The Nance Circus is coming to town

We have less than a week to go before the madness that is The Nance hits the Willy stage.  With an all-singing, all-dancing cast of eight, 17 sold out performances, strippers, fairies, monsters and cowboys, 70-odd costumes and a revolve, this is one of our most challenging and exciting shows ever.  A thousand thanks to director Chris Baldock and his cast and to everyone who has worked on the show for all your hard work.

Chookas for a fabulous season!

Barb Hughes
Production Coordinator

 

                         Director Chris with his assistant, Ella.

Open Rehearsal The Nance

If I Should Die Before I Wake - Auditions

If I Should Die Before I Wake
by Rebecca Lister
Director: Ellis Ebell

Auditions: Sunday 24 April & Monday 25 April
Season: 30 June - 16 July

The play is set in the early 2000’s in a back yard in suburban Melbourne.            

The Anderson family faces an uncertain future. Gillie, a woman with a lifelong intellectual disability, her sister Isabelle and their mother Joan have lived within the boundaries defined by Gillie’s childlike need for routine and ritual.  Having cared for Gillie since her birth, Joan now faces the end of her own life and must decide her elder daughter’s future when she is no longer capable of being Gillie’s primary carer.  As with every family, critical decisions must be made in the midst of unspoken tensions, unconditional love and a great deal of humour.

This play has not been performed by amateurs and is WLT’s entry in the VDL Awards.

CHARACTERS:

Joan Anderson – mid 60’s  

Mother to Gillian and Isabelle, her husband Tom is dead.  She has terminal cancer and is in a dilemma about what to do about Gillie who is totally dependent on Joan and has been her entire life. 

Note: The actor playing the role of Joan is required to 'smoke' : however, this will be a simulation using a special prop cigarette WLT has acquired.

Gillian Anderson – late 30’s  

Gillian has an intellectual disability with traits of autism. She has an intellectual age of about 7 or 8.

Isabelle Anderson – early 30’s  

Isabelle is married to Robert and lives close by, however, she is still very much involved with the family.  She has no children.

Auditions by appointment only.
Appointments and enquiries: ellis@pagebell.com

PLEASE NOTE

• Audition scenes from the play will be available at the theatre on the day. Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your audition time to enable you to look at the audition pieces.

• Please bring with you a completed audition form CLICK HERE - download here, along with a non returnable head shot with your name written on the back in case it gets separated from the form.

• Rehearsals will be on a Sunday from 1.00pm till 6.00pm and Mondays 7.30pm till 10.30pm.

Production Coordinator: Bernadette Wheatley
Set Design : David Dare
Lighting Design : Craig Pearcey
Sound Design : Neil Williamson & Ellis Ebell

Front of House Heroes

A Bakery doth a Theatre make.....

Our next Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Entertainment

Our second Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Entertainment on 8 May at 2pm covers the years 1968-1990. In 1968 Barefoot in the Park was the first production in this building at 2 Albert Street Williamstown. Ellis Ebell (pictured on the right in this rare photograph from a rehearsal of the production with June Lownds seated and Helen Koefed on the left) will tell of his experiences leading up to that first show in which he was also a performer. As well as Ellis, other stalwarts of those years who will take part in the scene readings include Ray and Rosemary Hare, Maggie McInnes, Marian Sinclair, Les Terrill and Bryan Thomas. As well as a scene from Barefoot in the Park there will be scenes from ....... Aha! You'll have to come to find out what they are but comedy and drama are both well represented. There will also be an archival display in the foyer for you to view and read, with a delicious afternoon tea to follow.

No bookings required, it's free and it starts promptly at 2pm.

Yes we know 8 May is Mothers’ Day! 

Have you given your mum fluffy slippers and a bunch of chrysanths for the last 3 years? How about a different Mothers’ Day treat this year  â€¦. lunch at the Prince Albert Hotel across the road from WLT followed by a delightful onstage entertainment followed by afternoon tea?

The hotel has Mothers’ Day lunch from noon. Bookings  9397 5117.


Thanks to Judi, Lois, Robyn (Ladies Who Lunch) & Shirley for this detail and organisation - looking forward to another fantastic anniversary event!

This Month in the Archives

February Event

Gala Dinner Dance - 20 August

For Pete's Sake

 

Recently I had the great pleasure of dropping in on the Open Rehearsal for our next production – The Nance. The small excerpt I was able to see makes me think that this one is going to be something special. It was so good to see so many talented people hard at work down at the theatre – designers, directors, back stage folk, cast, caterers etc etc. And it occurred to me that there is one very important role in every production that we hear very little about…..

