Sam Sejavka

Samuel Marcus Sejavka (born 2 April 1960 in Melbourne, Australia) is a writer, actor, and musician.[1] Sejavka grew up in Mount Waverley, where he attended Holy Family Primary, a Catholic school.

Sejavka has spent much of his working life singing and composing music. Early in his musical career, he was a member of the band The Ears, with whom he has done recent projects. His rise to prominence came during the mid-'80s in the band Beargarden.

The 1986 film Dogs in Space (written and directed by friend Richard Lowenstein) drew inspiration from various episodes of Sejavka's life during the late '70s. The film title comes from a song of the same name by The Ears. The main character of Sam was played by Michael Hutchence. Sejavka appears in the film briefly in the party scene, addressed by Hutchence as "Michael."

Since the 1990s, Sejavka has concentrated on his work as an actor and playwright.

Bands

In the late 1970s, Sejavka fronted Melbourne post-punk band The Ears.

In the mid-1980s, he formed Beargarden, who were signed to Virgin Records Australia and had a minor hit with their single "The Finer Things" and the album All That Fall.

Plays and acting

Sejavka's plays include:

In 1995, his play All Flesh is Glass took him to New York as part of an exchange programme organised by New Dramatists and the Australian National Playwright's Centre.

Sam also appeared in a number of highly popular stage productions including: The Death of Peter Pan, Quintessence and Shipwreck!, all directed by Robert Chuter and produced at La Mama Theatre. He now documents local insect life in Mt Waverley on his blog.

Writing

Sejavka has also published many short prose works. His screenplay for the hour-length film Earthbound was the first film script to be shortlisted for the Louis Esson Drama prize. From time to time, he works as a theatre director.

His play Mysterium, commissioned by Kickhouse theatre, won the 1999 Wal Cherry Award. In mid 2000 he played Oscar Wilde in Barry Dickens' Believe me Oscar Wilde at La Mama directed by Lynne Ellis.

His most recent productions are The Lord of Misrule, Sruti Smriti and Mysterium.

Recently, he adapted Jacob Rosenberg's long-form poem Shylock for the stage. This work centres around a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice set in a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland. Currently, he is working on two new plays: Ambergris – set on an island off the coast of Queensland, dealing with beauty and greed, and As Above So Below – a play about the occult practices of the poet W. B. Yeats. He is also spending time parenting his daughter Polly, and collecting 19th-century horror and fantasy novels.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Agent details – Sam Sejavka". Austlit. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  2. ↑ Melbourne Stage Online – archive review of play

References

External links

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