WAAPA Kicks off 2013 Season
What’s on at WAAPA 2013
The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) Australia’s leading performing arts academy – which has produced the likes of Virginia Gay (Winners and Losers), Lucy Durack (Legally Blonde), Eddie Perfect (Offspring / South Pacific) Hugh Jackman, William McInnes, Lisa McCune and Tim Minchin (Jesus Christ Supertar – Arena Spectalcular / Composer of Matilda the Musical) – this week begins its 2013 program.
Packed full of performances from the departments of music, dance, drama and music theatre, this year’s program once again, has something for everyone.
The 2013 mid-year musical, which has become an institution and highlight on the Perth Musical scene, is Thoroughly Modern Millie. Based on the 1968 musical which celebrates the area of the Charleston and flappers the show sees a naïve young woman thrown into a series of madcap adventures when she sets out to marry her wealthy boss. Playing at the Regal Theatre it features second and third year musical theatre students and follows on from the previous successful productions How to Succeed in Business, 42nd Street, Anything Goes and Crazy for You.
The first production of the year is the Caribbean flavored musical Once on this Island and continues with the Sondheim classic Assassins and a look at the hysteria caused when clean cut kids fall prey to marijuana in Reefer Madness. This year also sees the second year musical theatre students perform Enright in the Enright. A collaboration by Leith Taylor and David King celebrating the songs and writings of the Australian Playwright, Nick Enright on the tenth anniversary of his death.
This years acting program includes a collaboration with The Barking Gecko Theatre company in the production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Other productions in the 2013 season include The Golden Age, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Love and Money, As you Like it, The hour of the Wolf and Noel Coward’s Easy Virtue. The second year acting students will also present the double bill Speaking in Tongues and No Worries with the productions playing on alternate nights in May. The Aboriginal Theatre students major production for 2013 is Kardiny Ngalla Maya (Thinking About Our Place). Working with and established playwright the students will collaborate to produce an insight into contemporary indigenous culture and performance.
Jazz, chamber, blues and classic are some of the vast music genres on offer throughout the program while Link Dance Company presents Moving Objects and the staging of a work by dance graduate Laura Boynes – Hanging Space. Third year Dance Students will present Fresh – with the composition and music technology students creating an imaginative soundscape for the performance – and together with the second year dance students will also present Rites and Jardi.
The free concerts are once again kicked off this year with WAAPA in the Park on March 23rd. The evening will comprise of performances by the 18 piece WAAPA Big Band and Contemporary groups playing their favorites from award winning artists. Other free concerts throughout the year include Drawn from Sound, Guitar Evenings – which includes Guitar Horizons: New Works for Guitar, Sound Spectrum and the Western Australian Composer Project.
If you are in Perth this year, be sure to catch some of the amazing talent and productions on offer. Who knows – you might witness a performance by the next Aussie star.
2013 Program
Music Theatre
- Once on this Island: 16 – 23 March
- Enright in the Enright: 15 – 21 March
- Thoroughly Modern Millie: 15 – 22 June
- Assassins: 24 – 31 August
- Reefer Madness: 12 – 19 October
Acting
- The Golden Age: 15 – 21 March
- Hamlet: 16 – 22 March
- The Cripple of Inishmaan: 3 – 9 May
- Speaking Tongues/ No worries: 3 – 9 May
- Love and Money: 14 – 20 June
- As You Like It: 15 – 20 June
- Easy Virtue: 23 – 29 August
- The Hour of the Wolf: 11 – 17 October
Dance
- Rites: 4 – 10 May
- Moving Objects: 22 – 25 May
- Breaking Out: 21 – 25 August
- Fresh: 27 – 31 August
- Jardi: 16 – 23 November
For a complete listing of the 2012 program visit waapa.ecu.edu.au
Bookings: Box Office 9370 6895 or waapa.ecu.edu.au/box office (Visit website for information and dates tickets go on sale)