What's next?
There are plans to stage a production of Claire Carmichael's Death in the Limelight later this year, probably in September. We'll give you more information as it comes to hand - watch this space.
Background
When Kucom's 2007 Youth production was staged, some of the young cast members created their own temporary website in which it was stated (with more enthusiasm than accuracy at the time) that:
Kucom Youth is a youth generated theatre group in Mackay. It was recently formed as a result of high youth interest in the theatre. Kucom Youth is a sub committee of Kucom Theatre.
The Kucom Committee hopes to make this a reality with the establishment of a Youth Theatre in 2009. This was announced by incoming President Jim Kelly at the theatre’s Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 17th February. Kucom, now celebrating 62 years of community theatre in Mackay, has conducted programs and productions for young people in past years, and the new Committee plans to build upon these beginnings to form a Youth Theatre Sub-Committee. This will enable young members to decide what plays they want to put on, and give them the opportunity to express their creativity within the structure of an established theatre company.
The outgoing Committee has three mainstage productions in place for the coming year, and the new Committee is hoping that a fourth production featuring young performers can be scheduled into the 2009 season, to launch the Youth Theatre initiative.
In addition, the Kucom Film Unit is preparing a number of new scripts for shooting during the year. These short films will be showcased at various film festivals including Tropfest 2010, and will be an ideal opportunity for younger members to gain experience in film work.
History
Youth Theatre is not new to Mackay. Among the 'Coming Attractions' advertised in Kucom's program of Trap for a Lonely Man (April 1972) was a musical play titled The Rising Generation, 'to be performed by the members of Young Theatre, a new group of young people formed earlier this year' [1972]. The Rising Generation was performed over two nights in May 1972 at the Basketball Stadium in Juliet Street (adults 80c, children 50c).
The following year, Young Theatre staged Zigger Zagger, described as 'a football opera', this time over 3 nights at the Theatre Royal. The group described themselves as follows:
Young Theatre is a group of Mackay teenagers who have been meeting for weekly drama workshops for eighteen months, occasionally presenting a play. We try to do things which provide us and our audiences with a new theatrical experience - did you see The Rising Generation in the Basketball Stadium, or Archy and Mahitabel [sic] at the Bakehouse Gallery? Even if you didn't you must see Zigger Zagger which we're doing 'with a little help from our (adult) friends'.
Kucom's particular involvement in Youth theatre dates back some years, at least to 2000 with the production of Blackrock, followed by Salt and later (2004) by Skate. A number of the cast from Skate appeared again in August 2007 when Betsy Atkinson directed Blurred, a play about that all-Australian rite of passage, Schoolies Week.
