Community Theatre Seasons 2012

Community Theatre Seasons 2013 feature is now online. Link

Around Australia, Beehive hairdos promise to be all the fashion, with Hairspray The Musical looking like the most popular new release on the community / amateur musical theatre scene. Less than a year after the professional season shuttered in Sydney, the show, which only played professionally in Sydney and Melbourne, is popping up all over the country.

Elsewhere, “I’m ready for my close-up Mr de Mille,” is set to echo from community theatre stages as Sunset Boulevard poses community theatre design and technical crews the biggest question since the Miss Saigon helicopter – how do you make that staircase work?

The Man in the Chair, too, will be choosing The Drowsy Chaperone from his collection of cast recordings to the delight of audiences around the country, after the show’s single city professional success at the MTC.

The stage version of cult film flop Xanadu, only seen in Melbourne in a tent production, which was scheduled to tour, is also now available for the non-professional stage.

On the darker side, award winning intimate musical Next to Normal, with its theme of bi-polar disorder,will be seen on community theatre stages in 2012, following its 2011 Australian premiere at the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Would the members of the local CWA or Probus club get their gear off for a calendar? Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls, where the ladies of the British equivalent, the W.I. looks likely to be popular on community theatre stages across Australia, while Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap continues to spread across our stages during its limited local release.

We offer a survey of the productions which will grace the stage of a community theatre near you in 2012.

Image above - Monty Python's Spamalot at Gosford Musical Society (2011)

 

NSW

Many of Sydney’s Music Theatre companies have announced their seasons.

Willoughby Theatre Company’s 2012 season, which ends the year with the NSW Premiere of Sunset Boulevard (Nov), also features Jekyll and Hyde (Ap), and cabaret show Say A Little Prayer – The Songs of Burt Bacharach (June).

Normally based at the asbestos-plagued Rockdale Town Hall, The Regals and Rockdale musical societies will present their usual busy programs at a variety of venues.

Rockdale Musical Society will stage Songs For a New World (Mar), the NSW Amateur Premiere of Hairspray (May) in association with Canterbury Theatre Guild and Nunsense (Aug / Sep).

The Regals Musical Society presents I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Feb), Sweet Charity (May) and The Hatpin (Oct).

50^th Anniversary celebrations for EUCMS (Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society) in 2012 include productions of My Fair Lady (May / June) and The Mikado.

Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society will stage Aladdin (Jan), Louis Nowra’s Cosi (Mar), The Mikado (May) and Sweet Charity (Sep).

Penrith Musical Comedy Company presents Xanadu The Musical (Feb) and Hairspray The Musical (Aug / Sept).

Engadine Musical Society productions for 2012 are Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (May) and The Sound of Music (Aug).

Shire Music Theatre will present 13 A New Musical by Json Robert Brown (March), Little Shop of Horrors (August) and Rent (December).

Chatswood Musical Society will present Miss Saigon (May) and Dusty (Oct / Nov).

Bankstown Theatre Company commence 2012 with Jerry’s Girls (Mar / Ap), followed by Seussical Jnr(June), launching Bankstown Youth Theatre Company, Australian musical Hash Honey (Aug) and Cosi (Nov).

The Hills Musical Society will present Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision (June) and Calamity Jane (Nov).

NUCMS will stage Blood Brothers (May) & By Jeeves (October).

Waverley Lugar Brae Players’ annual production is the Broadway version of The Pirates of Penzance (May).

Savoy Arts Company’s 2012 production will also be The Pirates of Penzance (Aug / Sep), with performances at Bundanoon and Chatswood’s Zenith Theatre.

Ashfield Musical Society will stage Anything Goes (July) and Jesus Christ Superstar (Oct / Nov) at Concord RSL.

Packemin Productions will present Oliver! by Lionel Bart (Feb) at Riverside Theatre, Parramatta.

Berowra Musical Society will stage The Gondoliers (May) and Oliver! (Oct).

Dural Musical Society will present Me and My Girl (May) and Nunsense (Oct).

Campbelltown Theatre Group’s 2012 season includes musicals High School Musical 2 (Feb / Mar) and Return to the Forbidden Planet (Nov), and plays The Unexpected Guest (May) and Wrong Window (Aug / Sep).

