A play drafted in situ over 20 days across 2 months in Parramatta in February and March 2026.
Raw, irreverent Australian writing about one of Australia's most significant cities. - Parramatta.

As cranes rise, buildings disappear, memories are unearthed and new communities reshape Australia's oldest inland European settlement, a chorus of voices compete to define what Parramatta has been, what it is, and what it might become.
Created by six Western Sydney playwrights, I Can't Believe It's Not Parramatta!? is a bold, ensemble-driven theatrical mosaic that collides history, myth, memory, imagination and insanity. Across seventy-five fast-moving minutes, twenty-seven characters emerge from across more than two centuries: First Nations custodians, convicts, colonial dreamers, migrants, advertisers, schoolgirls, taxidermied museum birds, warring chicken shop owners, lovers, and visionaries all jostle for space in a city constantly rewriting itself.
Moving between realism, satire, documentary and portraiture, "I Can't Believe it's Not Parramatta!?" asks us to examine this place in Australia - in all Its brutality, its beauty and absurdity - to better understand who we are and where we are going.


Linda Atkins is a medical practitioner and writer living on Dharug land in NSW. A Ten Pound Pom immigrant, she was raised in Western Sydney, where she continues to live and work.
Linda’s work has been featured in The Calibre Essay Prize, The Olga Masters Prize, Grieve (2024, 2025), The ADAS Anthology, Stringybark Anthology, Persephone Literary Journal, Australian Book Review, Kill Your Darlings, Inside Story, Written Off Literary Journaland ZineWest, among others. She has been shortlisted or longlisted for numerous awards, including the Kill Your Darlings Flash Fiction Prize, Newcastle Short Story Prize, AAP Meniscus Emerging Writers Prize, Grieve Prize, Not Quite Write Prize, and the Born Writers Award.
In 2024, she was selected for the Parramatta Play Mates workshop, where her work was read by professional actors. She went on to co-write The Leftovers with Julian Colman, which received its debut reading at Riverside Theatre as part of Parramatta’s Lit! Festival and Sydney Fringe in 2025.
Her upcoming debut novel, What We Left Behind, will be published by Summit Books and was named by Caroline Overington in The Australian as one of the most anticipated books of 2026.

Saurabh Bhattacharya is a writer, educator, and emerging playwright whose work explores literature, identity, and social justice within diasporic communities. He holds a Masters degree in English Literature from India and began his career in print journalism, writing and editing on social, political, and environmental issues.
In 2003, Bhattacharya migrated to Australia, where he continued to write fiction and poetry alongside a diverse range of professional roles. He later completed a degree in Philosophy from the University of New England before retraining as an English teacher, graduating with a Bachelor of Teaching from Charles Sturt University in 2010. Since 2011, he has worked in public education in Western Sydney and is currently a Deputy Principal at Macarthur Girls High School.
Bhattacharya is currently commissioned to write his first work for the stage by the Nautanki Theatre Company, a Parramatta-based company recognised as a leading platform for South Asian talent.
His play Orko is an appropriation of Shakespeare’s Othello, reimagined within the South Asian diasporic community of Western Sydney. The work examines the often-silenced issue of domestic violence and its corrosive impact on families and community life. A first draft of Orko was presented to a full-house audience at the 2025 Parramatta Lit Festival, with the production scheduled for development in 2026.

Micharne Cloughley is a writer and producer for theatre and television. She was a story editor and staff writer for seasons 21 - 23 of “Law & Order: SVU”, and currently has multiple TV projects in development.
As a playwright, Micharne was head writer for The Way They Live, and co-wrote The End and the Beginning, which were performed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art NYC and produced by The Civilians, the first theatre company in residence in the Museum.
She was awarded the Creative Arts Fellowship at the National Library of Australia, where she wrote A Dream Panel of Real Women using the oral history archives of Hazel de Berg. Other plays include 43 Stages of Grieving: A Comedy, He’s Actually a Really Nice Guy, 99 Phone Calls You Shouldn’t Have Made, You and U.S., and One Flesh.
Her work has been developed or presented by Holden Street Theatres, Brisbane Sci-fi Theatre Festival, Spark Youth Theatre, Newtown Theatre, Baggage Productions and the Q Theatre, and in the US / Canada by the Tank NYC, Art House Productions, Judson Arts, Play Date at Pete’s Candy Store, Australian Theatre Festival, Bloomsbury House Productions, The 24 Hour Plays and Animus Theatre Company. 43 Stages of Grieving: A Comedy is available in print and digital form from Next Stage Press.
Micharne holds a Graduate Diploma of Dramatic Art in Playwriting from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and Bachelor of Arts (Television Production) from Charles Sturt University.

