Arena Theatre Company is looking for local writers, directors and performers to help create and develop new shows in 2019.
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From this year, Arena productions will begin their life in Bendigo while utilising talent from the Goldfields region.
The productions Arena showed last year began their development in Melbourne prior to the company moving to Bendigo at the end of 2017.
Artistic director Christian Leavesley said building relationships with regional talent and using them to create new shows was the next big step for Arena.
“When we start creating shows that have been made from scratch in Bendigo. It's a big leap forward,” he said. “The things we want to do with local actors are new works. So we are looking around for artists that have a lot of talent but also, equally, have a love of working with and for young people. They are the two things we really look for.”
Leavesley said the company feels at home in Bendigo.
“From our first show, when we got all those kids in to see Robot Song, we started to feel we were (part of Bendigo),” he said.
“After seeing local theatre companies’ shows and visiting schools (for a year), we are able to give (young people) opportunities to come and work with us.
“In Melbourne we didn’t have that. (The city) doesn’t have the inter-connectivity that we are already seeing in Bendigo.”
As well as new shows, Leavesley also hopes to find a local group of actors to take part in a week-long workshop festival he is planning at The Capital.
“It really is an opportunity for people to develop their work and have people from all around the country to take a look at it,” he said.
“It will almost be like a little festival where we all get to see each other's works in their embryonic stage. We want a local group to be a part of that.
“Usually the group is a writer and director but groups can be self-contained like a troupe.”
For more information or to submit an expression of interest phone Arena Theatre Company on 5463 5160 or email info@arenatheatre.com.au
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