The suitcase series: an enduring participatory theatre making program in even more urgent times

ABSTRACT Malthouse Theatre’s The Suitcase Series celebrated ten years in 2020. As a participatory theatre making program for young people in Years 9 and 10 of secondary education, it holds a unique position in the Victorian and, arguably, the Australian theatre education landscape. Since 2010 Malthouse Theatre has commissioned an original script by a new playwright every two years, then challenging young people to give voice to their thoughts and feelings to the issue through the interrelated roles of creator-performer-audience-critical peer. This paper offers critical insight into the origin, intentions, process, and social and artistic impacts of the program across ten years. It positions the Malthouse as a key contributor to the field of participatory theatre programs in Australia, and considers how theatre can create ‘something very forceful, something that we believe, then offer to students in a way that doesn’t crush them’ (Lynch, 2010).