4 ways you can help WAYTCo make our 3 targets

We’re very excited by the new production MINE which is taking place at the Subiaco Arts Centre soon, and we want this production to be a success for our young performers. Here’s 4 things YOU can do to make their moment in the spotlight special -

ONE – Spread the word

There’s nothing better than word of mouth to build excitement. Renato and the MINE cast are making a very special show and the more people rock up early the better they can work the show in front of big audiences. It’s critical to fill up the early shows and we’ve made that too easy for you. The preview on Saturday June 2nd is only $12 on BOCS and the Tuesday June 5th show is only $5 on our crowdfunding site If you REALLY want to help, swing past our office and grab some posters to put up somewhere you think will help promote the show

TWO – Donate

We need your help to gather donations for this show. Tim Minchin is personally appealing for donations from people who love to see theatre, culture and the arts put on by local young people for the benefit of Perth, so please ask those around you who support this cause to get online, visit mine.pozible.com and pledge some money to our cause. If we don’t raise our target of $2000 to support our production, all the pledges will be lost!

THREE – Rock up

Don’t come alone. The theatre is a social event so being a party of two to seven people with you and share the experience of live theatre with friends and relations. Renato and the cast have some visual treats as well as great acting and drama in store for you. If you came to DNA in 2010, you know you won’t be disappointed.

FOUR – Get involved

Make sure you let people know how you enjoyed the production and put yourself forward as a participant or volunteer. We have loads of activities this year for our members, opportunities to support our company in other ways and it’s a great feeling to be involved in you passion. We want our members to help us out putting on new work, developing new initiatives for young actors and letting others know of our work so we can develop our audiences and members, particularly among those who may not have considered getting involved in theatre, but have the dedication and commitment to be involved in stage production, either in the spotlight, behind the scenes or even as enthusiastic audience members!

In the next three weeks we have three goals
1) Make a great show
2) Reach our crowdfunding fundraising target
3) Get big houses for each and every night that MINE is on at the Subiaco Arts Centre.

Help us to nail all three goals and make your support of WAYTCo count.

National Interest by Aidan Fennessy

Those of you who wonder if Perth is the place to be when it comes to making and seeing great theatre have an opportunity to be heartened by this world premiere written and directed by the Griffin Award winning Aidan Fennessy. It’s a stonker of a show.

Image from The Australian http://www.theaustralian.com.au

This play about the grief of an aging mother who lost a son in tragic circumstances initially comes across as a suburban soap, with the usual accoutrements of the household – dinner party remains, chairs, couch and all the things of ‘kitchen sink’ drama. I had a sinking feeling in those first few minutes that I would be regretting this visit to the theatre.

When the long dead son appears things begin to really take hold with precise movement and vocal delivery of the men who in 1975 go on a journey from which they never return. A real thrill in terms of performance was the skill of the three men in the way they worked as a team using naturalistic impulses of character and then putting a carefully controlled style of physical and vocal delivery to convey the “otherworldness” of them. It was a carefully controlled blend of history, fact and memory which made for a thrilling ensemble performance.

The set combined perfectly with the sound and lighting design to evoke the various scenes and events. Although completely staged in the old woman’s house, the set and lighting design transports us through a mixture of her recollections and the known historical circumstances of this tragedy. A web of thirty years of international reports, government reaction, judicial inquiry and personal loss are filtered through the mind of this one mother into a moving portrayal of grief using a precisely tuned theatrical device.

I’d never heard of the story of the Balibo 5 and what happened to them in 1975, and it’s a testament to this well written play that I needed no prior information on this event or the frankly reprehensible political machinations that followed that denied several mothers the chance to grieve properly for their lost children.

In the last seconds of the show I found myself hoping that as the lighting faded the ghost of the son before disappearing might have two last words, knowing that if he said them I would be likely to burst into tears: “Goodnight Mum”

This play is on until May 20 2012 in Perth. Go. See it.

See MINE for five bucks

We’ve added a new donation reward to our crowdfunding campaign which offers an amazing chance to see high quality theatre in Perth at a ridiculously low price.

For a donation of five dollars you can claim a ticket to our “pay what you can” night on Tuesday the 5th of June at 7:30pm. There are no other ways to grab a ticket for this show apart from turning up on the night with whatever cash you can rustle up, so this is your only opportunity to reserve a seat for this very special night. It’s the last chance our young actors have to perform in front of an audience before the VIP opening night, so let’s support them, give them a nice big house and grab a bargain in the process!

Bonanza for young actors in Perth

3 exciting new announcements from WAYTCo – Actors Studio, Actors Boot Camp and a major production ‘MINE’ by Jane Bodie in Subiaco this June and July

We’ve been hard at work this month putting together some amazing opportunities for 15-26 year olds to learn, train, get involved and see theatre at it’s best and brightest.

Check our new pages on the courses on offer and share them widely . We’ve booked some excellent tutors and we’re sure these training opportunities will knock your sock off and open your eyes, bodies and hearts to the world of performing possibilities on stage.

