A Quick Chat with Joanna Weinberg, composer / writer / director of The Secret Singer

Today we catch up with composer / writer / director Joanna Weinberg, whose brand new show The Secret Singer will have it’s world premiere at the Eternity Playhouse Darlinghurst from 28 August.

Starring Genevieve Lemon and Kate Mannix The Secret Singer is the life-affirming story of a singing lesson that changes the life of two very different women. It might just change yours!

The AussieTheatre Quick Chat Questions:

What’s your name and what do you do?

Joanna Weinberg . I write musicals.

What’s your most underrated or unknown talent?

I can cook without recipes

What makes you laugh?

Exchanging secret eye rolls with a friend at work when someone is being an a – hole.

What are you reading?

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Who is your role model?

Regina Spektor

The world needs more…

Flowers on roundabouts

The world needs less…

Concrete

What tools do you need to be creative?

A pen and a quiet spot.

What’s your happy place?

There is a tree with a million visible roots near my house. I like to go there with my dog in the early morning when the light is golden. It is like a portal to a fairy universe.

Which show (other than your own) you think people should drop everything and see?

Blackie Blackie Brown.

What was the last piece of theatre/film/TV that really left an impression on you?

The Handmaid’s Tale.

There isn’t enough art about …

Dictators

What three things can’t you live without?

Dark Chocolate, my phone and my hairdresser.

Go-to shower belting song?

I will always love you, Whitney Houston.

If you could change one thing about the Australian theatre industry, what would that be?

No productions cost more than 20 bucks to attend because they are all FUNDED by a ministry of CULTURE

What’s the most used app on your phone?

Vocal warm up

What do you wish you had been told before starting in this industry?

I wish I had learned marketing at drama school.

What are you addicted to?

Seasonal colours. I need to wear pastels in spring, reds and yellows in autumn , greens and blues in summer and silver and black in winter. If I deviate I feel sick and need to lie down.

What city do you live in and why?

Sydney. It is beautiful, safe, relatively empty, multicultural and has incredible food.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I would like to see one of my musicals on in New York City.

Joanna Weinberg is the songwriter for the 2013 feature film Goddess (starring Laura Michelle Kelly, Ronan Keating and Magda Szubanski) which she co -wrote with Mark Lamprell. She has written 13 original one-woman shows including the critically acclaimed Piano Diaries which is available on iTunes. Her musical Lifeforce (“the mother of all journeys”) won the Sydney Fringe Best Show award in 2013 and her soccer parent musical Every Single Saturday toured NSW in 2011. A classically-trained actress (with internationally famous Shakespeare credits to her name), she is well known in Sydney as an electrifying live performer. Pandora’s Bag, based on handbags and the women who wear them and featuring an all-female band (and bag-model!) has enjoyed multiple return seasons through 2017-18. She has performed with different bands at the Vanguard, the Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre Everest Theatre, Camelot Lounge, the Butterfly Club, the Hayes Theatre and many more over the last 10 years. Previous original shows include The Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs, 12 Shoes and Sinksongs which was the inspiration for Goddess.

Joanna also runs song-writing workshops and choirs – though which she met Jenny Simm – who inspired The Secret Singer – playing at the Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst, Sydney 28 August-to 9 September 2018.

Tickets and more information are available at: darlinghursttheatre.com