A family's remarkable history has been brought to life on stage in a unique and hard-hitting account that is not only touching but hilarious as well.
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'A Migrant's Son' is the true story written by Michaela Burger and it is based on her family who left their homeland, to create a new life in Australia in the 1930s.
The show is coming to the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre on April 13 and explores themes that are still relevant today, including family, hope and racism.
Michaela has been performing ever since she was a young girl, and her first professional show was at 9.
"I kind of got the bug then and haven't been able to shake it off," she laughed.
When she was 19-years-old, the musical theatre and opera trained performer stepped into the cabaret world and became hooked into that style of storytelling.
Ever since then she has been writing shows, which has included Exposing Edith, which was shown in Dubbo last year.
But this upcoming show to the DRTCC is the first time Michaela's first time foreay into writing an original story and music.
Michaela wrote the show for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2018 after deciding to bring her original song-writing and cabaret world together.
The show was first set out to be about Michaela's father but upon writing realised she had to go back even further into her family's history.
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"All of the qualities that I idolise in him (her father) had actually come from my great great grandparents and all of the generations before him who had this kind of drive to make a change.. to give their family a life they never had," she said.
In just 80 minutes, Michaela sets out to tell nearly 100 years of her family's history.
"I've never done anything this personal before so that was my biggest fear and I think the whole creation and writing process was quite a vulnerable one for me because I was having to delve into people's minds and emotions that I had never met before," she said.
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Dubbo audiences are likely to experience joy and inspiration from the show, Michaela said.
"The audience feedback so far has been that it makes people reflect on their own family and their own lineage. It also opens people's eyes to the importance of family and of migrants," she said.
Michaela said refugees and migrants experienced a lot of racism all those years ago, but it was still occurring today.
She hopes the story opens peoples minds and their hearts and creates more awareness about how we treat refugees and migrants today in Australia.
"The main thing that I hope for as a creator is that people do see how little we've actually developed in Australia insofar as racism and judgement," Michaela said.