Brian Syron facts for kids
Brian Gregory Syron (born 19 November 1934 – died 14 October 1993) was an amazing Australian actor, teacher, and director. He was also a strong activist for Aboriginal rights. Brian Syron made history as Australia's first Indigenous person to direct a full-length movie.
He studied acting in New York City with a famous teacher named Stella Adler. When he came back to Australia, he helped start several important groups, including the Australian National Playwrights Conference, the Eora Centre, and the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust. He also worked on many TV shows and became the head of the ABC's new Aboriginal unit in 1988.
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Early Life and Heritage
Brian Gregory Syron was born on 19 November 1934 in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales. His mother, Elizabeth Murray, was from England. His father was a Birrbay man. Brian was one of eight children in his family.
Brian also spent time living an Indigenous life with his grandmother, Suzie Syron. This was in his family's traditional Birrippi lands at Minimbah, New South Wales. Minimbah means "home of the teacher" in the Birrippi language. His family's traditional country included areas like Taree, Forster, and the Great Lakes.
Brian's family's Dreaming was the eagle. However, he often described himself as a "magpie" – meaning he felt he was half Black and half White. He also experienced life on Aboriginal reserves in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Brian Syron once shared his thoughts on the challenges faced by Indigenous people. He said that many Aboriginal people of his generation had a very tough time. He believed that artists had a duty to connect with their own people first through their work.
Brian Syron passed away from leukaemia on 14 October 1993 in Sydney. He was buried in Botany Cemetery.
A Career in Theatre
In the 1950s and 1960s, Brian Syron did not openly identify as Aboriginal. He started his acting career in 1960 at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney. There, he learned from American actor and director Hayes Gordon.
Studying Overseas
Brian wanted to learn a different style of acting than what was taught in Australia. So, in 1961, he moved to Europe. He even worked as a fashion model for famous designers like Dior and Cardin.
Later in 1961, he moved to New York City. He was accepted as a student at the famous Stella Adler Studio of Acting. There, he studied alongside future stars like Robert De Niro and Warren Beatty. Brian even became a teacher at the studio himself.
After his training in America, he spent a year in Britain. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He then returned to New York and helped start a theatre company. He also toured as a director with a Shakespeare company.
Coming Home to Australia
Brian Syron returned to Perth, Western Australia, in 1968. This was after the important 1967 referendum, which gave Aboriginal people more rights. In Perth, he directed plays at The Playhouse.
He then moved back to Sydney and directed a play called Fortune and Men's Eyes. This play won him the first Drama Critics' Award for Best Production. He also began teaching acting classes using the Stella Adler method to Aboriginal students.
Brian was the first Indigenous Australian to work as a director in mainstream Australian theatre. In 1972, he became a Theatre Consultant for the Aboriginal Arts Board. This was part of the new Australia Council for the Arts, which was led by an Indigenous person for the first time.
Helping Playwrights and Theatre
In 1973, Brian Syron helped create the Australian National Playwrights Conference (ANPC). This conference helped new playwrights develop their plays. A famous American director, Lloyd Richards, said that Brian Syron was the one who championed the idea of this conference in Australia.
Brian also directed a very popular play called Dimboola in 1976. It ran for over two years in Sydney. He also directed other plays and acted in The Lower Depths at the Sydney Opera House in 1978.
The Eora Centre and Aboriginal Theatre
Brian Syron helped found the Eora Centre in Redfern, Sydney. This centre helped with Aboriginal education. In 1981, he also co-founded the Aboriginal Theatre Company (ATC) with writer Robert Merritt.
The ATC toured Merritt's play The Cake Man, directed by Syron, to the 1982 World Theatre Festival in Denver, Colorado. The play was a huge success there and then toured colleges across the United States.
National Black Playwrights Conference
In 1987, Brian Syron started the National Black Playwrights Conference (NPBC) in Canberra. Actress Justine Saunders said that Brian was the driving force behind both this conference and the earlier National Playwrights Conference. She noted that Syron always said Indigenous culture is passed down through stories, songs, and art.
During this conference, Brian Syron received the first Harold Blair Award for his lifetime achievements in performing arts. He was also given the special title of "Elder" by the delegates.
Aboriginal National Theatre Trust (ANTT)
Following the first NPBC, Brian Syron helped co-found the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust (ANTT) in 1988. This organization was run by Aboriginal artists. Its goal was to promote and protect all Aboriginal arts. ANTT also started a National Aboriginal Theatre.