Strathfield Musical Society will stage Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (May) and TOP 4 TEA – 2, a cabaret show (Oct).

Miranda Musical Society have announced Anything Goes (March), Pippin (June) and Disney's Beauty and the Beast ( September).

Hornsby Musical Society presents The Sound of Music (April) and Into the Woods (August / September).

Blue Mountains Musical Society will stage Grease (May) and The Pirates of Penzance (Oct / Nov).

Productions for other companies include; Mosman Musical Society, Xanadu (Ap), Manly Musical Society, Oklahoma! (May) and Sydney Youth Musical Society, City of Angels (July).

Drama companies around Sydney have announced diverse seasons.

Hunters Hill Theatre’s 2012 season features Caravanby Donald Macdonald, Wrong Turn at Lungfish by Garry Marshall and Lowell Ganz, Proof by David Auburn and The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon.

Pymble Players will present Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (Feb / Mar), Morning Sacrifice by Dymphna Cusack (May), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (Jul / Aug) and Secret Bridesmaids' Business by Elizabeth Coleman (Oct), with Scruffy Rufkin’s Christmas Tale by Richie Black and Jodine Muirfor children (Dec).

Castle Hill Players will stage eight productions in a busy 2012 season: Present Laughter by Noël Coward (Feb), Five Females and a Fella by Julie Harriot (Mar), Ruby Moon by Matt Cameron (Ap / May), Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (June), The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow (July / Aug), Snake in the Grass by Alan Ayckbourn (Sep / Oct), Fully Committed by Becky Mode (Oct / Nov) and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (Nov / Dec).

Guild Theatre, at Rockdale, will stage It Was a Dark and Stormy Night by Tim Kelly (Feb / Mar), Come Back To The Five And Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Deanby Ed Gracyzk (May / Jun), Brush With A Body by Maurice Mcloughlin (Aug) and Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher (Nov).

Sutherland Theatre Company presents Sandcastles by Bob Larbey (Feb / Mar), Fiddlers Three by Eric Chappell (Jul / Aug) and Calendar Girls by Tim Firth (Nov).

Theatre on Chester (Epping) begins 2012 with Love Song by John Kolvenbach (Ap / May), followed by The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry (Jul / Aug) and The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni (Nov / Dec).

Epicentre Theatre Company will stage Cosi by Louis Nowra(March), Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo (June) and Hotel Hibiscus by Robert Cockburn (October).

Glenbrook Players will present The Elephant Man (May) and Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett (Nov).

The 2012 / 2013 seasons at Genesian Theatre include Terra Nova (Jan / Feb), The Merchant of Venice (Feb / Mar), Crown Matrimonial (Ap / May), Great Expectations (May / Jun), Money and Friends (Jul / Aug), Witness for the Prosecution (Sep / Oct), Saint Joan (Nov / Dec) and Charley’s Aunt (Jan / Feb 2013).

Henry Lawson Theatre at Werrington starts 2012 with Dry Rot (Feb), Secret Bridesmaids Business (Ap), On Golden Pond (June / July), Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey (Aug) and A Touch of Silk by Betty Roland (Nov).

Outside the Sydney Metropolitan area, on the Central Coast, Gosford Musical Society will present Camp Rock (Jan), A Chorus Line (Mar), Cinderella, the Pantomime (July), Jekyll & Hyde (Aug) and Grease (Oct).

Woy Woy Little Theatre’s 2012 season comprises Natural Causes by Eric Chappell (Feb / Mar), Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring (July / Aug) and The 39 Steps by John Buchan (Oct / Nov).

Wyong Drama Group begins its Diamond Jubilee year with Fawlty Towers (Ap), while Wyong Musical Theatre Company begins 2012 with Calamity Jane.

Hunter Valley companies are offering plenty of variety in their 2012 programs.

Maitland Repertory Theatre opens with Secret Bridesmaids’ Business (Feb), a marital comedy by Elizabeth Coleman, who grew up in neighbouring Newcastle. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Ap / May) brings to a conclusion director Noel Grivas’s staging of Ray Lawler’s Doll trilogy over three years.

