Our History

Black Chicks Talking La Boite Encores

19 May 2025

In Black Chicks Talking, five women share memories of their pasts and reveal their future aspirations. They come from diverse backgrounds, including an actress, a netballer, a dancer, a businesswoman, a mother, a lawyer, a community police warden, and even a former Miss Australia.

Under Sean Mee's artistic leadership, La Boite increasingly championed new Queensland works, commissioning 20 plays between 2001 and 2003. The 2002 season featured Black Chicks Talking, co-directed by Leah Purcell and Sean Mee, which premiered at QPAC on December 11.

Drawn from a book and documentary by Purcell, this groundbreaking play toured the Sydney Festival and the Perth International Arts Festival.

A bold exploration of First Nations Australian women’s stories, this production cemented La Boite’s position at the forefront of contemporary Australian theatre.

Leah Purcell AM is an internationally acclaimed actor, director, producer and writer on stage and screen and a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland and we are thrilled she will be returning to La Boite to direct a fresh presentation of this landmark work this May.

In The La Boite Encore Play Reading Series, actors take the stage with scripts in hand, bringing landmark plays to life through dynamic, varied, polished performances.

While not full productions, these readings are set to be a lively celebration of theatre in its rawest form and a tribute to the plays that have shaped La Boite through the years.