STUDENT THEATRE FUNDING — HOW IMPORTANT IS IT?
MIKE LEWIS EXPLAINS
MIKE LEWIS EXPLAINS
How the funding model changed
Up until 1978, funding for student theatre meant accessing handouts like subsidies for performing in the Moat Theatre or going cap in hand to the SRC’s Clubs and Societies committee to beg for a couple of hundred dollars. However, the commercialization made possible by Chris’ presales to residential colleges and the expanded cast sizes meant the comedy side of things changed all that. Pretty soon, student comedy would come to generate more money each year than the entire annual budget of the SRC’s Clubs and Societies committee combined, far more than was needed. We just had to put that profit to good use. It meant we could afford to contribute to Sue and Suzanne’s FAST initiative.
It must be said the Union did even better. Combined with the university, it did the rest when we didn’t have enough. The next year, we were able to fund a student theatre artist in residence/theatre coordinator, Peter King, who would stage Molière’s The Dispute in the Agora tower. This initiative would not only give old hands a new working experience but attract new participants like Cathy Ford and Sue Thompson. The ability of productions to attract new participants was not lost. The university had started a Drama Course, and the department staged a few productions of their own, usually text based. They also provided a new space in which to rehearse and perform that students could use. The Union hadn’t finished making their contribution though. The Wimmin in Theatre (WIT) initiative was a project enthusiastically supported by Fran Kelly and the rest of the Union Activities office (Yes, the Fran Kelly).
WIT would eventually stage a marvellous production in the Organ Factory at Clifton Hill. This attracted new participants like Shirley Billings and Annie Maver. It also gave old hands like Marg Dobson and Edwina Entwistle a new way of working.
It must be said the Union did even better. Combined with the university, it did the rest when we didn’t have enough. The next year, we were able to fund a student theatre artist in residence/theatre coordinator, Peter King, who would stage Molière’s The Dispute in the Agora tower. This initiative would not only give old hands a new working experience but attract new participants like Cathy Ford and Sue Thompson. The ability of productions to attract new participants was not lost. The university had started a Drama Course, and the department staged a few productions of their own, usually text based. They also provided a new space in which to rehearse and perform that students could use. The Union hadn’t finished making their contribution though. The Wimmin in Theatre (WIT) initiative was a project enthusiastically supported by Fran Kelly and the rest of the Union Activities office (Yes, the Fran Kelly).
WIT would eventually stage a marvellous production in the Organ Factory at Clifton Hill. This attracted new participants like Shirley Billings and Annie Maver. It also gave old hands like Marg Dobson and Edwina Entwistle a new way of working.
Suzanne too came up with a production that featured a new way of working. Playback Theatre was in its infancy globally at the time as a form of theatre therapy. Suzanne, however, adapted it as a means of generating original work. This was considered a world first. Random memories from birth to adulthood were used as the basis for the performance called Remains To Be Seen.
Suzanne and the cast remain like family to this day. John Considine, Rosie Vaccaro, Mike Lewis, Kathi Edwards, John Cheshire, Stephanie Deeley and Edwina Entwistle.
— Michael Lewis