Quintin Gravatt as Gomez and Giuliana Baggoley as Morticia in The Addams Family Musical. Photo: Ben Appleton.
As Canberra heads into spring, it’s the start of the city’s community theatre season with productions bringing to life months of set building, script-writing, and rehearsals.
In the next three weeks, the city has three performances available to fans from north to south.
In Gungahlin, the Green Oak Theatre is busy rehearsing When He Cries – an original stage play about imprisonment and redemption.
In Belconnen, Hawker College is putting on the classic musical Little Shop of Horrors for their annual showcase, and, on the south side, the Canberra Philharmonic is performing the Broadway hit The Addams Family Musical.
Unlike traditional theatre, there are no professionals here; everyone involved is a volunteer. Time is squeezed out after work or between school hours to get productions off the ground.
For the people who commit to running these performances, it is a special kind of dedication that sees them through the challenges.
“It’s different every time,” said When He Cries writer, director, and producer Shaylie Gillies.
Shaylie started the Green Oaks Theatre company in 2019. She works full-time as a teacher and, in her spare time, writes, produces, and directs.
“It’s very hard where you go straight from a full day of teaching classes to rehearsals, but you still have to be a teacher in some ways,” she said.
When He Cries is a fictional drama about a man sentenced to 10 years for armed robbery.
Actor Camden McCooey, playing Paddy Eoin, one of the main characters, described it as a vibrant experience.
“What I like most is being able to make the audience feel something. Being able to hear reactions from the audience is just so validating.”
But for every actor like Ryan performing in the limelight, there is someone behind the scenes, making costumes, working on music, or, in the case of Liz Jones, building sets.
“I have no acting or writing talent but I get to be part of a show that has a lot of good actors,” said Liz.
As set designer and stage manager, Liz makes the production run smoothly. She describes set building as a puzzle, and putting that together is how she expresses her creativity.
“I think production week as a whole is just such a good time because there are so many parts of it that you don’t see up until that point,” she said.
“It’s so fun. I find theatre in general is really rewarding.”
On the other side of the city, it’s a sentiment echoed by Bradley McDowell, who is the production manager for The Addams Family Musical at Erindale Theatre
Brad handles a bit of everything, coordinating and delegating tasks to help the production run smoothly.
He’s been involved in theatre since school, but is in new waters with this latest production.
“I never, ever, ever, ever, [thought] I’d do a musical because I couldn’t sing. But sure enough, after a couple of years, I kind of transitioned out of doing plays,” he said.
“I love shows that are fun and funny, and Addams Family has got to be one of the funniest, most well-written shows that’s been on in Canberra.”
For Brad, what makes a community theatre production special is how many people get involved on their own time.
“There’s upwards of 50 to 60 people working on this show. You’ve got a cast of just over 30 people, we’ve got set builders … we’ve got crew members, we’ve got stage hands. It’s a massive undertaking. All guns are blazing for this production, it’s going to be going to be quite special.”
Brad got his start performing in high school. It’s a common origin story among volunteers.
Back on the north side, the next generation of theatre-lovers are cutting their teeth.
Ryan Fisher, 16, attends Hawker College, where school plays take on another level.
Hawker Years 10 to 12 can take a unit to put together a performance.
This year they are doing the classic musical Little Shop of Horrors, where the hapless Seymour cares for the insatiable alien plant Audrey II with hilarious and disastrous results.
Ryan said he volunteered to meet new people, but got sucked in by theatre culture.
“It’s a great experience,” he said.
Despite this being his first production, Ryan can already see himself pursuing theatre in a couple of years when he leaves school.
“This experience alone has changed my perceptions, and I’m thinking it’s also changed other people’s perceptions on what they want to do later in life .”
It’s the passion for performing both in front of and behind the stage that keeps Canberra’s dynamic community theatre environment alive and thriving.
If you want to see one of Canberra’s community theatre performances, click on the links for tickets:
Little Shop of Horrors 11 – 12 September
The Addams Family Musical 28 August – 13 September
When he Cries 11 – 14 September.
