VIGIL

I am eager to collaborate with Outer Urban Projects again in 2025 on the development of their major new work, VIGIL. VIGIL is set in and around an iconic Melbourne tram route – The 86. This tram became the Flower Tram – the site of a moving memorial and Vigil for Aiia Maasarwe. Aiia was a young Palestinian student studying in Melbourne, where her life ended violently, taken in what is regarded as one of the safest cities in the word.

VIGIL is an experiential and communal work being created by Outer Urban Projects.

VIGIL brings together an exceptional creative team of writers, dance artists and a community ensemble to examine the intersection of public and private safety with race, gender and terror in the streets of a modern city – Naarm/Melbourne. It is a multi-authored work that is imagined from the minds of unique creatives, with verbatim elements provided by the community ensemble and an electro-acoustic sound design that underpins a choric score.

Developed with support from the Australian Government through Creative Australia and its arts funding and advisory body, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Besen Family Foundation, Inner North Community Foundation and Merri-bek City Council.

CREATIVE TEAM

Director/Concept/Co-set Designer Irine Vela 

Writers Bryan Andy, Kush Kuiy, Sahra Davoudi, Samah Sabawi and Patricia Cornelius

Choreographer/Dance Artist Tara Jade Samaya

Lighting Designer/Co-set Designer Paul Jackson

Writer Mentors Christos Tsiolkas and Samah Sabawi