In the late 90s, Yorta Yorta/Gunaikurnai playwright and director Andrea James performed at Melbourne Festival as part of an Aboriginal clown troupe.

Their name was the Oogadee Boogadees, and they sprang from Melbourne Workers Theatre, founded by playwright Patricia Cornelius in the late 80s.

"We didn't really know what we were doing," James says.

She recalls seeing in the audience the late Uncle Bob Maza, an actor, playwright, activist and co-founder of National Black Theatre.

"He really supported us," she says.

Maza is the father of Yidinji, Meriam and Dutch director Rachael Maza, the outgoing leader of Ilbijerri, Australia's oldest Indigenous theatre company.

James, now an award-winning playwright, was announced on Thursday as Maza's successor at Ilbijerri Theatre Company, as she

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