In May 1988, ANTT put on The Keepers by Bob Maza. This was the first all-Aboriginal production staged in Australia. The ANTT continued its important work until 1991, when it had to close due to a lack of funding.
Teaching and Mentoring
After his success with Fortune and Men's Eyes, Brian Syron started teaching acting classes. He taught the Adler technique to many students. His school moved around Sydney for over 20 years.
In 1969, Brian taught the first group of urban Aboriginal actors. These classes were held in Sydney. His students included important figures like Denis Walker and Gary Foley. At that time, it was so difficult for Aboriginal people that actors had to be driven home by taxi to avoid being arrested by police.
In 1972, he held workshops at the Black Theatre Arts & Cultural Centre in Redfern. His students there included famous playwright Jack Davis and writer Maureen Watson.
In 1973, Brian Syron arranged for his mentor, Stella Adler, to come to Australia. She taught a series of master classes for people in the entertainment industry. Brian also taught drama to inmates at Parramatta Gaol. He is thought to be the first drama teacher to work in the prison system in New South Wales.
From 1986 to 1987, Brian Syron became the first Indigenous Australian to lecture at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). He was invited back in 1988 as a guest lecturer.
Television Work
Brian Syron worked on several television productions. In 1974, he was a children's dialogue coach for the ABC TV series Seven Little Australians.
In 1976, he acted as Sweet William in the TV version of the play The Cake Man. Soon after, he played Ray in "Ray's Story," an episode of Pig in a Poke (1977). This series was described as the first modern urban Aboriginal drama on Australian television.
In 1987, Brian Syron was an executive producer for the documentary-drama film Karbara: First Born. This film showed at the Sydney Film Festival and on ABC TV.
In 1988, he was made head of the ABC's new Aboriginal unit. Brian Syron and Justine Saunders also co-hosted The First Australians (1988–1990). This ABC TV series featured leading Aboriginal artists, musicians, and political leaders.
Film Achievements
In 1970, Brian Syron went to the USA to work as an assistant on the movie What's Up Doc?. His next film project was a short film called Jeremy and Teapot (1976). This film won Best Film at the 1982 Women's International Film/Video Festival in Arizona, USA.
Syron also worked as a consultant on director Peter Weir's movie The Last Wave (1977).
In 1980, the Australian Film Commission gave Brian Syron a grant for his script Australian Aboriginal Achievers. This was a documentary about seven important Aboriginal people. Although the film was never made, the script was later used for a book.
Brian Syron acted in a small role in The City's Edge (1983) and as a nightclub manager in Coolangatta Gold (1983). He also appeared in Backlash (1986).
From 1990 to 1992, Brian Syron directed Jindalee Lady (1992). This was the first full-length movie directed by an Indigenous Australian. Almost all the cast and crew were also Aboriginal. Lowitja O'Donoghue, who led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, praised Syron for his valuable contribution to Indigenous art and for promoting Indigenous theatre and film.
Organisations Brian Syron Helped Start or Join
- Black Theatre Arts & Cultural Centre (1972) - Artistic Director / Foundation Member
- Bondi Pavilion Theatre (1973) - Co-founder / Artistic Director
- The Australian National Playwrights Conference (1973) - Co-founder
- The New Group Theatre (1978) - Founder
- The Aboriginal Theatre Company (1981) - Co-founder
- The Australian Black Playwrights Conference (1987) - Founder
- The Aboriginal National Theatre Trust (1987) - Co-founder / Co-director
Awards and Recognition
- 1969: Winner, Inaugural Drama Critics Award - Best Production, for Fortune and Men's Eyes
- 1970: Polish Government Scholarship to study with Jerzy Grotowski
- 1978: Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Aboriginal Overseas Study Grant
- 1987: Winner, inaugural Harold Blair Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts
- 1987: Awarded the title of "Elder" by the National Black Playwrights Conference Delegates
- 1990: Ikkeman Sacred Feather, International First Nations Film and Art Festival, Canada
- 1992: Best Feature Film and first feature film by a First Nations Director, Dreamspeaker International Film and Arts Festival, Canada
- 1992: Nominee, East West Award - Best Feature Film, Hawaii International Film Festival
- 1993: Co-recipient, Literary Fellowship - Australia Council, for "Kicking Down the Doors: A History of Australian Indigenous Filmmakers: 1968 to 1993"
