Community Theatre

World Premiere of New Play from The Sum of Us Author

THE Old Mill Theatre (WA) is staging the world premiere of the latest play from Hollywood writer and director David Stevens (best known forThe Sum of Us, A Town Like Alice and Breaker Morant) from June 22.

Described as a “love story re-invented”, The Beast and The Beauty re-works the classic tale of magic and enchantment and sets it in the Australian outback of the late 1880s.

The so-called beast is an ordinary man, horribly disfigured in a bushfire as a baby.

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MLOC Witches of Eastwick a Family Affair

MLOC (Victoria) is presenting The Witches of Eastwick from June 15 to 23, 2012 at the Phoenix Theatre, Elwood.

The cast is a family affair, with six sets of family members out of just over forty performers. These include mother and daughter teams Loretta and Ebony Richardson, Lucy and Lily Nicolson and Barbara Mendleson and Amy Howden. Married couples include Margot and Colin Sephton and Margaret and Paul Boyd, while Amber and Kayla Krause are sisters.

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David Williamson’s After the Ball for Beenleigh

South East Queensland audiences can catch David Williamson’s highly regarded 1997 play After The Ball when thePhoenix Ensemble presents it over it over four weekends in June, at the Pavilion Theatre, Beenleigh (Logan City), half way between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Director Maria Grills has assembled a cast combining Phoenix regulars and newcomers for this drama, which offers a frank, critical look at Australian suburban family life in the 1960s and 1990s.

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Romeo and Juliet for Castle Hill

Castle Hill Players (NSW) present Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s timeless tale of star-cross’d love, at the Pavilion Theatre from June 1 – 23.

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Next to Normal: Victorian Amateur Premiere for Fab Nobs

Next to Normal is anything but, as it straps audiences in for a rollercoaster ride through the devastating effects of mental illness on a seemingly normal family. To get to the ending of the triple Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical means making an emotional investment as an audience member. With music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, the musical has been acclaimed for its poignant dramatisation of mental illness.

Fab Nobs Theatre (Bayswater, Vic.) will stage the Victorian Amateur Premiere of Next to Normal from June 15 – 30.

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Pippin: Magic To Do at Miranda

Miranda Musical Society (NSW) presents Pippin from June 15-24 at Sutherland Memorial School of Arts.

The winner of five Tony Awards in 1973, and playing 1944 Broadway performances, Pippin has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked).

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Key for Two: Farce for Gold Coast.

1 mistress + 2 lovers = a three-for-all

Gold Coast Little Theatre will stage the British farce Key for Two by John Chapman and Dave Freeman from June 16.

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Community Theatre at St Gabriel’s

Graham Ford recently finished a season of Brigadoon at St Gabriel’s Theatre Group Reservoir (Victoria), which he describes as a unique experience.

St Gabriel’s is real community theatre. Associated with the Catholic Church in Reservoir, it has been going for 44 years and they do only one production a year. Auditions are the last Sunday in August and they rehearse religiously every Sunday evening until the production at the end of November. There was one intensive weekend as well.

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Calamity Jane: Wild West Musical for Central Coast

When Wyong Musical Society’s production of Calamity Jane hits the stage on the NSW Central Coast on June 1, the calamities faced by the title character of the musical Western, originally starring Doris Day, remain similar to those experienced in real life today, according to leading lady Shayne Leslie. Standing up for what seems right at the time and getting in trouble for shooting first and asking questions later, Shayne says “I enjoy the spirit which the character of Jane imbues.

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Third Generation for Waverley Pirates

In Waverley Lugar Brae Players (Bondi Junction, NSW) May 2012 production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, staged in this, the company's 53rd year, both of the lead players are carrying on a family tradition of performing with the company.

Soprano Chloe Anne McKenzie plays Mabel.

In the late 1960s John and Margaret McKenzie came from New Zealand and became part of the Players. Both John and Margaret performed leading roles in a number of productions and Margaret later became the Musical Director.

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