School in 2017, as their 2017 Cybec Foundation Scholarship recipient. Harvey was the Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre graduate ensemble member for 2018, performing there in Taylor Mac’s Hir (Dir: Daniel Clarke), Annie Baker’s The Antipodes (Dir: Ella Caldwell) and Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer (Dir: Stephen Nicolazzo). Also in 2018, Harvey won a Casting Guild of Australia Rising Star Award and was a Heath Ledger Scholarship top ten finalist. Harvey plays series lead Abel in the Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) directed U.S sci-fi series, Don’t Look Deeper, for Quibi, opposite Don Cheadle, Helena Howard, and Emily Mortimer. Don’t Look Deeper premiered on July 27th 2020. Harvey’s upcoming releases include Why Are You Like This (ABC), My First Summer (FF, Katie Found) and Some Happy Day (FF, Catherine Hill). Other credits include the narration for Honeybee by Craig Silvey (Jasper Jones), Gender Euphoria (Mardi Gras Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Midsumma Festival), Get Krack!n S2 (ABC, Kate McLennan/Kate McCartney) ground-breaking documentary series You Can’t Ask That (ABC), and Starting From…Now! (SBS/web, Dir: Julie Kalceff, over 100 million views worldwide). 

Outside of acting, Harvey writes, and his first feature length screenplay has received development funding from the ABC’s Fresh Start Fund. Harvey’s life’s work and passion is acting; he is rapidly forming part of the ever-improving representation of transgender characters and stories and is a public advocate for the continuation of this work.

You can catch Harvey in the immersive theatre experience Because The Night, now playing at Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, Aus.

If you love the The V Spot please share it with your friends and post on the socials. 

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook and RATE, SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW The V Spot on Apple iTunes so others can find it. 

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

Self-titled butch queen Bathsheba eased on into The V Spot this week to chat about authentic creative expression, the joys of walking on the dark side and lessons learnt from lending your fake tits to friends. 

Starting life in the theatre darling and moving to burlesque and then YouTube, Bathsheba has been an ever evolving artist and performer who delves into the dark side and crosses the parameters of gender and the conventions of drag. 

Drop dead gorgeous in and out of the giesh you can find this dark lady hosting at Our Pride of Footscray bar with a line up of Stella Melbourne drag every weekend!

Check out Bathsheba on Instagram and Facebook

Watch the Behind the Screams Youtube Series 

If you love the The V Spot please share it with your friends and post on the socials. 

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook and RATE, SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW The V Spot on Apple iTunes so others can find it. 

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

This week I speak with Caleb Rixon who is a stroke survivor, story teller and Chief Vision Officer for Australian social enterprise GENYUS - a global community and capacity building platform for survivors of brain injury and other trauma.

It's hard to summarise this conversation into three main points because we covered so much. My suggestion is to lay in the park, go for a long walk or whatever way you like to get out into the world and it's beauty. I promise you won't be disappointed.

TW: This trigger warning may be relevant to you. In this conversation, Caleb and I discuss stories and anecdotes about his lived experience of facing death and surviving neurological trauma. If this brings up anything for you , please reach out in the comments, or if you want to connect further with someone else who might relate with you, check out Caleb’s trauma survivor empowerment platform at www.genyusnetwork.com.

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook and RATE, SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW The V Spot on Apple iTunes so others can find it. 

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

Stand-up comedian and trans-woman Anna Piper Scott graced the V Spot with an insightful and hilarious chat about gender euphoria, the trick to writing a good joke and the return of her hit show Queer & Present Danger!

Anna is a Perth-born, Melbourne-based stand-up comedian with over 10 years of experience across Australia. A trans woman of remarkable wit and social insight, Anna is a skilled writer and bold performer. Her comedy is incisive, relatable, well-crafted and flat out funny.

She is best known her solo show Queer & Present Danger, which she performed at the Melbourne Fringe, to rave reviews, sold out crowds and for which she earned a nomination for Best Comedy. She then took the show on tour where it received multiple five-star reviews, a Best of the Fest award in Hobart and two Weekly Awards & an Adelaide Tour Ready Award in Perth. She also co-hosts the cult relationship podcast Dump Him! The Game Show, hosted with Patrick Collins and Alice Tovey.

She’s shared the stage with comedy greats such as Wil Anderson, Judith Lucy and Cal Wilson.

LINKS:
Book tickets to Queer & Present Danger at Adelaide Fringe 2021
Check out Anna's website: https://www.annapiperscott.com
Follow and engage with Anna on Twitter and Instagram 

If you love the The V Spot please share it with your friends and post on the socials. 