Maitland Junior Repertory presents The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (June / Jul), and the Reamus Youth Theatre group offers Shakespeare’s Richard III, adapted by director Rod Ansell (Aug). Tom, Dick and Harry, a farce by Ray Cooney and son Michael (Sep) and a dinner show (Nov / Dec) round out the year.

Newcastle Theatre Company has a seven-show program beginning with Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Jan). Water Child, a new play by NTC member Emma Wood about a couple facing medical problems in trying to start a family (Mar) follows. Other works are: The Accused by Jeffrey Archer (Ap / May); Hannie Rayson’s Hotel Sorrento (June), Deborah Brevoort’s The Women of Lockerbie (Aug), a look at the impact of the crash of a hijacked airliner on a Scottish town; Ophelia Thinks Harder by Jean Betts (Sep / Oct) and Georges Feydeau farce An Absolute Turkey (Nov / Dec).

Theatre on Brunker, in Newcastle suburb Adamstown, specialises in dinner theatre. Its program includes: Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park (March) and John Patrick’s comedy The Curious Savage (Aug / Sep).

Another Newcastle suburban venue, Hamilton’s DAPA Theatre, has the American farce Sex Please, We’re 60, by Michael and Susan Parker (Feb / Mar) and Blank Page Theatre’s staging of local writer Pamela Whalan’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (May). The year’s program will also include Philip Barry’s The Philadelphia Story (Oct).

Pantseat Productions presents The Wiz, with a teenage cast (June), an adult-cast show Into the Woods (Sep) and revue Mix Tape: Remastered (Oct) at Newcastle’s Playhouse.

Youth group Tantrum Theatre will stage Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors at various venues (Mar / Apr / May). Grounded, a play commissioned from writer Alana Valentine about the impact of the grounding of a bulk carrier on the Newcastle coastline on a teenage girl’s dreams of a maritime career, will be staged as a co-production with Sydney’s ATYP. It will premiere at the Newcastle Playhouse Newcastle (May) and transfer to the ATYP Wharf Theatre.

Young People’s Theatre will open the year at its Hamilton venue with Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Feb / Mar). YPT’s other shows are: Seussical the Musical (Ap / May); Charlotte’s Web (July /Aug); and Hansel and Gretel (Sep - Nov).

Hunter Region Drama School will stage three productions at Newcastle’s Playhouse: the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening (May / June); The Twits, an adaptation of a Roald Dahl story (Sep); and A Christmas Carol, adapted by David Holman from Charles Dickens’s novel (Dec).

Opera Hunter will stage the musical Fiddler on the Roof (April). Metropolitan Players 35th Anniversary production will be Lionel Bart's Oliver! at Newcastle’s Civic Theatre (Aug).

Elsewhere in Regional NSW, Lithgow Musical Society’s 25th Anniversary year will feature Jekyll & Hyde (May) and Sunset Boulevard (Nov).

Roo Theatre at Shellharbour will present Babes in the Wood (Jan), The Full Monty (Feb / Mar), Calendar Girls, The Odd Couple, My Fair Lady, Mid-Life – The Crisis Musical and Enemy of the People.

Nowra Players will stage Eurobeat Almost Eurovision (March), Pack of Lies (June), Sinbad – a pantomime (July), Wrong Turn at Lungfish (Aug / Sep) and Stories in the Dark (Nov / Dec).

Productions at Players Theatre, Port Macquarie will be The Sound of Music (Feb / Mar), That’s Entertainment (Mar), Educating Rita (Ap / May), One Act Play Festival (Jun), Pacific Highway (Jul), The Secret Reunion (Aug / Sep) and Jerry’s Girls (Nov).

Arcadians Theatre Group will stage Footloose (March), Company (June), The  Sound of Music (August) and Into the Woods (Nov / Dec).

Murwillumbah Theatre Company will stage The Shoe Horn Sonata (Mar), The Vicar of Dibley (May) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Oct).

2012 sees Ballina Players producing Grease (Jan), Move Over Mrs Markham (Mar / Ap), Chicago (June), The Mousetrap (Sep), Buddy (Nov / Dec) and You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (Jan 2013).

Orange Theatre Company will stage Mame (May), Avenue Q (Jul) and Singin’ in the Rain (Oct).