Laneikka (they/she) is a queer writer and actor from Western Sydney. At seventeen, Laneikka wrote their debut play DEADSKIN which has been performed in Sydney and LA, published by Australian plays. Their second play FEMINAzi premiered at Belvoir St Theatre for Sydney World Pride, published by Play Lab Australia. Laneikka’s screenwriting debut OI premiered at Melbourne international film festival and was nominated for best short film. OI was selected for Brisbane International Film Festival, Mardi Gra film Festival and Flickerfest International Film Festival where OI was awarded the 'REBEL8 Award for Outstanding Emerging Female Director in an Australian Short Film' O I was rated the ‘#1 film of the year’ by the curb.
Their documentary THE REAL MEANING OF PLEASURE was the recipient of Screen Australia x AIDC's Fresh Cuts Development Funding, selected for AIDC's The Factory program and the recipient of AIDC x The Post Lounge award in 2024.
Laneikka created THE MONOLOGUE COLLECTIVE where teenagers write monologues for teenagers to in their drama studies to sold-out seasons, published in 100 schools across NSW. THE MONOLOGUE COLLECTIVE was nominated for Best Production for Young People at the Sydney Theatre Awards. Laneikka was shortlisted for the Canberra Youth Theatre award and shortlisted for Griffin Studio and the Griffin Award.
They have spoken at Sydney Writer’s festival, Blue Mountains Writer’s Festival, Enqueer Writer’s Festival and the currency press festival of playwrights. Laneikka has written queer activism articles for SBS voices and Refinery29 and has worked as a notetaker and writer for various television shows for Easy Tiger TV and silentworks.
Young queer people are at the heart of all of Laneikka’s work.

Chris Fleming is a writer, academic and translator. He teaches writing, philosophy, theatre and social analysis at Western Sydney University, where his work engages with contemporary culture, politics and ethics.
Chris’s academic research spans philosophy and cultural theory, with a particular interest in desire, violence, politics, and culture. Alongside his scholarly work, he is widely recognised for writing for general audiences, contributing essays, short fiction, criticism, and commentary to publications including The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, HEAT, The Saturday Paper, The Chronicle Review, Sydney Review of Books, Literary Hub, The Conversation, SPIN, Island, Westerly, Paragraph, Kill Your Darlings, Written Off Literary Journal and Artlink, among others.
Chris has been a guest reader for Bravewords Live and was on the writing team for Play Parramatta in 2024.
His memoir On Drugs published by Giramondo Publishing was named in the Australian Book Review as one of the best books of 2019. Professor at Stanford University, René Girard, called his book Violence and Mimesis “original, powerful, and uniquely profound." Robert Lukins, author of Loveland and The Everlasting Sunday, named him “one of the best writers and minds in Australia.”
Chris has won numerous awards, including the UNSW NUTS Playwriting Award - and in the last few years have been shortlisted for the Island Nonfiction Prize, the Peter Cowan Short story Prize, and the Calibre Essay Prize.

Marcus is a screenwriter in Sydney who facilitates creative writing workshops in public schools with Story Factory and has tutored and taught English in high schools for over ten years. A graduate of the Master of Screenwriting program at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and a mentee of Gabrielle Kelly, Marcus is in development on several feature films.
His co written short AGOGE premiered internationally at Palm Springs ShortFest 2025, and, with its AACTA award-winning director Veniamin Gialouris, he is co-writing the feature film ADONIA. Marcus is also collaborating with ADG award-winning director Chloe de Brito on his feature screenplay HE’S NOT HERE نْوَه وّنَم(“Manno Hon”), which is currently one of six finalists in PlayLab’s 2025 Bridge Lab co-production initiative and has its proof-of concept short shooting in January 2026, as produced by Collider.
Most recently, Marcus' short DEPENDENT won the Diversity and Inclusion Award at CinefestOZ 2025, won Lebanese Film Festival Australia's inaugural Panavision Film of the Year, will screen at Flickerfest 2026; and is the basis for Marcus' feature screenplay of the same name, in development with Julian Maroun and Easy Tiger's Lena Albin. DEPENDENT has additionally been nominated for Best Short Film at the 2026 AACTA Awards.
In 2025, Magni Studio published Marcus' comic book YOUNG MAN and exhibited it at Kinokuniya's Wedge Gallery in May; in July, Marcus won the Red Bull stage at the YourShot 2025 DJ competition; and in November, Marcus co-judged the WLCU Dr Charles Malik Literary Awards.

