Moruya Red Door Theatre Company’s Liz Fisher, Nichola Creighton, Anthony Mayne, Stef Foster and Jack Spahr took home two awards from the Goulburn Festival of Regional Theatre. Photo: Supplied.
Do you dream of taking to the stage – or do you want a little more confidence and creativity in your life?
The award-winning Moruya Red Door Theatre Company has just what you need.
Writer, director, actor and drama teacher Jack Spahr is running five weeks of theatre workshops from this Thursday, 12 October.
The workshops are suitable for people who have never acted before, and those more experienced on stage.
Red Door founding president Anthony Mayne said theatre brought excitement, creativity and connection into people’s lives.
“The workshops are an encouragement to have some fun and take a step into the unknown,” he said.
“In theatre, you don’t know what’s going to happen – it’s not like watching TV or a movie or sitting behind a computer.
“It’s real life, it’s happening in front of you and it builds community, confidence and creativity.”
The workshops are for all ages, and conducted in a safe environment. Participants in previous workshops have gone on to be part of productions with Red Door.
The workshops also provide an opportunity for actors already with the company to develop their theatre craft, and the extra effort has paid dividends.
Just last week, members of the company took out two awards at the Goulburn Festival of Regional Theatre, in the One-Act Wonders category.
“Jack Spahr wrote a 15-minute piece for us called Lost and Found,” Mr Mayne said.
“It’s a bit edgy, it’s about coercive control and the courage needed to move through that and find light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s just four actors, and the stage is bare except for one chair, so it’s really about presence, timing and the energy of the actors to convey the story with no props.
“We took it to the festival and it was really rewarding to take home two major awards.”
The troupe took home Best Production, and Liz Fisher was named Best Actor.
Ms Fisher is in her 70s, and her presence on stage is exceptional.
She’s not the oldest actor in the company, though – that honour belongs to life member Mary Kell, who is in her 90s.
Mr Mayne said the company was exceptionally proud of Ms Fisher’s success, and it showed that creativity didn’t have an age limit.
“We all had that creativity as kids, in primary school, doing bits of drama in high school, and as we walk down life’s pathways, sometimes that creativity gets dimmed,” he said.
“But it isn’t extinguished when you finish high school, and the workshops are an invitation to people to rekindle that creativity and have some fun.
“It invites people into their own creativity.
“It’s not downloading or uploading creativity or live-streaming creativity, it’s inviting each and every one of us into a creative space as an actor, as back-of-house, as an audience.
“In something live, no two shows are the same, it always changes, so there’s risk, there’s reward, there’s fun, and there’s community involved in it.
“We support each other as we learn and grow together, so it builds and strengthens relationships.
“It’s easy to choose not to do it – but you’ll never know what you’re missing out on and you never know where it could take you.”
The sessions will run from 6-7:30 pm every Thursday from 12 October for five weeks at the Red Door Hall, Page Street, Moruya, and cost $10 a week.
Scholarships are available. For enrolment details, contact Mr Spahr on 0478 175 142.
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