Yirra Yaakin's new musical, Panawathi Girl, will tackle big issues and feature an exciting cast.

The play, written by David Milroy, whose family links are with the Yindjibarndi and Palku people of the Pilbara, and directed by Eva Grace Mullaley, Widi woman from the Yamatji Nation, will run at His Majesty's Theatre (Karboordup) 8 February to 13 February as part of the Perth Festival.

Set in a small town in the northwest of Western Australia in the 1960s, Panawathi Girl captures the tumult of the period, with hippies and cowboys, politicians and protesters in an "all-singing, all-dancing night of entertainment."

The lead, Molly Chubb, returns from the city to her home town, looking for her place in the world.

Angelica Lockyer, a Kariyarra Nyul Nyul woman from the Pilbara, has just graduated from a four year course at WAAPA and is playing Pansy. It is the 23 year-old's first main stage theatre play.

"One of the things I love about it is, as a musical it can be very light-hearted but the lyricism is thought-provoking," she told the National Indigenous Times.

"It's gorgeous music, very catchy and satisfying to listen to, but the things being said feel very deep."

"I was talking with the cast about being white-passing, and expecting a few white roles, but my first role outside of university is Indigenous which is really cool. It's representing the spectrum of Indigenous representation," she said.

Ms Lockyer, despite her youth, is already a bit of a stage veteran, but took an interesting route to her career.

"I did ballet for seven years until I was 11, so I've always been performing, I am comfortable on stage.

"I did accents and characters, playing make believe well past the age where most people are playing make believe.

"After high school it was not my first choice, I started a Bachelor of Science with the intention to study medicine, but I was very young and not ready... then I remembered visiting Aboriginal Theatre at WAAPA during high school so I thought I would give it a shot, one week in and I thought 'this is it, this is my life'."

She said the long struggle for change, and the need to keep hope alive, is at the heart of the play.

"There's a line in the play, Billy days 'in another 50 years we will be putting up with the same bullshit'... but change feels slow in the moment, but things can get better over time, from one generation to the next... there is a hope for the future."

Iya Ware from the Kala Lagaw Ya people of the Mer Island, Torres Strait, is the assistant stage manager on Panawathi Girl.

From the age of seven, Ms Ware helped her mother teach traditional Torres Strait Islander dance and her career has evolved from there.

"We used to perform and teach kids around different primary schools. We performed at the Governor's House... I got into dancing, singing, contemporary tap and jazz, sang in choirs," she told National Indigenous Times.

"Then I started auditioning for things, played Annie in Sydney... and did a Diploma in Screen acting. This is my first time in stage management and it is really cool. I am learning so much.

"At the heart of the story... is how change can happen in positive ways and individuals can create change in their own communities.

"And it is also about how you can always go home... Right now, I am on Whadjuk Noongar Country.

"It is a beautiful thing - your Country is always calling you no matter where you live. Going home may be hard, but you always find answers there, spiritually, with family - it is good for you, it resets you spiritually to set foot on your own Country."

Wimiya Woodley, a Yindjibarndi man from Roebourne in the Pilbara, plays Billy - Pansy's son.

He has been acting for two years and did an Aboriginal Performance certificate and a Diploma of Screen acting at WAAPA.

He made short films in Roebourne and Panawathi Girl is his first major theatre role.

"Being in my home town, growing up watching people play sport, I didn't like sport as much as performing," he said.

"I would watch my aunties and my uncles just being themselves, they would find themselves - they did that around me and I saw that as a performance, I observed everyone and everything, and I took that and held it.

"I decided I wanted to be a performer. I love it... I love Dave Milroy's plays. I am very excited to be in one of his plays."

Asked what he would like the audience to take away from Panawathi Girl, Mr Woodley told National Indigenous Times he hoped it would foster more understanding.

"I want them, when they go back home, when they see drunken blackfellas that are walking in the city, in the streets, to have some empathy."

The Perth Festival describes Panawathi Girl as a "bold new production from Yirra Yaakin... Set amidst a time of great political change" that "will have you questioning if much has changed at all, even as it has you tapping your toes and yearning for more."

By Giovanni Torre