Spielberg on list for SA’s first professional music theatre group
A brand new theatre group was unveiled in Adelaide last week, revealing its debut show plans and saying “Hi ho” to a high-profile ambassador.
South Australia has launched its first professional music theatre company, with not-for-profit organisation Full Circle Theatre Co officially unveiled at a gala event in the CBD on Wednesday night.
The event was held at Immersive Light and Art on light square, with the company’s artistic director and founder Jo Casson announcing their debut production Catch Me If You Can.
The show is a musical adaptation of the 2002 American crime-comedy drama directed by Steven Spielberg, and is set to run for four nights in early November.
Casson, who has been involved in the arts since she was a teenager, says that she was inspired to establish the organisation when she realised that Adelaide was the only major city in Australia without a professional music theatre company, despite our “fantastic amateur music theatre scene”.
She says that this impacts artists starting out in South Australia.
"If you wanted to make a career, then you had to go interstate, head east, and start auditioning, and you know the reality is that the company will provide project work for local artists."
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According to industry data, music theatre in SA makes up just nine per cent of overall live entertainment attendance compared to up to 17 per cent in other states. Jo says the disparity is not due to a lack of interest.
“That’s not because South Australians aren’t fans of music theatre, we just don’t have the opportunities people have elsewhere.
“The niche market we’re filling is local professional production, and we’re really focused on being a South Australian company for South Australian artists and audiences”.
Jo adds that the company will provide “a chance for [artists] to really shine and excel and showcase their skills,” highlighting the need for a South Australian “launching pad” for actors to do a professional show at home before expanding their careers.
“We’re now providing a platform for fully professional, high-quality productions the likes of which have never been possible here before.
“[Actors] so often have to have their first professional engagement in Melbourne or Sydney or Brisbane.
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“There’s nothing better than your home crowd cheering for you”.
Jo adds that the musical theatre company will give South Australian artists the opportunity to make connections with educational institutions, community groups and businesses, as well as growing local audiences.
“First and foremost, we’re providing those career pathways for artists in training, recent graduates and those who’ve been performing elsewhere but would like to come home to SA,” she says.
“Hopefully… we can develop something for South Australia that will live beyond my years of working and set something up that can continue for many years to come, the same way other major cities have got a local professional company”.
Company ambassador Peter Goers, a high-profile arts and radio identity in Adelaide for 55 years, says that the new organisation will create opportunities for both artists and audiences.
“Here’s a chance to have a professional company, and I couldn’t be happier,” Goers, a long-term former presenter of the ABC‘s The Evening Show, says.
“It creates work and opportunities for creatives and audiences alike”.
Goers added that the company is in the best hands possible under its award-winning artistic director.
“No one could do this better than Jo Casson… I admire her enormously.
“I’m in awe of her talent, her entrepreneurial spirit and her much-needed push for a professional music theatre company in Adelaide”.
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