ILBIJERRI (pronounced ‘il BIDGE er ree) is a Woiwurrung word meaning ‘Coming Together for Ceremony’.

ILBIJERRI is the longest running Indigenous Theatre company in Australia and the only one in Victoria. In 1990 a group of Melbourne Indigenous artists and community members came together to form a professional theatre company for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Victoria. Since then we have been initiating and developing performances in collaboration with our community and artists.

Our plays explore a range of complex and controversial issues from a uniquely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective. Our work possesses the power to reach out and remind audiences of every person’s need for family, history and heritage. Since commissioning and producing Jane Harrison’s renowned classic STOLEN in 1992, the company has toured nationally and internationally, finding critical acclaim and resonance with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences.

ILBIJERRI celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2010 and entered an immensely exciting new era of Indigenous theatre – where the journey is one of discovery and the rules are simple: be BOLD, BLACK and BRILLIANT.