Tiger quoll stars in its own story

The plight of the endangered Otway’s tiger quoll is highlighted is a new play co-produced by Geelong Performing Arts Centre.
Efforts to prevent the quoll’s extinction were featured in a report in last week’s Geelong Indy about a Geelong rescue dog playing a key role in ecologist’s efforts to save the marsupial.
Ted the detection dog recently found evidence of the quolls deep in the Otway’s, adding vital clues to the scant information about them.
In a regional first, GPAC is taking on a starring role as co-producers of an important and timely new Australian play, Extinction.
Produced with Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Extinction will open as part of the 2016 Deakin University Theatre Season in July.
Written by Helpmann award winning playwright and screenwriter Hannie Rayson and directed by Nadia Tass, the play will tour to Canberra before returning to Victoria for a season at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Extinction is set in the Otways and draws attention to the plight of the endangered tiger quoll – the largest marsupial predator on the Australian mainland.
A wild, rainy night, a twist of fate and an endangered tiger quoll bring together a passionate environmentalist and an unlikely good samaritan.
Both are hell-bent on saving the species, but nothing is black and white in this intriguing story about love, money, sex and power played out under the shadow of global warming.
At the heart of the play is a debate around the conflict between maintaining a healthy environment and our need to generate power, develop industries and create employment.
GPAC general manager Jill Smith said theatre could play an important role in kick starting debate on such issues.
“There has never been a more important time to find new ways to build broad community understanding of environmental issues and mitigation strategies,” Ms Smith said.
Hannie Rayson says her intention in writing Extinction was to tackle one of the big ethical issues of our time, confronting the moral complexities “without resorting to propaganda or moral fence-sitting”.
GPAC is also working in partnership with Greening Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Cape Otway Ecology Centre to build a broader understanding of their work through the play.