Coffs Harbour Musical Comedy Company will present Sweet Charity (May) and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Nov).

Other regional productions we’re aware of to date are: Albatross Musical Theatre, The Boy From Oz (June) and Tamworth Musical Society, Shout! The Legend of the Wild One (May).

Victoria

Several of Melbourne’s Music Theatre companies have announced their complete seasons for 2012.

CLOC Musical Productions will present Sunset Boulevard (May) and All Shook Up (Oct) at the National Theatre, St Kilda.

Altona City Theatre celebrates 40 years with The Boy From Oz (July) and Sweeney Todd (Sep).

Babirra Music Theatre’s 2012 productions are Oliver! (June) and Hello, Dolly (Oct).

Williamstown Musical Theatre Company will stage Red Hot and Cole (May) and Next to Normal (Nov).

PLOS Musical Productions will produce The King and I (Jan), Hairspray (July) and The Secret Garen (Jan 2013).

Catchment Players’ 2012 season features Bugsy Malone (April / May), Stepping Out - The Musical(July / Aug) and Hairspray (Oct).

PEP Productions will stage Bat Boy (April) and I Love You Because (Sep).

SPX Waterdale Players will produce Parade The Musical (Mar) and Into the Woods (July).

ARC will stage The Breakfast Club (Feb) and Jekyll and Hyde (July).

Fab Nobs will stage Avenue Q (Mar / Ap) and The Drowsy Chaperone (Nov).

Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria will present Ruddigore (April), A Country Girl (July) and The Mikado (Oct).

NOVA Music Theatre will stage Miss Saigon (May) and 42nd Street (October).

MDMS (Mountain District Musical Society) presents How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (July) and Tim Rice and Elton John's AIDA.

We are aware of individual productions by several other companies.

MLOC Productions, The Witches of Eastwick (June); SLAMS, Hairspray – The Musical (Mar); UMMTA (University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association),Tommy (Ap / May); Cardinia Performing Arts Company (CPAC), Little Shop of Horrors (Feb / Mar); OXAGEN Productions, Monty Python's Spamalot and Players Theatre Company, Urinetown (June / July).

On the Dramatic front in Melbourne, Heidelberg Theatre Company are celebrating their 60th year with productions of The Lion in Winter by James Goldman (Feb / Mar), An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley (May), The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (July), Summer of the 17^th Doll by Ray Lawler (Sep) and Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring (Nov).

Mount Players celebrate 40 years with Art (March), Oklahoma! (May / Jun), Wuthering Heights (Aug / Sep) and Private Lives (Nov / Dec).

Frankston Theatre Group will present Wait Until Dark (April / May), The Mousetrap (Jul / Aug) and Murdered to Death (Nov / Dec).

Malvern Theatre Company will stage Man Alive (Feb / Mar), Never The Sinner by John Logan (Ap / May), An Evening with Chekhov’s Short Comedies (Jun / Jul), Loyal Women by Gary Mitchell (Aug / Sep) and The Glazed Look by Terence Journet (Nov).

Peridot Theatre will present Same Time Next Year (Feb), The Peppercorn Tree (April / May), The Shell Seekers (Aug 10 – 25) and Me and Jezebel (Nov), with a season of One Act plays in June.

Sherbrooke Theatre Company will stage The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto (Mar), Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire (Jul / Aug) and Slim Chance by Peter Gordon (Oct).

The season at Lilydale Athenæum Theatre Company features Glorious  (Mar), M*A*S*H (May / Jun), The Woman in Black (Aug / Sep) and Calendar Girls (Nov).

1812 Theatre begins 2012 with Round and Round The Gardenby Alan Ayckbourn (Mar), followed by Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (Ap / May), I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick (May / June), Brilliant Lies by David Williamson (Aug / Sep), Lonesome West by Martin McDonagh (Oct / Nov) and The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow (Nov / Dec).

STAG (Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group) will present Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (Mar), Scrubbers by Cenarth Fox, directed by the playwright (May / June), Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (Aug / Sep) and Hay Fever by Noël Coward (Nov).