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook and RATE, SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW The V Spot on Apple iTunes so others can find it. 

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

Aussie drag icon Philmah Bocks is in The V Spot! This is not a drill! We chat about the history of the Australian drag scene, she spills the tea on RuPauls Drag Race DownUnder and what she plans to do with Chris Hemsworths nudes! I knew someone had them!

You may know her from the AAMI insurance ad alongside the wonderful Art Simone or from the countless other appearances, stage productions, tv shows, commercials and festivals. She’s worked with Kylie Minogue, she’s been awarded best costume design at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and she’s a commissioned artist and sponsor of Rupaul’s Drag Race Australia.

If it’s a glamorous drag show you need, or a frock, one of Philmah’s signature Phoam wigs, a headpiece, a makeover, styling, production, direction, project management, design, fabrication and just overall general social lubrication, Philmah will tick the box!

She is a true legend of Australian drag who has seen and done it all! We all have a lot to learn from her story.

LINKS:
Check out Philmah's Werqshop: https://www.philmahbocks.com.au
And keep up to date with her on the socials @philmahbocks

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or Facebook and RATE, SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW The V Spot on Apple iTunes so others can find it. 

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

Elsa Tuet-Rosenberg and Sonia Sofat co-founders and directors of HUE - Colour The Conversation. drop into the V Spot to chat all things anti-racism, social justice and dismantling systems of oppression and whiteness. I'm serving up this stimulating conversation in two parts so you don't burn yourself out.

Elsa is a queer, multi-racial, Jewish and Chinese woman of colour who has been working in the spaces of  social justice, youth empowerment, and facilitation for many years. 

She started working in the peer-to-peer learning space in 2014 at RMIT in the (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) program and in the Study and Learning Centre as a Student Learning Assistant and Facilitator. 

She is also involved in political performing arts pieces, consulting groups on various intersectional justice projects and youth empowerment and facilitation programs. 

Elsa is also completing her studies in Social Work and Psychology at RMIT, where she is undertaking her Honours thesis: exploring how Australian, mixed race people of colour from multiple minority heritages engage with their ethnic identities.

Sonia is an Indian woman of colour who has previously worked at organisations such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Grata Fund and the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, where she has led the design and implementation of activism and mobilisation strategies on human rights issues in Australia and around the world.

This includes, organising and empowering communities to take action on social justice issues, designing digital engagement and media strategies, developing supporter journeys and creating communications and messaging to empower communities to share their stories.

Sonia believes in the power of collective organising to create change. She is passionate about supporting organisations and groups to implement ways to dismantle systemic oppression to create healthy and safe workplaces for people of colour and their peers.

LINKS:
HUE - https://www.hue.org.au
HUE Resources page - https://www.hue.org.au/resources
Follow HUE on Instagram @colourtheconversation

Don't forget to Rate, Subscribe & Review The V Spot Podcast on Apple iTunes

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!

Elsa Tuet-Rosenberg and Sonia Sofat co-founders and directors of HUE - Colour The Conversation. drop into the V Spot to chat all things anti-racism, social justice and dismantling systems of oppression and whiteness. I'm serving up this stimulating conversation in two parts so you don't burn yourself out.

Elsa is a queer, multi-racial, Jewish and Chinese woman of colour who has been working in the spaces of  social justice, youth empowerment, and facilitation for many years. 

She started working in the peer-to-peer learning space in 2014 at RMIT in the (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) program and in the Study and Learning Centre as a Student Learning Assistant and Facilitator. 

She is also involved in political performing arts pieces, consulting groups on various intersectional justice projects and youth empowerment and facilitation programs. 

Elsa is also completing her studies in Social Work and Psychology at RMIT, where she is undertaking her Honours thesis: exploring how Australian, mixed race people of colour from multiple minority heritages engage with their ethnic identities.

Sonia is an Indian woman of colour who has previously worked at organisations such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Grata Fund and the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, where she has led the design and implementation of activism and mobilisation strategies on human rights issues in Australia and around the world.

This includes, organising and empowering communities to take action on social justice issues, designing digital engagement and media strategies, developing supporter journeys and creating communications and messaging to empower communities to share their stories.

Sonia believes in the power of collective organising to create change. She is passionate about supporting organisations and groups to implement ways to dismantle systemic oppression to create healthy and safe workplaces for people of colour and their peers.

LINKS:
HUE - https://www.hue.org.au
HUE Resources page - https://www.hue.org.au/resources
Follow HUE on Instagram @colourtheconversation

Don't forget to Rate, Subscribe & Review The V Spot Podcast on Apple iTunes

See you next time for another stimulating conversation!

MWAH!