Singer/songwriter puts on her actor's hat

to tell grandmother's inspiring story

By SHIRLEY BROUN

WHEN singer/songwriter Roz Pappalardo was challenged to put her grandmother’s story down on paper she went one step further and made it the focus of a brilliant one-woman play that is turning heads wherever it is performed.

The play received rave reviews when it was presented for a special season at JUTE Theatre in 2011 and now the gifted writer has taken it to a new level by transforming it into a live concert experience `Rosa – The Concert Version’ which will be seen `live’ at the Queensland Cabaret Festival in June.

Roz said she was delighted with the response to her stage play so far. “I wrote the play after some friends from my local professional theatre company dared me to put my grandmother’s story down on paper but I must say I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out and introducing the concert version has been incredibly rewarding,” she said.

“It is basically a one woman show with me acting out three different roles – my grandmother Rosa, my great grandmother (Rosa’s mother) and myself as the narrator,” said Roz.

The play has been described as a joyous tale told through song and storytelling that examines ties that bind while traversing through the maternal ancestry from grandmother to granddaughter.

The show traces her grandmother’s journey from Sicily to Mena Creek in Far North Queensland.

Performing the play is an extension of Roz’s infectious love of music and storytelling which is something fans have been enjoying for many years in her leading role with Chanel Lucas in folk pop duo Women in Docs. “The play is just an extension of what we already do which is to tell stories, perform, write and sing songs and I also get to act in a story that is close to my heart.”

Roz, who is based in Cairns and programs music and events at the Tanks Arts Centre is no stranger to acting. She has appeared in four professional stage shows and completed courses through NIDA.

The talented performer encourages people to go along and see something a little different. “If you have family skeletons in the closet then you will be able to relate really well to the story … and you don’t have to be Italian either,” she quipped.

You can see Roz `live’ in `Rosa – The Concert Version’ at the Ipswich Civic Theatre on June 7 and the Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse on June 14.

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