Moths

‘Um… the first good sex I had … it was actually with a girl. And she’s a white girl. Big boobs. D cup. [Laughs.] I have sex with her, after I have sex with the dude that … um … the Vietnamese gangster boy.’

Using the transcripts of over twenty-five interviews as her starting point Michele Lee’s Moths gives us unfettered access to the sex lives of Asian Australian twenty-somethings. Six actors present a side of Melbourne you may well never have thought of – particular rituals, surprising discoveries, bold choices, and always a new dating app – in all its complexity, contradictions and vulnerability. As all these young beings journey, foolishly, inevitably, desperately towards the light, will they find illumination or self-destruction?

Presented in partnership with Griffin Theatre Company. Moths is a Betty Burstall Co-commission by Griffin Theatre Company and Playwriting Australia. The Cybec Electric reading on 21 February at 6pm is presented as part of SummerSalt Festival, and will take place in the VCA Art Courtyard.

Cybec Electric is only possible due to the support of Roger Riordan AM and The Cybec Foundation.

Michele Lee

Lee Lewis

Leighton Young

Harry Tseng

Rani Pramesti

Aljin Abella

Emina Aliyyah Ashman

Miles Paras

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Michele Lee

Michele Lee is a playwright and author. Moths was programmed in Playwriting Australia’s National Play Festival 2014, commended for the Griffin Award 2013 and developed with support from Melbourne Workers’ Theatre, Arts Victoria and the Australia Council. She is the inaugural recipient of the Playwriting Australia Betty Burstall Commission for Moths. Her radio play See How The Leaf People Run commissioned and produced by ABC Radio National, won an AWGIE award for Best Original Radio Play in 2013. Her audio theatre work Talon Salon premiered in the Next Wave Festival 2012, and was remounted for You Are Here Festival 2013 and Darwin Festival 2013. She is currently working on a digital theatre piece for Arts House’s Festival of Live Arts 2016. Michele’s memoir Banana Girl was published by Transit Lounge in 2013. She writes about identity, race and otherness.