The role of the Production Coordinator (PC) is something we don’t hear much about, yet every production has one. The PC is the go-between between the production and the company. It’s almost always a member of the Committee and the task is to make sure the Director has everything he/she needs to make the show a success. I guess you could equate it with the role of a Producer in film or TV.

Way before auditions, the PC will assist the Director in establishing a design team and a backstage crew. If the director doesn’t have, say, a Sound Designer for the show, the job of the PC is to find one. The key skills required here are the ability to cajole, persuade, negotiate and/or grovel.  Not necessarily in that order.

Once the cast is on board, the PC will attend most rehearsals and make sure everyone has what they need. It’s amazing how many tasks fall ‘in between’ everyone else’s position descriptions! For example, if the script calls for a garden arch covered in ivy - this could be seen as a construction thing or a set dressing thing or a props thing. The role of the PC is to make sure someone has it under control! 

If there are things that look like ‘they just happen’ odds on the PC has coordinated their completion. Things like making sure the programme comes together, getting bios and director’s notes by a deadline (see section relating to cajoling/grovelling above) and organising photos of the actors and the foyer display. 

At every WLT Committee meeting we hear reports from the PC not just of the current production, but all upcoming productions this year – just so we know where things are at. So the link between the production and the company is very strong and continuous.

Barb Hughes (pictured) is the PC for The Nance. She and Chris have assembled a remarkable team and they are working through some very complex requirements of this show. We wish her all the best! And, at the end of the production, if the Director is still sane, the tech elements have worked seamlessly and the cast genuinely feels part of the WLT family, then the PC will have done her job. And very few people will ever know.

See you in the foyer!

Peter  

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Members & Friends

Two Birthdays and a Wedding

Congratulations to Chris Baldock who recently celebrated his 50th Birthday with not one, but four, birthday cakes and a trip to the Zoo.

And to Janine Evans (pictured) who also celebrated a significant birthday with a lovely fancy dress party.

Much love to Melissa New and Stephen Shinkfield (pictured) on their recent marriage.


 

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We left out David Dare from last months congratulations to Lyrebird Award winners. 



Congratulations to him for taking out the Best Set in a Musical or Variety over $30,000 with Babirra Music Theatre's production of The King and I. Sorry to miss that one David which is a timely prompt for folks to let us know these stories so we can publish and mention our various members and friends when they do fabulous things.
 

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More news of the talented and prolific Gabe Bergmoser (WLT’s Beauty Queen of Leenane)  His first novel, ‘Boone Shepherd’, has been published and will be launched at Readings in Carlton on 26 April at 6.30 pm - CLICK HERE for more details.  He’s also  just finished writing another play and we hear a whisper that currently under consideration by unnamed studio is a screenplay (or screen plays or is that maybe a series?).  Congratulations Gabe, we knew you when…
 

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Great to see WLT members and friends treading the boards across the various Melbourne companies. Two of our much loved actors do this fairly regularly and they always thrill and get a crowd. Well done Janine Evans and Rowan Howard. Janine (pictured) is currently appearing in The 1812 Theatre's production in association with SwampFox Productions The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell. While Rowan is at Essendon Theatre Company in their production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress and we love this pic of him with the women!

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Out thoughts and condolences go to Life Member Robyn Legge and family at the recent passing of husband John's 101 year old mother.

Her talents go on and on -
Kerry Drumm 

We’ve all been admiring the 70^th Birthday wall designed by the talented Kerry Drumm…but her talents go on and on. We’ve mentioned here before that she is an animator (personal friend of Shaun the Sheep), but she’s been busy writing and filming as well. She’s written and co-produced a screenplay, Tanked. A three minute sample has been filmed, directed by co-producer Katrina Mather, and that has been submitted to We Are Moving Stories CLICK HERE.
                                                                                                                                                        Actors Rowan Howard and Cameron Palin 
© Kerry Drumm and Katrina Mathers
 

Filming took place during the season of Over the River and Through the Woods… Rowan Howard as you’ll remember played Nick, and Kerry was ASM and sometimes SM.  So, after filming all afternoon, Kerry and Rowan would race to the theatre just in time for him to get ready and for her to do all that food preparation and setting the stage!

Go here to Kerry’s website CLICK HERE  to see the trailer of Tanked, and read the credits. You’ll see a couple of familiar names amongst the actors! And there’s a thanks to WLT as well.  

Katrina and Kerry are working to adapt and develop Tanked into an Australian feature film and are hoping to attract the attention of an experienced feature film producer who is excited by the possibilities of Tanked. 

For further information or comment you can contact tankedfilm@gmail.com CLICK HERE.

Congratulations Kerry and we wish you well in the next stages of this project!

Shirley Sydenham

Travels with Emma

Diary Dates