Mordialloc Theatre Company will stage The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, based on Washington Square by Henry James (May), Life and Beth by Alan Ayckbourn (June / July), Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lewis (Sep) and Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson (Nov).

Hartwell Players begin the year with The Real Story of Puss in Boots (Jan) and MacBeth; early productions at GEMCO are Jolly Roger and the Pirate of Abdul the Skinhead(Jan) and Wait Until Dark (Mar), Beaumaris Theatre Inc, To Kill A Mockingbird (Mar) and the first 2012 production at Essendon Theatre Company is Caravan by Donald McDonald (Mar).

In regional Victoria, Geelong Repertory Theatre Company presents The 39 Steps by John Buchan (Feb), Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel (Ap), Romeo and Juliet (Jun / Jul) by Shakespeare, Our Town by Thornton Wilder (Aug / Sep) and The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett (Nov / Dec).

Red Cliffs Musical Society (Mildura) will present Chicago (Sept).

BLOC Music Theatre (Ballarat) will stage Zombie Prom (Feb) andOklahoma! (May), while Ballarat Lyric Theatre will produce Hairspray – The Musical (Aug).

Latrobe Theatre Company will present Disney’s My Son Pinocchio (May), Sweeney Todd (July) and Are You Being Served (Nov).

Geelong Lyric Theatre will present Hairspray – The Musical (May) and The King and I (Oct).

Individual productions by other companies include: Leongatha Lyric Theatre, Rent (Jul); Wonthaggi Theatrical Group, Anything Goes (May/Jun); Wangaratta Players, Back to the 80's (Aug) and Warragul Theatre Company, Carmen - The Musical (May).

Queensland

Centenary Theatre Group’s season includes the amateur premiere of a new improved version of Breaker Morant by Ken Ross (Sep), Wrong Turn at Lungfish (Mar), Perve by Stacey Gregg (May), Death and Deceit on the Nile by Peter Di Pietro (July / Aug), and The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie (Nov).

SQUIDS will present Dimboola (Feb), West Side Story (May), and the Australian premiere of Miracle on 34^th Street (Nov).

Phoenix Ensemble begin 2012 with I’m too sexy for the 90s(Mar), followed by After the Ball (June), Buddy: The Musical (Aug) and Avenue Q (Oct / Nov).

Savoyards Musical Comedy Society will stage Miss Saigon (June) and Cole Porter’s Anything Goes (Sept-Oct).

Harvest Rain will present James & the Giant Peach (Jan), The Wizard of Oz (Feb), Suckers (Mar), You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (Mar), The Never Ending Story (Ap) and Hairspray.

Queensland Musical Theatre will stage Lionel Bart’s Oliver! (June) and Sweet Charity (Oct / Nov)

The 2012 season at Villanova Players includes Money & Friends (Mar), Picasso at the Lapine Agile (Jun), En Suite (Aug) and Diary of a Scoundrel (Nov).

Oscar Theatre Company will present a return season of Spring Awakening and Next to Normal.

Arts Theatre in Brisbane will stage The Stories of the Miracles at Cookies Table (Jan), Summer of the Aliens (Feb), The Boys Next Door (Mar), As You Like It (Ap), Avenue Q (Jun), The Body Snatcher (Aug), The Last Hero (Sep) and Calendar Girls (Nov).

Arts Children’s Theatre will present Hansel and Gretel (Jan), The Wizard of Wonderland (Feb), Pinocchio (Ap), Narnia (Jun), The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Sep) and Dora the Explorer – Dora’s Pirate Adventures (Nov).

Individual productions already announced include: Theatre Genesis, Sweet Fanny Adams by Peter Pinne and Don Battye (Jan); Ignations Musical Society, Sweeney Todd (Mar) and Blue Fish Theatricals, Chicago.

On the Gold Coast, several 2012 seasons have been announced.

Spotlight Theatrical Company will stage Seussical (Feb / Mar), Forever Plaid (Ap), Blood Brothers (May / June), Aladdin and His Magic Lamp – Panto (Jun / Jul), All Shook Up (Aug / Sep), In the Mood Again(Sep / Oct) and Hairspray (Nov).

Javeenbah Theatre’s season features Doubt (Jan), Nunsense (Mar), Running Up a Dress (May), The Odd Couple (Jul), Proof (Sep) and Spring Awakening (Nov).

