EDUCATION
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
STELLA: A New Australian Musical is playlisted on the VCE Theatre Studies curriculum.
VCE THEATRE STUDIES PROMPT PACK
This free downloadable Prompt Pack explores the STELLA script and themes to help the students gain a deeper understanding of the production.
PDF SCRIPTS may be purchased HERE.
For school script purchases please contact Info@StellaTheMusical.com
BROADER CURRICULUM TOPICS suitable for years 8-10
STELLA: A New Australian Musical by Monique diMattina tells the story of Stella Miles Franklin’s life. The show starts with her childhood at Brindabella Station and the success of her first novel, My Brilliant Career. We follow Stella to Sydney, where she meets Vida Goldstein and begins her involvement in women’s suffrage and labour causes, to Chicago, where she works for the National Women’s Trade Union League, to her time as a nurse in the First World War, her years in London as an impoverished writer, then back to Sydney, where she remains until her death. The genre-diverse score reflects Franklin’s adventurous life, spanning Australian/ Irish folk and bush ballads, salsa, neo-classical, pop, punk rock, and classic show tune styles.
Key Historical figures: Vida Goldstein, Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson, Mary Gilmore, Jane Addams (the Chicago reformer), Virginia Woolf and Dymphna Cusack (an Australian writer mentored by Miles Franklin).
Historical context: The show spans roughly 60 years, from Stella’s teen years in 1895 to her death in 1954. It touches on the Australian women’s suffrage movement, the Progressive Era Reforms in Chicago, the First World War, the Bloomsbury Group in London, and the impact of the Miles Franklin and Stella Literary Awards.
Major themes: Legacy and perseverance; female autonomy and the rejection of domesticity; the power and responsibility of the written word; Australian identity and connection to the land; ambition and its costs; social reform and political activism; and the tension between idealism and pragmatism.
How the songs respond to the themes:
● Female Autonomy/ the Rejection of Domesticity: ‘Somewhere in Between’/‘Marriage is a Crock’,
● Legacy and Perseverance: ‘Throw a Seed’ / ‘The Sun Climbs to Greet You’ / ‘Stella, It’s Miles’
● The Power and Responsibility of the Written Word: ‘Your Words Leave a Mark‘
● Ambition and its Costs: ‘Shook it Up’ / ‘Dear Linda’ / ‘No one Left to Bother Me’
● Tension between Idealism and Pragmatism: ‘War To End All War’
● Australian Identity and Connection to the Land: ‘Life in the Land’
Discussion questions: Why does diMattina use different music genres to tell Stella’s story? What mood does each genre capture? Stella wants to be a great writer—what impediments does she face to achieve this goal? Do you feel empathy for Mother at the end of her life? What does the final scene tell us about Stella’s contribution to Australian literature? Is STELLA: A New Australian Musical the story of a hero, a cautionary tale of ambition and its costs, or both?
Classroom activities: Recreate a Women’s Trade Union League picket line in Chicago— what are you protesting for, what are you protesting against? Compare the suffrage movement in Australia to the United States— what was different about them? Write a letter from Mother to Stella after the publication of My Brilliant Career explaining how it’s affected the family. Virginia Woolf was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group— would her views be regarded as radical nowadays?
Curriculum links: Australian History (World War 1), Political Philosophy (Universal Suffrage, Feminism), English Literature (biography as a source text, the coming-of-age novel), Music (genre-blending), and Theatre Studies (merging theatrical storytelling with diverse musical styles).
