Community • Joy • Sustainability
These youths be protesting
Written and directed by Izabella Louk
The 39 Steps played from April 4-19th, 2025 at KXT on Broadway in Sydney.
★★★★
'An inspiring call to action'
★★★★★
'Direction from Louk keeps the performance tight and is especially notable for its incorporation of sustainability.
'A quick witted and confident piece of theatre'
'A delightfully funny play on a deadly serious theme'
★★★★
'A smart, scrappy, and surprisingly emotional piece that doesn’t just parody youth activism - It honours it.'
'Louk’s script reveals a maturity of political vision that belies its dramatis personae.'
'Ripples with raw, authentic emotions about seriously distressing issues.'
The Play
Led by future school captain Lemon, the students of Sunlake Downs High School’s Recycling club hold a cake stall so they can save up for one of those cool machines that turns cans and bottles into money. Visited by local politician Greg Moresby who posts about their cake stall on instagram, the club soon discover they’ve been used as a political greenwashing tactic to distract from Moresby approving a new coal mine on the site of their favourite hang-out spot; The Dunes, and the club are dragged into a whirlwind of social media, political mud-slinging, and other people’s opinions.
These Youths Be Protesting was a finalist in the 2024 Martin Lysicrates Prize, was developed through the Shellharbour Incubator Artist’s Residency, and was supported by bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company through their Residency Program at KXT on Broadway.
A comedy about climate change, this is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Don’t Look Up.
View the These Youths Be Protesting program here.
sustainability & community engagement
The planet is at the forefront of everything we do at Blinking Light.
For this production, we found ourselves dumpster-diving for cardboard boxes, scouring council clean-ups, borrowing astroturf that’s already been featured in four other plays, repurposing old campaign posters, and relying on friends, family, and the wider community. Though sustainable theatre requires additional steps, it opens up a world of creative potential, and is imperative if we want to future-proof this art form.
The only new things purchased specifically for this production were:-
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6 batteries
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A packet of cable-ties
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6 paper posters (backed onto re-purposed campign corflutes)
Everything used in the production was intentionally re-homed or recycled at item-specific facilities.
For this production, Blinking Light partnered with two inspiring community organisations: Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network and Climate Writers, showcasing these organisations in lobby dosplays. The season also featured a post-show panel with special guest Imogen Ross, Sustainability Manager at NIDA, talking with director Izabella Louk about ways to green theatre. Climate Activist and Media figure Costa Giorgiaidis attended as a special guest.
The team
Paris Bell Set Designer
Laura Campbell Executive Producer
Caitlyn Cowan Lighting Designer
Claudia Elbourne Assistant Producer
Radhika Lal Stage Manager
Izabella Louk Writer & Director
Marc Simonini Composer & Sound Designer
Isabel Zakharova Assistant Stage Manager
Hamish Alexander Jimbo
Karrine Kanaan Lemon
Rachel Thomas Georgie
Mây Trần Mandi
Claudia Elbourne & Louis Regan Standbys
Photos by Karla Elbourne