Tweed Theatre Company will present Peter Pan The Musical(Ap), Fame The Musical (Jul) and Find the Lady (Oct).

Gold Coast Little Theatre will present Cosi by Louis Nowra (Jan / Feb), Daughters of Heaven by Michelanne Forster (Ap / May), Key for Two by John Chapman and Dave Freeman(Jun / Jul), Kaleidoscope–One Act Play Festival (Jul), Fiddler on the Roof (Sep) and Calendar Girls by Tim Firth (Nov / Dec).

Neptune Productions will stage Very Cool Cats of Jacamasu (Jan), Chicago (May), Guys and Dolls (Sep) and Christmas Cabaret (Dec).

Tugun Theatre Company begins 2012 with Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Feb) and Sock – A Thriller (May).

Beenleigh Theatre will stage Essgee's Pirates of Penzance (Mar) and Top Hat Productionswill present In The Mood Again (Sep).

Elsewhere in regional Queensland Ipswich Musical Theatre’s 2012 season includes Into the Woods and The Boy From Oz.

Caloundra Chorale and Theatre Company will present Charlotte’s Web (Jan) and Old Time Music Hall.

Cairns Little Theatre will stage Iron by Rona Munro (Feb / Mar), Duets by Peter Quilter (April / May), The Removalists by David Williamson (June / July), A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt (Sep) and Calendar Girls by Tim Firth (Nov).

Coolum Theatre Players will present Flying Feathers by Derek Benfield (Mar / Ap), The Great Pretenders – Encore- variety cabaret (July)and It's Only Make Believe - a Jukebox Musical by Ovation (Oct / Nov).

 

Western Australia

In a diverse year in W.A. community theatre, World Premieres of four local works have already been announced.

Darlington Theatre Players will stage the World premiere of youth musical Almost Oklahoma by Laverne Kirton (Feb – Mar), followed by AIDA by Tim Rice and Elton John (Jun).

Old Mill Theatre will present two World Premieres, the drama Flesh Woundsby Jessica Messenger (Mar) andThe Beast and the Beauty by David Herbert (Jun-Jul). Other 2012 productions are Falsettos by James Lapine and William Finn (Feb), and  Parramatta Girls by Alana Valentine (May), Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler (Aug / Sep), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee (Oct) and The 39 Steps (Nov / Dec).

KADS’ 2012 season features Summer of the Aliens by Louis Nowra (Feb – Mar), the World Premiere of Culpeper Code by Stephan Jean De Jonghe (May – Jun), Private Lives by Noël Coward (Jul – Aug), One Act Play Season (Aug – Sep) and Come Back Little Sheba by William Inge (Nov 9 – Dec).

Goldfields Repertory Club in Kalgoorlie will present Kander and Ebb’s Chicago (Jun), Season of One Act Plays (Sep) and a Christmas Show (Nov).

Garrick Theatre begin their 2012 season with Who Knows by Paul McIntyre (Feb), followed by A Light Shining on Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill (Ap / May), Deathtrap by Ira Levin (Jun / Jul), Garrick One Acts (Aug), Night Was Our Friend by Michael Pertwee (Sep / Oct) and  Calendar Girls by Tim Firth (Nov – Dec). 

Roleystone Theatre will stageBoston Marriageby David Mamet (April),Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare,Blithe Spiritby Noël Coward and a musical (Nov / Dec).

Wanneroo Repertory will stageWhen We Are Married by J. B. Priestly (Feb), Talking Heads by Alan Bennett (Ap), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas by Larry L. King, Peter Masterton and Carol Hall (June), English farce Cash on Deliveryby Michael Cooney (Aug),Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer (Sep / Oct) and Sunset Boulevard by Don Black, Christopher Hampton & Andrew Lloyd Webber (Nov / Dec).

Playlovers’ 2012 season features Face to Face by David Williamson (Mar), Hobson’s Choiceby Harold Brighouse (Ap / May), Mindgameby Anthony Horowitz (Jul), Cosi Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Aug / Sep)and The Rinkby Kander and Ebb (Nov / Dec).