Tamara Lee Bailey is an Australian-Filipino actor based in Sydney, working across stage and screen, with a strong physical skillset in Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing, and Kung Fu.
She is the 2026 recipient of the prestigious Equity Atlantic Scholarship awarded to train at the Atlantic Acting School in New York.
Tamara is currently finishing her return season as Lady Macbeth with Sport for Jove (dir. George Banders), in a bold, contemporary production of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Earlier this year, she appeared as Luciana in Sport for Jove’s summer season of The Comedy of Errors (dirs. Damien Ryan & George Banders), with critics describing her performance as “frenetic, fierce and physical” (The Scoop), and naming her one of the production’s most memorable performers (ArtsHub).
On screen, Tamara stars as the lead in the feature film Are You Alone (2026) (dir. Matt Drummond, Little Monster Productions), and appears as Bison Doll in Street Fighter (2026). She also leads the short film Life Support (dir. Ben Mair, Bus Stop Films). Her additional credits include NCIS: Sydney (Paramount+) and Mikki Vs The World ABC).
In 2025, she made her Ensemble Theatre debut as Midge in David Williamson’s world-premiere play ARIA (dir. Janine Watson), where critics praised her charisma, comedic timing, and stage presence. In 2024, she made her Bell Shakespeare debut as Regan in King Lear (dir. Peter Evans), with Time Out Sydney describing her as “a femme fatale,” and Stage Whispers noting her “seductive charm,” naming her a standout of the production.
Her breakout stage role was in the international production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Princess Theatre, Melbourne), where she performed multiple roles including Delphi Diggory, Moaning Myrtle, and Rose Granger-Weasley.
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Tamara is drawn to bold, transformative roles, with a particular interest in complex women, action-driven storytelling, and work that bridges physicality with psychological depth.

Ameer Di Meglio is a Sydney based, second generation Australian actor of Italian and Indian Heritage. He is a Queensland University of Technology alum, having trained as part of the acclaimed Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Company, graduating with Distinction in 2022.
Ameer’s credits include as Louis Ironside in ‘Angels in America Part One’ (Dir. Bridget Boyle), Tom and Ash in ‘Tight in the Bud’ (Dir Wesley Enoch AM), and as Donny in web-series ‘Greenlit’, produced by Exit Ghost Productions (Dir. Mack Struthers).
More recently, Ameer has worked with Brisbane based theatre company La Boite as part of their Assembly+ creative development, specifically as Ash in ‘Gentle Hands’ (Dir. Sophia Davidson Gluyas) and in two developments with Slanted Theatre and National Theatre of Parramatta in February 2026.
On top of traditional stage and screen credits, Ameer has also previously collaborated with photographer, videographer and director Tony Davison on their multiformat work, “Brace”. This is an artistic series of photo and video, taking a deep dive into the inner workings of sport and the performing arts, namely with regards to pressure and how one deals with it. This piece originated from Ameer and Tony’s background within elite level Junior and Senior cricket, with Ameer’s experience as a player being key in the creative energy brought to each of the movements.
This background in sport is very much a cornerstone within Ameer’s practice, and in collaboration with his experience within the performing arts, has been critical in shaping Ameer’s personal and professional identity.