We are also  crowdfunding for the production budget for MINE and are taking pledges of donations. Please support the work that we do for young people with a tax-deductible donation, or claim a reward of a t-shirt, ticket, VIP pass or signed Tim Minchin merchandise. The link to our Pozible crowdfunding site is here.

If you’d like to see Tim Minchin’s special video appeal for your donation, you can view it on Vimeo

Matilda the Musical dominates Oliviers

Dahl’s gold: Matilda the Musical dominates Oliviers http://gu.com/p/36q7k with music and lyrics by our Patron and former member Tim Minchin, this fabulous piece of theatre has picked up 7 awards including one for the four young girls who share the lead role.
With half the cast under the age of 18 this show comes close to qualifying as youth theatre.

Mixing it up at the WAYTCo social

Last night we held our first ever social night, and a great mix of people of all ages came – from Shannon who is not quite old enough to be involved in most of our activities yet (but is looking forward to them), to Malcolm who is retired from being Director of Excitement at Scitech and now sits on the board.

Hannah Rice led the ice-breaker games and activities and a terrific variety of people came – new cast members of our latest show MINE (rehearsals begin next week!), regular attenders of our Sunday classes, emerging professionals and even an international youth theatre enthusiast from Switzerland!

Representing board and staff were Garreth, Bodi, Malcolm, Hannah, Phil and Adam – our Annual General Meeting takes place on April 22nd at 5pm – all members should try to come or nominate a proxy to vote on their behalf. A proxy form is on it’s way to members today. Phil filled everyone in on the new training programs Actors Studio and Actors Boot Camp – links above.

It was a great turnout and people really enjoyed meeting other members, playing games, and getting to know each other a bit better. A special thanks to those members who dressed up for the event!

The future is MINE

Our Patron Tim Minchin has recorded for us a video in support of the crowdfunding campaign for our next youth theatre production – MINE by Jane Bodie

We’d love to reach our $2000 target as quickly as possible, so please share this post widely and consider donating to this production.

We have some great rewards on offer for donating including rewards donated by Tim Minchin himself! If you choose ‘no reward’ then your donation becomes tax deductible.

This production gives 16 young hopefuls a chance to shine on stage under the confident direction of emerging Director Renato Fabretti who is putting together a great team of professionals to design and stage manage this awesome script by Jane Bodie – head of playwrighting at NIDA

Casting news

Our next major production has been cast, we are announcing new workshops, have some exciting ticket offers for shows at the State Theatre Centre and the Blue Room and have bagged a TIM MINCHIN EXCLUSIVE! Read on for details.

Invitations to be in the cast of MINE by Jane Bodie have started to be sent out. If you haven’t received one yet, then you may not have been in the first list. Director Renato Fabretti was pleased, surprised and given quite a casting job trying to pick out his cast from the amazing skills and talents from the nearly 80 auditionees. We’re still waiting to hear back from some, so we can’t announce the full cast yet but we’d like to congratulate some people who have been with us for a while, attending workshops and previous auditions.

Emily Cribb – Emily has been a member for a few years participating in workshops and auditions.

Murphy Voight – Murphy has been a regular of our Sunday Acting Classes. This is his first casting in a major production. Well done Murphy!

Zachary Dreiberg – a regular of both WAYTCo and Filmbites, Zac has shown the commitment, discipline and talent to finally land a role in a major production of ours.

Campbell Greenock – Campbell has been attending our regular Sunday afternoon acting classes for some time. Looks like the lessons paid off!

 

If you miss out on a role and are wondering what you paid your membership for we have some amazing offers coming up for members between April and July this year.

ACTORS STUDIO AND ACTORS BOOT CAMP

We’ve put new pages (see the top menu bar of this blog) about our Actors Studio on Wednesday Evenings starting in June and Actor’s Boot Camp – an intensive 5 days of Theatre School for 15-25 year olds in July. WAYTCo members get 50% off the normal enrolment price for both of these new learning opportunities in theatre.

TICKET OFFERS

PTCo would love WAYTCo members to have the opportunity to see Blackbird before it finishes this Saturday, and have created this special deal. For the Saturday Matinee performance (Saturday 24 March, 4pm) WAYTCo members can purchase two tickets for the set price of $29.50. That works out to be $14.75 per ticket. To accept this offer, your members simply need to quote ‘StudentFrenzy’ at the BOCS ticketing desk, via the internet or over the phone.

We have also secured a special deal to see John Gavin at the Blue Room Theatre on Wednesday April 18th at 8:30pm. This show is about the first man to be hanged at the Swan River Colony – a 15 year old boy. You can bag a ticket for only $15 by quoting ‘MyWAYTCo’ online or on the phone.

TIM MINCHIN exclusive!

Our lovely talented and hard-working Patron Tim Minchin is fronting our crowdfunding bid to raise $2000 to support production costs for ‘MINE’.

Tim is offering some signed merchandise as rewards for donations. Please visit our crowdfunding site for details, and share the information as widely as you can.