The 2012 season forMelville TheatrefeaturesThe Goat or Who is Sylviaby Edward Albee (Mar), Emmaby Jane Austen in a new adaptation by Vanessa Jenson (May), Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen (Jul) and Life After George by Hannie Rayson (Sep) 

Harbour Theatre, Freemantle will presentThe 39 Stepsby Patrick Barlow (Mar), Minefields and Miniskirts by Terence McConnell (May / June), One Man, Two Guv’nors by Richard Bean and We’ll Always Have Paris by Jill Hyem.

Murray Music & Drama begin 2012 with Mississippi Minstrels(Mar), followed by All for Oneby Kevin Houston and John Trent Wallace (May), Caravanby Donald McDonald (Aug)and Gypsyby Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim & Arthur Laurents (Nov / Dec).

The Irish Theatre Players celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 2011 with sold out seasons of Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock (also their first production in 1981), a One Act Season, and Martin McDonagh's, The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

In 2012 they will stageTranslations by Brian Friel (April), One Act Season (Aug) and the Australian premiere of A Wake in the West by M. J. Ginnelly (Nov).

Phoenix Theatre, Freemantle will stage a rock opera about Joan of Arc, Virgin Warrior (Mar). Busselton Rep begins the year with Ali Baba Pantomime (Jan) and Whose Wives are They Anyway by Michael Parker (Mar).

 

South Australia

The Metropolitan Musical Theatre Company of South Australia (The Met) will present South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein (May) and Barry Manilow’s Copacabana (Oct).

The Hills Musical Company will stage Kiss of the Spiderwoman by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff (Ap / May) and The Drowsy Chaperone by Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison, Bob Martin and Don McKellar (Nov).

Tea Tree Players’ 2012 season includes Wife After Death by Eric Chappell (Feb), Summer End by Eric Chappell (Ap), Cash on Delivery by Ray Cooney, A Party to Murder by Marcia Kash and Douglas Hughes (Aug) and Who Killed Santa by Terrence Feely (Oct), with a youth production (Jul) and a pantomime (Nov / Dec).

Therry Dramatic Society will stage Death By Chocolateby Paul Freed (Mar), The Wizard of Oz (June), Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig (Aug / Sep) and The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie (Nov).

Galleon Theatre Group presents The Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon (May) and Don’t Dress For Dinner by Marc Camoletti (Oct).

Opening productions of other companies’ seasons include Burnside Players, Miss Julie (Ap / May); Noarlunga Theatre Company, Pardon Me, Prime Minister (Ap); Adelaide Repertory Theatre, Don’s Party (June); Henley Drama Group, Oklahoma (Ap / May), Matt Byrne Media, Hairspray (July); Northern Light Theatre Company, Pirates of Penzance (Ap); Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA, Iolanthe (Mar) and Marie Clarke Musical Theatre, A Chorus Line (May).

 

ACT

Canberra Repertory Society celebrates its 80^th Birthday season in 2012 with productions of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, adapted by John Spicer (Feb / Mar), Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell (May), The Venetian Twins by Nick Enright and Terrence Clarke (Jun / Jul), The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson (Aug), Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon (Sep) and Improbable Fiction by Alan Ayckbourn (Nov / Dec).

Free Rain Theatre Company will stage The Velveteen Rabbit (Jan), Chicago by Kander and Ebb (Feb), Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (Ap), Cats (July), Back to the 80’s (Sep) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Oct / Nov).

SUPA Productions presents Titanic The Musical (April) and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (Oct).

Queanbeyan Players will stage Iolanthe (May / Jun) and Brigadoon (Oct).

Phoenix Players’ 2012 season features How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida.

Canberra Philharmonic will present Fiddler on the Roof (Feb / Mar) and Hairspray (Aug / Sep).

 

Tasmania

Hobart Repertory Theatre Society will present The Flint Street Nativity by Tim Firth (Mar), Cabaret by Kander and Ebb (Ap), Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (May), Noël Coward’s Waiting in the Wings (Aug) and Soulmates by David Williamson (Oct / Nov).

Old Nick Theatre will stage the 2012 Uni Revue and Back to the 80's (Oct).

Launceston Players will stage Amadeus (Ap), When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell (Jul) and a Festival of One Act Plays (Sep).

