Bendigo's Arena Theatre Company wins its first Helpmann Award

The company's show Robot Song received the Best Presentation for Children and Young People Helpmann Award on Sunday night.

Robot Song was written and directed by Jolyon James and premiered in Bendigo last year. It is currently touring around Australia.

Her artistic parents help create resources to give Juniper the skills she needs.

Arena's artistic director Christian Leavesley said the Helpmann Award was recognition from Australia's theatre industry was touching for the theatre company.

"Our industry peers have told us Robot Song was the best children's show in the country last year and that's really special," he said.

"(The win) validates our move (to Bendigo). The show premiered here and so it feels like it's something we can share with Bendigo.

"What we really hope, one of the biggest gifts, is that more people see the show, people that wouldn't have otherwise paid attention will know its on and venues will want to put it on."

Robot Song writer and director Jolyon James said being the parent of a young child on the Autism Spectrum meant he could bring a lot of creativity to his parenting.

"Around the time of the diagnosis there's a lot of concern, and we just saw this beautiful child who needed some help to function in a world with very prescribed norms" he said.

"(Children on the spectrum) have very particular ways of seeing the world and once we unlock that, as parents, it's a lot easier. Then we can assist them and help them, and as they grow, they learn to deal with the world on their own terms.

"The way my son sees the world is a revelation. He's so eccentric and wonderful.

"The robot in the show was a project that we did at home together. We built this robot out of hard rubbish and bits and pieces from an op shop."

Mr Leavesley said it took over two years to produce and premiere Robot Song.

"Jolyon deserves so much credit he's the writer, designer and director of it," Mr Leavesley said. "It's a personal story about his relationship with his son.

"It (took Arena) about two-and-a-half years (to produce) but for Jol he's revealed so much of himself, so beautifully, on the the stage.

"The combination of honesty, beauty and optimism (in Robot Song) are all things we really need."

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