Articles by Candy Bowers

A strong and passionate writer and performer of fearless sticky theatre, Candy Bowers is notorious for creating work that warms, cuts and tickles in equal parts. After graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in 2001 Bowers teamed up Sarah Ward to create award-winning cult hip hop comedy act Sista She (2002-2008.) The group was prolific, winning early commissions from the Australia Council of the Arts and the Sydney Opera House, touring major Festivals across the country including Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the UK (2005/2007). In 2008 Bowers picked up the British Council of the Arts Realise Your Dream Award and was named in the Top 100 Creative Catalysts List (Vivid Festival). In 2009 she was nominated for the Phillip Parsons Young Playwright Award and won the Best Performance Award at the Melbourne Fringe for her first one-woman show Who’s that Chik? She went on to write the music-comedy smash hit Australian Booty and toured to Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Darwin Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse and Campbelltown Arts Centre. In 2012 she co-wrote MC Platypus and Queen Koala’s Hip Hop Jamboree (a hip hop comedy show for kids) with Busty Beatz. The show visited over 250 schools across Queensland in partnership with Artslink QLD. Bowers is currently the Artistic Director of Black Honey Company and working on a new commission from Queensland Theatre Company entitled Twelve: a soul musical from the streets after Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. She was recently awarded the 2013 Cultural Leadership grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and the 2013 NIDA Glorias Fellowship. Candy will take up a skills development program across London, Chicago and South Africa in 2014-15.