Community Theatre

RENT for Coffs Harbour

When RENT opened in 1996, AIDS was very much in the public eye. Fifteen years later, RENT’s legacy includes 5,124 performances at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre (1996-2008); four Tony awards; a Pulitzer Prize for composer Jonathan Larson; and even a dedicated fan base known as Rent-heads. 

But can the phenomenon continue? Can RENT mean something in 2011, when issues like gay marriage have taken over the headlines and AIDS, though still not cured, no longer dominates public conversation?

It’s time to find out.

Spring Awakening by Monash Students for Melbourne Fringe

Tony Award winning rock musical Spring Awakening will be presented from September 30 to October 8 as part of the 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival in a co-production by Monash Uni Student Theatre (MSA) and Monash University Academy of Performing Arts.

An electrifying fusion of morality, rebellion, sexual awakening and rock & roll that is thrilling audiences across the world like no other musical in years.

‘Oh Yes It Is!’.. The Pantomime Comes Back to Bankstown

The classic pantomime returns to Bankstown (NSW) this October, with a magical retelling of the classic tale Aladdin by Bankstown Theatre Company (BTC).

It’s been several years since the local community theatre group produced a pantomime and writer and director Arthur Pickering said the time was right for it return to the local stage.

Keating the Musical: Anniversary for Western Sydney Theatre.

When Paul Keating became Prime Minister of Australia Cameron Baker was aged just two.

Now the 23 year old computer programmer by day and talented singer / actor by night has the political role of his life as the PM himself in WOFTAM Productions’ NSW amateur premiere of the Casey Bennetto’s smash hit Keating the Musical.

The musical is on stage from Friday 30th of September until the 8th of October at the Town Hall Theatre in Campbelltown. 

Ghosts at Newcastle Theatre

Newcastle Theatre Companypresents Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen from October 10 to 22.

Pygmalion for Lower Blue Mountains

Glenbrook Players (NSW) will present George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion as their final production for 2011

This famous play, original source of the possibly more famous musical My Fair Lady, tells of the remaking of chirpy

Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into an elegant lady capable of passing as a princess in High Society.

Professor of Linguistics Henry Higgins prides himself on his ability to transform the least promising material and

Don’t Give Up Your Day Job: Tom Sweeney

Stage Whispers begins a news series on community theatre enthusiasts and their contrasting day jobs.

Meet Tom Sweeney, Community Relations Officer for Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium by day and President of the Willoughby Theatre Company and Director extraordinaire by night.

What does your day job involve?

I have to market a cemetery and crematorium, and most people say why bother? Well we have competition down the street and a name change to promote.

The hills are alive with The Sound of Music in S E Queensland

Phoenix Ensemble (Queensland) brings Rogers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music to Beenleigh’s Pavilion Theatre on 14 October.

Directed by Tracey Hutley, the production will play over five weekends – including two matinees – in what promises to be a blockbuster season for the renowned ensemble.

For Tracey, a large part of the show’s enduring appeal – aside from memorable songs and music – is the amazing story of Maria von Trapp.

All’s well with Perth’s zippy zany Shakespeare

ANIMATION, puppetry and live music are coming together this October for a 90-minute version of Shakespeare’s classic All’s Well That Ends Well at the Old Mill Theatre from October 23 to 29, 2011.

Directed by Sarah McKellar for the North Sea Boat Terminals Theatre Company, she says it will still be Shakespeare’s words – but different to other productions seen in Perth before.

“It’s an innovative, slightly crazy version of All’s Well That Ends Well,” McKellar said.

BuSTCo presents Thirteen for School Holidays

BuSTCo, the Deakin University student theatre group (Vic), will present “13” by Jason Robert Brown as their major musical production for 2011, at the Kel Watson Theatre from September 28 to October 2.

“13” opens in the not so distant future, where Evan Goldman, a Jewish-American man transports us back to the year preceding his Bar Mitzvah (Bar Mitzvah: the Jewish rite of passage from boyhood into manhood at the age of 13)

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