Writing about fictional tween character Stevie Louise transports Tanya Hennessy through a portal in time back to her Eleebana Public School days.
She makes no secret of the fact that the funny, feisty lead character in her 2021 book Drum Roll Please It's Stevie Louise was inspired by her own childhood experiences.
Now the popular author, comedian, content creator and presenter is bringing Stevie Louise to life in the stage version of her best-selling book. Drum Roll Please it's Stevie Louise: The Play will premiere at the Upstage Youth Theatre in Maitland in October. Ann Croger will direct the story about friendship, fear and believing in yourself.
The cast is made up entirely of young Maitland and Newcastle-based talent.
Drum Roll Please it's Stevie Louise: The Play centres around the life of 12-year-old Stevie Louise, a self-described entrepreneur, entertainer and introverted extrovert. Stevie, together with her friends, make up The Brooke Street Crew and together hatch a brilliant plan to have fun, make money and, of course, stay friends forever. But it wouldn't be a tween "dramedy" without a few twists and turns.
"With thousands of book sales, a sold-out merch line and sold-out events at the Sydney Writers Festival, a play based on my first children's book was the natural next step," Hennessy says.
"I'm a theatre kid myself, having grown up in this world from a young age. Ann, who owns Upstage Youth Theatre, was actually my drama teacher at high school [Hunter School of the Performing Arts] and then I worked for her as a drama teacher when I was a young adult, so to return back to the stage that first sparked my passion for this crazy life I've ended up in ... it feels so full circle.
"It's like my adult self is looking back at my childhood self and saying 'Look what I did for kids like you who are different'."
Adds Croger: "It's so joyous for me to see an ex-student doing amazing things for her home-town community ... it's also laugh out loud funny for adults. That's a bonus."
Hennessy wrote the script herself and says it was "edited a thousand times".
"The kids gave me feedback, sometimes I thought it was quite harsh," she says, laughing.
"They always point out the spelling errors and I'm like 'Do you know how long I've worked on the narrative to this?'
"I gave Ann the script and basically said 'It's yours'. I trust her implicitly. She's excellent. She's in service to the arts, which is something I am so aligned with. The play had to be in Newcastle, and it had to be Ann. Her daughter is one of the kids playing Stevie, which is even more wild."
Hennessy is a wearer of many hats. She studied a Bachelor of Arts Theatre/Media at Charles Sturt University and began her radio career in 2012 with Southern Cross Austereo at NXFM Newcastle. In 2017 she won the Junkee Award for Breakthrough Artist, performed at Australia's first VidCon and won Best Radio Documentary at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRA).
As a content creator, her comedic chops have earnt her a Facebook following in excess of 1.1 million. Her funny and brutally honest online videos of everyday topics (Things People Say To Hairdressers, Things People Say To Personal Trainers) means she has built a worldwide following. Her total views on Facebook are more than 550 million.
Hennessy is also a regular at Network 10, hosting The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise: Unpacked, and guest hosting on Studio 10, The Loop and The Project.
But so far, one role has proven elusive. The Masked Singer.
"I've been begging them to let me on The Masked Singer, and I mean begging. I've been singing to them on YouTube constantly and they're like 'Please stop. Please leave us alone'," she says.
What character would she be? Without hesitation, she replies: "A bread roll."
Hennessy fans may have noticed a more serious side making an appearance on her socials from time to time in recent months. She says she is simply being "honest".
"When you do comedy, sometimes you feel you can only do comedy, and that people look to you for relief in a tough world. I want to make sure I'm giving that to people, but there is also a serious side of me," she says.
"I'm going through a really tough infertility process at the moment. I've had surgery and I've had a couple of rounds of failed IVFs, and it's torturous and it's painful. But so many people go through it, I thought I should talk about it to normalise it."
She started to speak publicly about her experiences after watching Jackie Gillies talks about her fertility struggles on Real Housewives of Melbourne.
"I had this yearning for connection. It can be a very lonely experience," she says.
"That's why I'm filming a documentary about my experiences. I'm self-funding at the moment but I'm hoping to get someone to back it, or get it on a streaming service.
"IVF is the least-fun process to go through. I start again next year. It's an anxious and expensive time but it's something that so many people go through."
Hennessy has spent a lifetime aiming high. Reaching for the stars. The same can be said of her play, which she hopes will one day be performed at the Sydney Opera House.
"Honestly, I reckon I'll get there," she says.
"One of the big messages in my book is resilience, and being able to have an idea and then execute it. Sometimes I feel that Stevie is my saviour. It's like 'No, you can do this, Stevie would do it'. She feels so real.
"It will be a really interesting experience to see her come to life. She's so funny but complex. She's such an excellent role for a kid to play."
Catch Drum Roll Please it's Stevie Louise: The Play at 3pm, October 5 to 8, at Upstage Youth Theatre in Maitland, and at 6pm on October 7 and 8 at Maitland Regional Art Gallery. Tickets are $20 at trybooking.com.
Read more: Tanya Hennessy doesn't have it together all the time and is doing just fine
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