Community Theatre

Poignant Comedy Quartet for Limelight

GET ready to laugh, sigh and cry a little as four retired opera singers take you into the bittersweet world of facing up to age and mortality in September 2020. 

Written by Ronald Harwood and directed by Gwen Browning at Limelight Theatre WA, Quartet is set in an aged care home with Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred ready to celebrate Verdi’s birthday with an annual concert. 

Reggie’s ex-wife Jean arrives and upsets the balance, continuing to act like a diva and refusing to sing – but the show must go on. 

Next to Normal for Melville Theatre

A MUSICAL about mental health is making its way to Melville Theatre (WA) from August 21, 2020. 

Playing Together, Staying Together

How the Grey family and Brisbane Arts Theatre stayed creative in quarantine. Beth Keehn reports.

Virtual Plays at Adelaide Rep

The Adelaide Rep has been producing quality theatre for over 100 years and lay claim to being the oldest surviving theatre company in the Southern hemisphere. They have survived two world wars, the depression and the ‘recession we had to have’. Unfortunately, COVID-19 got the better of them and they have had to close the theatre for 2020.

Adelaide Hills Arts Community Hub Seeks Volunteers

The picturesque Stirling Community Theatre on Avenue Road has been nestled between the steamroller park and the kindy for over 130 years.

Rehearsing in Isolation

Music Theatre International, Australasia has tools for community theatres and schools to stay connected with their cast during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nikol McKail reports.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, our usual way of doing things has been uprooted with the new practices of quarantine and social distancing. Public spaces have either shut down or restricted contact, non-essential employees have moved to work remotely, and students everywhere are regularly taking their classes online.

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

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.

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.

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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