Felino Dolloso is a Filipino-Australian actor, director, and writer based in Sydney. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts at Melbourne University, Dolloso’s career began on the Australian stage with acclaimed performances in productions like A Quiet Night in Rangoon and Coup De’Tat.
In film and television, Dolloso has built a prolific resume featuring roles in major projects such as Balibo, the award winning SBS drama Better Man, and the martial arts comedy Maximum Choppage. He is particularly noted for his versatility in diaspora-focused narratives, including Mother Fish, In Heaven They Sing Karaoke and Survive or Die, for which he received a Best Australian Actor nomination at the AFIN International Film Festival.
Dolloso’s transition into filmmaking has been marked by global success. His award-winning web series, Trumpet Player (2024), which he wrote, directed, and starred in, earned over 70 international awards, including multiple Best Actor and Best Film honors at festivals in New York, London, Manila and other cities.
As of 2026, he remains a figure in the Filipino-Australian creative community, advocating for authentic diverse voices. His latest film, Jojo Lost His Shoe, explores multi-generational family dynamics through a "realist melodrama" lens, further cementing his growing reputation in independent cinema.

Sandy Greenwood is a First Nations Actor, Writer, Producer, and Cultural Consultant from the Dunghutti, Gumbaynggirr, and Bundjalung tribes of New South Wales. She holds a Bachelor of Theatre (Honours) from the Queensland University of Technology and has trained at The Atlantic Acting School in New York City and The Groundlings in Los Angeles.
Sandy has performed with some of Australia’s leading theatre companies, including Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, At What Cost, and Wayside Bride (Belvoir Theatre); Stolen and Taboo (Sydney Theatre Company); Taboo (Ilbijerri Theatre Company); and Dogged and Swim (Griffin Theatre Company). She has also performed internationally at Seattle Children’s Theatre Company in Afternoon of the Elves.
In Australia, Sandy is perhaps best known for her critically acclaimed one-woman show, Matriarch, which she wrote, produced, and performed. She was recognised with a Green Room Award for Best Actor, nominated for Best Writing in Independent Theatre, and nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor in a mainstream play (Swim, Griffin Theatre).
Her screen credits include The Messenger (ABC), The Appleton Ladies Potato Race (Paramount+), and the Hollywood feature film, Killer Elite alongside Jason Statham.
Recently, Sandy produced and directed the documentary “Forest Camp”, which won Best rainforest protection Short Film at the Tulum International Environment Film Festival.

Shondelle is a Western Sydney interdisciplinary artist, director, actor, choreographer, Access Coordinator and internationally certified Intimacy Director, Coordinator and Pedagogue.
With a 30 year career in the arts, she has worked with Australia's leading theatre companies including Opera Australia, Force Majeure, Pacific Opera, The Darlinghurst Theatre Company, David Venn Productions, Squabbalogic, CDP, Monkey Baa, Gordon Frost, Disney, Aquarius films, The Really Useful Company, NewTheatricals, Belvoir 25A, Mad March Hare Theatre Company, Bamboozle ( UK), Pink Fang ( NY), Ensemble Theatre, New Ghost Theatre Company and learning institutions such as the Western Sydney University, National Institute of Dramatic Art, Actors Centre Australia, Victorian College of Arts, Australian Film, Television and Radio School, JMC Academy and Sydney Actors Studio.
Shondelle is passionate about the actor’s process, consent, advocacy and inclusion in sculpting vulnerable storytelling. She is focused on learning programs, rehearsal room and theatre methodologies which are inclusive of artists with lived experiences of divergency and multicultural/ intercultural practices that can be provided to support artists, crew and creatives alike, within the industry.
Shondelle is a proud member of MEAA.
She lives and works on the lands of the Tharawal People.

Jane's recent theatre credits include The Cardinal Rules (MerrigongX), Karim (National Theatre of Parramatta), Cowbois, Camp, The End of Winter, Good With Maps and The Ham Funeral, (Siren Theatre), Before the Meeting and The Campaign (White Box), Wherever She Wanders (Griffin), Black Drop Effect (Sydney Festival/Bankstown Arts), Small Mouth Sounds (Darlinghurst), Letters to Lindy, Lost Boys (Merrigong), Good People (Ensemble Theatre) and Beautiful One Day (Belvoir/Ilbijerri).
She has toured nationally and internationally, voiced numerous radio plays and appeared in the features For Those Who Can Tell No Tales and The Bystander Story and on television in Heartbreak High. Jane has taken part in numerous script developments with Australian Plays Transform by Hilary Bell, Lachlan Philpott, Vanessa Bates and Alana Valentine.
After graduating from Theatre Nepean, she spent a decade as Company Artist with version 1.0, devising and performing in all their major works including the award winning The Table of Knowledge, THIS KIND OF RUCKUS and Deeply Offensive & Utterly Untrue.
Recent teaching/directing includes University of Wollongong, Excelsia College, Shopfront Arts Co-op and University of Newcastle.
Jane received a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Lead Role for The End of Winter and is a proud member of Equity.

