Festival of One-Act Plays celebrates 25 year milestone
Date published: 4 May 2017
Short plays will take centre stage as the North Queensland Festival of One-Act Plays makes its return to Riverway Arts Centre from tomorrow until Sunday (5 - 7 May).
A long-term partnership between Townsville City Council and the Friends of the Theatre, the annual festival is celebrating 25 years in Townsville this year.
The Festival is competitive, with the unenviable task of choosing the winners this year going to the co-artistic director of the acclaimed Brisbane theatre, The Matrix and former Townsville resident Michael Futcher.
Futcher was inspired into a career in the theatre after studying at Heatley High. He later studied at JCU and worked for Tropic Line Theatre Company under JP Voos in the early 90s’. He has since worked on more than 100 professional stage performances.
The annual festival is open to groups from across the region from Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands, right down to Rockhampton and west to Mount Isa.
Community and Culture Committee chair Cr Colleen Doyle said the festival played a great role in the development of theatrical talent in the region and was growing in popularity each year.
“We had an overwhelming number of entries in the past few years and this year is no exception,” Cr Doyle said.
“After the success of last year’s high number of unpublished plays and the exposure given to some unknown local writers, we have again seen an increase in local writers, which is also very exciting.
“There have been hundreds of plays presented from right across the region since the festival began 25 years ago, providing us with a great weekend of theatrical entertainment.”
Festival goers can take the opportunity to enjoy a whole weekend of the festival for just $36 or choose a session from Friday to Sunday for $18 each.
The festival gives both groups and individual amateur thespians the opportunity to perform on stage and be critiqued on their work by an industry professional.
Tickets are available from www.ticketshop.com.au or by phoning the box office on 4727 9797.