It’s great to have Tim as a patron. Tim was involved in several WAYTCo productions some years ago and his career path shows that you don’t have to follow the standard routes to success in theatre and the performing arts. There are all sorts of ways you can do well and express yourself.

P.S. For those of you who can’t wait to audition again. Put this date in your diary. Saturday June 23rd. More details later

Our membership just quadrupled!

There’s nothing like auditions for a major production to swell the ranks of a youth theatre company.

Last Saturday we boosted our membership to nearly 80 as dozens of 13-26 year olds took part in auditions for “Mine” by Jane Bodie, directed by Renato Fabretti – a tense psychological thriller to be performed at the Subiaco Arts Centre June 6th – 16th.

Bodie’s play suggests a world not many years in the future where young people are  “mined” as any other resource may be – however in this context it is their bodies and ability to breed that are the commodity. A group of young and healthy girls and boys come to a place, unsure of their purpose or what is expected of them. Slowly they come to realise what they are meant to become, an idea that tests them morally and ideologically.

The quality of the performers was impressive. A further round of auditions and callbacks will take place in the next few days before Renato decides on the 16 actors to play roles in this production.

Director Renato Fabretti works with young actors on audition pieces for "Mine' by Jane Bodie

All the auditionees took home gifts and information from our season sponsors Act-Belong-Commit which promotes ways to stay mentally healthy, and the message that mental health is as important as physical health. This is a message we are proud to support.

Act, Belong and Commit for mental health.

Wednesday Evening Actors Studio – 6-9pm

These sessions are for actors and acting students with the confidence and skill to participate in open sessions of skill sharing in a variety of theatre activities. Currently facilitated by actor/directors Garreth Bradshaw and Patrick Downes, Actors Studio is currently exploring devising new work for the stage. Free for members, there is no official tutors or structure to these sessions, although participants are able to work with WAYTCo staff to bring in tutors on request, sharing the cost. If you are interested in finding out more, come along, get involved, ask questions and take control!

Shakespeare: a tutor from Bell Shakespeare works with participants in 2011.

Last minute opportunity to audition for paid acting work – TOMORROW!

JC Casting are helping Echelon Productions get the word out there about  their Auditions for 2012 Educational Musicals. It’s a great PAID opportunity for young people (20-30yo ) and great experience to work on a professional production!
If you wish audition please go through JC casting as they need to note who auditions and then will pass on the information to Echelon Productions. The Auditions are this Thursday MARCH 15th.  If you are interested, please email name, contact number and email address to casting@jccasting.com.au and they will email out the casting brief and the scripts. Echelon Productions will be in contact you with your audition time.

WAYTCo social night

Wednesday April 4th 5-8pm at King St Arts Centre – Studio 3. click here for the Facebook event

Come along and meet staff, board and other members in a convivial atmosphere of drinks, nibbles, music and ice-breaker games. Find out more about WAYTCo, make new friends and have your say. You can also ask questions about the-

WAYTCo AGM

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on April 22nd at 5pm in the King St Arts Centre large meeting room – this will be a slightly more formal event than the social evening, but there will be pizza!

As a financial member you will be able to vote for the board and pass resolutions about the running of the company – our board are very friendly and we aim to make this meeting a chance for you to vote for our board of directors, or even nominate someone to the board!

THEATRE CLUB

Wednesday April 18th 8:30pm – we’re off to the Blue Room to see ‘John Gavin’ – a world premiere of a play about the first person to be executed in the Swan River Colony – later renamed Perth. A 15-year-old boy was tried, convicted and executed within a few days. Performed by an actor and an aerialist, this physical theatre piece is suitable for all our members email us or comment below to express interest in visiting the theatre as part of our group outing.

AUDITION NOTICE

We are auditioning for our next major youth theatre production ‘MINE’ taking place at the Subiaco Arts Centre in June.

Directed by Renato Fabretti, this ambitious play with a cast of 16 mainly young people is a compelling and challenging piece of theatre. Auditions will be held at the King St Arts Centre on the weekend of March 10th and 11th. To register your interest in auditioning and find out more, contact  or phone 9226 2144 and leave a message.

To find out more about auditioning for WAYTCo please read the Audition Page

Production of 'Mine' at the Hampstead Theatre, London 2007

On the same weekend, Upstart Theatre is also auditioning – find out more below.

Audition Notice.
Audition for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.

In Purgatory a trial begins. A catatonic Judas Iscariot stands accused. Witnesses take the stand and lawyers argue. Still there is no sign of Jesus. Will he come to the rescue? Only heaven knows!

Upstart Theatre Company Presents

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
By Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Patrick Downes

A new production at PS Art Studios Fremantle.

Auditions take place at The Blue Room Theatre
Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th March
EMAIL: patrick_downes@hotmail.com or CALL: 0404 257 993
to book an audition time
AND prepare a contemporary monologue.

“funny, profound and wildly entertaining”
~The Hollywood Reporter

“It’s hard to know where to begin with this astonishing play that knocked me for six”
~The Daily Telegraph