Community Theatre

Canberra Area Theatre Awards Gala Goes Online

Theatres and concert venues may be closed but the maxim “the show must go on” means the 2019 Canberra Area Theatre Awards have still been announced.

Instead of a gala night the coveted ‘gongs’ were handed out in a pre-produced online video.

Dozens of performers and production personnel in the ACT and southern NSW in 2019 had their achievements recognised.

“It’s been a challenging few months,” said Coralie Wood OAM - CEO Cat Awards Ltd

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New Zealand Musical Theatre

Big stars are returning to New Zealand to feature in major pro-am productions of musical theatre blockbusters. David Spicer reports.

In 2019 over 150,000 people attended 19 local musicals staged on sets which were toured around the country by the NZ Musical Theatre Consortium.

The biggest coup was Hayden Tee’s return to New Zealand to play Javert at the Civic Theatre in the Auckland Music Theatre / Amici Productions season of Les Misérables.

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Nineteenth Century Charm, Sherry and Ghosts

In Melbourne and Sydney, community theatres are custodians of historic venues which give audiences a unique experience. Our correspondents Simon Parris and Carol Wimmer describe what it’s like to attend a performance at the Lilydale Athenaeum and Genesian Theatres, respectively.

Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre

Not just a beautiful historic venue, the Athenaeum Theatre, Lilydale is surely one of the most generous and hospitable theatres in Australia.

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Cancelling the Biggest Show on Earth!

Well, maybe not! But when you are a community theatre with a significant diversity of activities, that’s what it seemed like to Ipswich Little Theatre Society members.

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The importance of Postponing Earnest

For St Luke’s Theatre Society, 2020 meant many changes. Firstly, because of construction work on their home premises, they had to find alternate premises for the year. They negotiated with the Anglican Christ Church at Yeronga. The first play was set to be Oscar Wilde’s classic The impo

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Dark Stages

The Stage: The Pavilion Theatre Castle Hill, home of Castle Hill Players

The date: 19th March 2020

The play: Andrew Bovell’s Things I Know to be True

The Director: Me! (Carol Wimmer).

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How to Keep Your Little Theatre Open During the Coronavirus Epidemic

Stage Whispers Perth correspondent Kimberley Shaw shares ways of making your audience and company as safe as possible during the outbreak of Covid 19.

Be aware that advice is changing very quickly, so little theatres (with an audience under 500) may NOT be able to perform next weekend, but these measures will also be helpful when we return to business after the worst of the outbreak.

Bookings

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Community Theatre Cancellations

Community Theatres across Australia are cancelling or postponing their seasons due to the Corona Virus pandemic.

In Victoria CentreStage Geelong announced that their planned programming of West Side Story has been postponed and not be onstage during the originally planned March 27th– April 4th season at the Geelong Arts Centre.

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The Mousetrap Set To Thrill and Chill Hunters Hill

Sadly, this production closed with its dress rehearsal.

The eerie whistling of ‘Three Blind Mice’… a chilling scream… then silence.

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Beautiful - The Carole King Musical At Miranda

This production has been postponed.

Long before she was Carole King, Brooklyn born Carol Joan Klein fought her way into the record business as a teenage songwriter, initially as one of the staff songwriters at the Brill Building and later as a solo artist. She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

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