Rami Saaid is a multidimensional artist with work spanning stage and small screen performances, voice acting, script development, comedic content creation, poetry and musical composition. Though Adelaide-born-and-raised, Rami has performed across Australia to audiences of all ages.
Onstage, Rami has lent his abilities to several works. Debuting in 2019, he performed as the disgruntled teenage sibling Musa Muhammad in Manal Younus’ Jumu’ah (Friday Prayers), produced by ActNow Theatre. Between 2019-2022, he engaged with ActNow to bring the play to several schools and young audiences at the DreamBIG Children’s Festival. In 2020, he performed onscreen as multiple characters in the digital theatre project DECAMERON 2.0, collaboratively produced by State Theatre Company SA and ActNow Theatre. In 2021, Rami featured as Afghan child refugee Hassan Hamidi, in the national tour of Duncan Graham’s Amphibian, produced by Windmill Theatre. In 2025, starred as hot shot real-estate agent Abraham in Makhazzi Production’s debut stage comedy Yalla To Lebanon! As well as various performances as the mysterious The Man, in Alaa Al-Qaisi’s Palestinian play, The Return.
As a voice actor, Rami first provided his skills in 2018 as lead mascot Doctor Saif at Qatar-based theme park, Juniverse. In 2025, he performed as the protest speaker in Simon Robson’s independent short film, STOP. He has also used his Arabic language proficiency for vocals in SA Film Corporation’s TV series, Pine Gap and assisted with early character voicing during the storyboarding of Windmill Production's Beep and Mort.

Idam Sondhi is an actor and creative with a diverse background. Born in India and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, his work is rooted in a commitment to exploring and portraying underrepresented stories.
He is a graduate of the New York Film Academy Los Angeles, where he studied acting and screenwriting on a scholarship. His early training also includes performing at the Globe Theatre in London as a member of the SGCNZ Young Shakespeare Company Ensemble. This experience
provided him with a foundation in classical text and ensemble performance which continues to inform his contemporary theatre work.
In the Australian theatre landscape, Idam has performed in several productions. His recent credits include Yellow Face at KXT, which
received six Sydney Theatre Award nominations and the National Theatre of Parramatta’s production of Guards at the Taj, which
completed a national tour.
On screen, his television credits include Underbelly: Vanishing Act for the Nine Network and the ABC drama Plum. He has appeared in a
variety of commercial campaigns for major brands including NBN, Old Spice, and Tourism Australia. Beyond his work as a performer, Idam has
written several short films and has a strong interest in developing projects within the thriller, noir, and dark comedy genres.
Idam is honoured to be a part of The Parramatta Play Project and looks forward to collaborating with wonderful artists on new work which explores this region’s incredible mix of culture and history.

Maggie Blinco is one of Australia’s most respected character actors, with an extensive career across theatre, film and television spanning more than four decades.
Her theatre credits include performances with companies such as Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir, Griffin Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare and Sport for Jove, where she has appeared in works ranging from Shakespeare and Chekhov to new Australian plays.
On screen, she is widely recognised for her roles in film and television, including Crocodile Dundee (1986) and Crocodile Dundee II (1988), The Nightingale (2018),
Her television credits include appearances in Harrow, Rake, Doctor Doctor and The Moodys, Water Rats, GoodGuys Bad Guys alongside roles in web series such as Bent 101.
More recent screen work includes the lead role in feature film A Stitch in Time (2022) and the short film Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (2023).
Playwrights were selected for The Parramatta Play Project following an open expression of interest that invited writers with a strong connection to Western Sydney, and Parramatta in particular, to take part in an ambitious, collaborative experiment in collective authorship.
After longlisted applicants were interviewed and asked for their availability, a shortlist of writers became apparent. The shortlisted writers had the task of collectively negotiating the project timetable.
This process prioritises generosity over ownership, conversation over competition, and complexity over singular narrative. The result will not be eight separate plays, but one collective text: a polyphonic, theatrical response to Parramatta.
The playwrights on this project live the values of the project: generous, collective and engaged.

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