THEATRE 44 is expecting a busy few months with a jam-packed calendar of events including musical performances, a play and workshops.
Board member Deb Hunt said the Repertory Society’s busy season commences with a musical performance called Swingin’ on a Star on Sunday June 22, presented by the Expression Glee Ensemble and Marilyn Harris.
“Marilyn is a singing teacher with decades of experience, and three or four times a year what she does is give her students an opportunity to perform in public,” she said.
“So it’s largely young people, though not exclusively, and you’ll have some people who are very new to stage work, and some who are very experienced and highly talented.”
Ms Hunt said these musical performances have been very popular in the past.
“It’s always entertaining and always well received,” she said.
Following will be a steampunk musical in development, written by Armando Licul on Saturday June 28.
Ms Hunt said that about three years ago the renewal of the Repertory Society began with Mr Licul’s production of Hobart Higgins and the Owls of Death, a spoof on Sherlock Holmes.
“It was screamingly funny, very physical theatre,” she said.
“This now is Armando developing a new work, which is set in Victorian London.
“It’s a steampunk musical, which means its’ science fiction with a focus on steam power. He’s got a fantastic cast of unique characters in the play.”
This performance will be a part of the development of the work, Ms Hunt said.
“This reading will give him an opportunity, it’s like a development tool for a playwright, a reading that he can gauge the audience response to the songs and the characters and the language.
And he’s going to project imagery behind the characters.”
Entry for the performance will be by donation, and the bar will be open for the event.
In October, the Repertory Society will present Little Women the Musical, which Ms Hunt said has already garnered plenty of interest from fans of the book.
“The amount of people who have said to me oh, Little Women, fantastic,” she said.
“That book has never been out of print since it was written 150 years ago. And it’s still relevant now because it’s about four very different girls growing up, facing the challenges of how do you live your life? What do you want to do and how do you go about it? And what will make you happy?”
Foundation Broken Hill will be sponsoring the musical performance, which Ms Hunt said the group were grateful for.
“It makes a huge difference because the rights to put on a musical are very expensive, and the theatre needs to make money,” she said.
The group is also offering Stage Actors Guild Sessions on Sundays between 6.30-9pm, for actors and performers, and a workshop program facilitated by Carlo Drama for adults who are new or out of practise when it comes to acting, will return this October.
All events and information can be found on the Theatre 44 website: https://www.theatre44.com/
