Nakkiah Lui (Kamilaroi/Torres Strait Islander) is one of Australia's most incisive, provocative, and funniest writers. Never one to follow convention, when she was asked to consider adapting a 'classic', Nakkiah Lui chose the divisive 90s Hollywood flop, Showgirls. Blaque Showgirls is now on at the Griffin Theatre Company.

Also, Sandaime Richard, a Japanese play inspired by Shakespeare's Richard III, was radically transformed by the Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen in a 2016 production that brought together performers from across Asia. Now, Keng Sen is revisiting the text with a troupe of students at NIDA.

Choreographer and dancer Dalisa Pigram is a Yawuru/Bardi woman and the co-artistic director of the acclaimed dance company Marrugeku. Dalisa is the winner of the 2023 Creative Australia Award for Dance. The prize was announced this week as part of ABC Arts Week.

Also, ahead of the opening of her show Mutton is the New Lamb — a trans de-mythology, Julie Peters brings in her photo album to discuss making art from life, and Mary Finsterer, one of Australia's most widely performed composers, guides us through her creative process.

Cessalee Stovall is an in-demand performer and the founder of the organisation Stage a Change. When Cessalee is not on stage herself, she is driving opportunities for artists of colour working in the performing arts. Over a pot of tea, Cessalee and Stéphanie discuss the organisation's efforts — and spill some tea in the process.

Also, playwright Hilary Bell shares the works that have most inspired her journey as an artist on Top Shelf and the disability-led performing arts festival Undercover Artist returns to Brisbane, but who is an 'undercover artist' and how and why does this festival blow their cover?

As new parents, Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall found themselves immersed in an uncanny world of children's entertainment. The impossible chirpiness of the singers made them wonder: what struggles lurk behind those bright eyes? Those musings have inspired their new musical comedy Bananaland.

Also, Stephen Schwartz thought that he had left Broadway behind when he chanced to encounter a novel called Wicked. The composer-lyricist behind Godspell and Pippin had recently won three Academy Awards for his screen work, but the prospect of adapting Wicked drew him back to the stage. Now, Wicked is back.

On the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain is a deeply spiritual place called Yuldi Kapi, or Ooldea Soak. It's the electrifying starting point for the bold new work from Bangarra Dance Theatre called Yuldea. It's choreographed by Bangarra's new artistic director, Mirning woman Frances Rings.

Also, Mary Coustas is the creator of the big-haired, outspoken Greek Australian Effie who first took on the world in a stage show called Wogs Out of Work in 1987. She went on to star in the comedy series Acropolis Now and Mary Coustas continues to perform as Effie in stand-up. Recently, Mary has revealed a new persona on stage: her own, in her one-woman show This Is Personal.

To break the mould of traditional opera, composer David Lang takes us to unexpected places. He has written an opera that is too quiet to hear, an opera for 1000 singers performed over a one-mile stretch and in The Little Match Girl Passion he substitutes the suffering of Jesus with the suffering of the young girl dying in the cold in Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale.

Also, choreographer Stephanie Lake gets dancers to perform with a kind of joy and discipline which would hold the attention — and the wonder — of anyone. Since forming Stephanie Lake Company, she has become one of Australia's most exciting and popular choreographers. Her acclaimed work Manifesto will soon have a return season at Arts Centre Melbourne.

Debra Oswald was just 17 years old when her first play was professionally workshopped. That was in 1977 and she's been a prodigious writer of plays, television and novels ever since. But her path has not always been easy and her story is laid bare in her one-woman show Is There Something Wrong with That Lady?

Also, we hear a scene from the new play at Queensland Theatre, Don't Ask What the Bird Look Like, which takes us into the world of a young Aboriginal woman reconnecting with her father after a very long time away from country, and for National Science Week, we delve into the science of sound and find out more about the role of sound design in theatre.

Helen Morse has performed in some of the most radical and feted Australian theatre productions of the past 50 years. As she prepares to feature in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of Caryl Churchill's play Escaped Alone, Helen reflects on her five decades in Australian theatre.

Also, we hear a scene from Cactus, an acclaimed new Australian play about two teenage girls facing challenges that neither are yet prepared for, and we discuss the future of NICA, the National Institute of Circus Arts. Its parent university, Swinburne, has "paused" enrolments and is reassessing whether NICA aligns with its strategic priorities.

Death of a Salesman by the American writer Arthur Miller is one of the 20th century's most famous plays. It's about an ageing travelling salesman who discovers late in life that he is entirely expendable. A new production in Australia has enticed Anthony LaPaglia back to the stage for the first time in over a decade.

Also, the 1913 murder of a 13-year-old girl in the American South and the anti-Semitic fervour it whipped up has become the improbable subject of a hit musical called Parade, and the community arts company Everybody NOW! has created a music theatre work inspired by local roller skaters for this year's BLEACH* festival on the Gold Coast.

Caryl Churchill is one of the most enduring and radical playwrights of our time. Several of her plays are now in production around Australia. To unpack the politics and theatrical risk-taking of Caryl Churchill, we're joined by experts, creatives and performers immersed in her work.

Also, the sumptuous American musical Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 was a sensation in New York, where it was nominated for 12 Tony Awards. It's based on a tale of seduction and betrayal from Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace. It's now on at Sydney's Darlinghurst Theatre Company.