Sandy Greenwood speaks candidly about the challenges she has faced as an Indigenous actor

BY JARROD WOLFHUNTER

Sandy Greenwood is a proud and passionate First Nations actor, writer, and producer who is starring in the hotly anticipated At What Cost? – a production by award-winning Indigenous writer, Nathan Maynard and, skilful Indigenous director Isaac Drandic.

At What Cost? focuses on the current explosion of the Indigenous population in the Palawa Community of Tasmania – numbers that are awkwardly bolstered by Non-Indigenous people illegitimately identifying as Palawa for reasons examined in this production.

Greenwood outlines that though always endemic in Australia this issue has now worsened due to the deregulation of policy by the Tasmanian Government allowing people to identify as Indigenous by simply “ticking a box”. Formerly, there were multiple steps involving the acceptance of newcomers to Indigenous communities by the existing community, and the identification of blood-lines.

Maynard, a Palawa man, examines the motivations behind this audacious phenomena to rightly shine a light on why this undermines authentic Indigenous voices. Greenwood describes that though the production comes from a non-judgemental place it is one that calls for appropriate boundaries and demarcations to protect Indigenous culture from this bizarre and pervasive contemporary subterfuge.

Greenwood talks enthusiastically about having the opportunity to work together with Maynard and Drandic on At What Cost? – her first production with the two First Nation creatives, on what is set to be an important and scintillating production.

The award-winning actress speaks candidly and eloquently on the challenges she has faced as an Indigenous actor in her younger years and her excitement that after many years of “paying her dues” her career is now “just starting to take off”. She has worked in Australia and the US and has ambitions to alternate between the two to firmly define herself as an internationally successful writer, producer and actor.

At What Cost? is set to be a powerful production, and Sandy Greenwood, Nathan Maynard, Isaac Drandic and lead Luke Caroll will be dominant Indigenous names moving forward in the ever-evolving battle for Indigenous sovereignty in the Arts and beyond.