Encore Theatre Company presents Jesus Christ Superstar, with Jon English as Pilate (Mar).

CentrStage (Launceston) wil present When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell (July), The Goat (or Who is Sylvia?) by Edward Albee (Aug) and Love me Tender by Tom Holloway (Sep).

New Zealand

Image - Anything Goes - Auckland Music Theatre September / October 2011  

Showbiz Christchurch will stage Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story in a temporary home at Burnside High School Aurora Centre. Repairs to their regular home, Isaac Theatre Royal, after earthquake damage are expected to be completed in 2012.

Canterbury Rep begin 2012 with J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls (Mar). Their earthquake damaged Christchurch theatre has now been demolished, but the company continues to perform in temporary homes.

Elsewhere across New Zealand, several 2012 seasons have been announced.

Abbey Musical Theatre, Palmerston North will stage Sweet Charity (April), Chess (Aug) and Avenue Q (Nov / Dec).

North Shore Music Theatre will present Thoroughly Modern Millie (June) and Into the Woods (Nov).

Musical Theatre Dunedin will present Some Enchanted Evening – The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein (April / May), their 40^th Theatre Restaurant show, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Oct).

New Plymouth Operatic will stage Ready to Rock and The Producers (Aug / Sep)

Whangarei Theatre Company’s 2012 season features Death & Taxe$ by April Phillips (Mar), Grease (May / June) and Dangerous Liaisons (Aug / Sep).

Harlequin Musical Theatre, Howick, will produce Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Ap) and All Shook Up (Nov / Dec).

Rotorua Music Theatre will stage Stepping Out (Mar), Miss Saigon (July / Aug) and Breaking Up is Hard To Do, featuring the Songs of Neil Sedaka (Nov).

Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe at Eastbourne, Wellington, celebrate their Silver Jubilee Year in 2012 with Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare - Bard in the Yard, an outdoor production (Feb – Mar), Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman (Jul) and Alan Ayckbourn’s Communicating Doors (Oct).

Stagecraft in Wellington will present The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in Her Sleepby Vivienne Plumb (Mar), Ladies for Hire by Alison Quigan (May / June), ENRON by Lucy Prebble (Aug), Serial Killers by James Griffin (Sep) and As You Like It by William Shakespeare (Nov / Dec).

Wellington Repertory Theatre will stage Black Adder 3by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton (Ap / May), Private Lives by Noël Coward (Jun), Toad of Toad Hall (Sep) andSandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend (Oct / Nov).

Porirua Little Theatre’s season features Shirley Valentine (Mar), The Producers (Jun) and Disco Inferno (Nov).

Hawera Repertory Society will present Dirty Dusting (June) and Little Shop of Horrors (Nov).

Other productions we are aware of as we go to print are Fine Thyme Theatre Company, Back to the 80's (Jun); Invercargill Musical Theatre, Jesus Christ Superstar (July); Centrestage Theatre Company, Orewa, Barnum (Mar); Napier Operatic Society, Monty Python’s Spamalot (Ap/May); Taieri Musical Society, Jesus Christ Superstar (June); Auckland Music Theatre, Chess The Musical (May); Theatre Hawke’s Bay, By Degrees by Roger Hall (Mar); Manukau Performing Arts, Oliver! (April / May); Upper Hutt Musical Theatre, Chicago (May); Showbiz Queenstown, The Sound of Music (May); Wellington G & S Light Opera, The Pirates of Penzance; West Otago Theatrical Society,Cats; AMDRAM Musical Theatre Wanganui, West Side Story (June); Blenheim Musical Theatre, Monty Python’s Spamalot (May) and Playhouse Theatre, West Auckland, Are You Being Served (Ap).

Compiled by Neil Litchfield, with thanks to Peter Pinne, Kimberley Shaw, Olav Lehmann and Ken Longworth. An earlier version of this guide was published in the January / February 2011 edition of Stage Whispers.

If your productions are not included please contact Neil via our contact form - www.stagewhispers.com.au/contact

Audition for a commuity theatre production - www.stagewhispers.com.au/auditions

More community theatre coverage - www.stagewhispers.com.au/community-theatre