State Theatre Company of South Australia

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The State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA), branded State Theatre Company South Australia, formerly the South Australian Theatre Company (SATC), is South Australia's leading professional theatre company, and a statutory corporation. It was established as the official state theatre company by the State Theatre Company of South Australia Act 1972, on the initiative of Premier Don Dunstan.

Contents

Many of the performances are staged at the Dunstan Playhouse and Space Theatre at the Adelaide Festival Centre. As of 2019 the artistic director is Mitchell Butel. Notable actors, writers and directors working with the company have included Patrick White, Neil Armfield, Ruth Cracknell, Andrew Bovell, Judy Davis, Gale Edwards, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sharman, Hugo Weaving, Elena Carapetis and John Wood.

History

The South Australian Theatre Company (SATC) was established in 1965 under the artistic direction of John Tasker. Tasker directed 10 plays before clashing with the board and leaving in 1967. [1] Actor Leslie Dayman took over from Tasker and Peter Batey followed Dayman.[ citation needed ]

The date of establishment as the state theatre company dates from the State Theatre Company of South Australia Act of 1972, [2] [3] an initiative of then Premier Dunstan. The name of the company was changed to its current name in 1978 [Note 1] as a reflection of this act. [4] The director of the company in its inaugural year was George Ogilvie. [5]

In 1974, the SATC became the inaugural resident theatre company of the Adelaide Festival Centre, performing mostly in The Playhouse (later The Dunstan Playhouse and still the company's primary venue), and was the first state theatre company in Australia to hold its entire operations in one purpose-made building. [5]

In 1977, Magpie Theatre was established as a theatre in education (TIE) branch of STCSA, for young people. After 20 years and numerous productions, [6] it was terminated in 1997, partially due to loss of funding after reconstruction of Arts SA. [5]

Under the artistic direction of Jim Sharman, the company was renamed Lighthouse from 1982 to 1983, operating as an ensemble theatre company with twelve actors: Robynne Bourne, Peter Cummins, Melissa Jaffer (replaced in 1983 by Jacqy Phillips), Alan John, Gillian Jones, Melita Jurisic, Russell Kiefel, Stuart McCreery, Robert Menzies (replaced by Robert Grubb), Geoffrey Rush, Kerry Walker and John Wood. [5]

The company was subtitled Australian Playhouse from 1996 to 1997 during the tenure of Chris Westwood, the company's first female executive producer, appointed in 1993. [7] She aimed at presenting only Australian works until the end of the century; however, she resigned at the end of 1997. [5]

The board reported to Arts SA (later Arts South Australia) from 1993 until 2018, when it started reporting directly to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. [3] [8]

From 2019 the company was branded "State Theatre Company South Australia", [9] but official reports still refers to the legal name of "State Theatre Company of South Australia". [10]

Venues

As of 2021, the company's administration offices are based at the Lion Arts Centre, on the corner of Morphett Street and North Terrace, Adelaide. [11] [12] The company's main venue is the Dunstan Playhouse, but it also uses the Space Theatre, the Royalty Theatre in Angas Street, and the Thomas Edmonds Opera Studio at the Adelaide Showground. It holds its "Tangent" talks in the Hawke Building at University of South Australia's City West campus. [12]

Directors

Associate Directors

New works

Shows which have been commissioned by State Theatre Company South Australia include:

Awards for new work

The company supports new work through its annual Flinders University Young Playwrights' Awards for writers under 25, offering dramaturgy and a professional reading to the winning scripts in junior (13–17) and senior (18–25) sections. [18]

It also presents the Jill Blewett Playwright's Award, worth $12,500, awarded for an as yet unproduced play of any genre written by a professional South Australian playwright. It is presented at Adelaide Writer's Week during the Adelaide Festival. [19]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Although as of 2 August 2019, the About page, History section, cites 1980 as the date of the name change, quoting a 2004 work, the State Library of South Australia catalogue shows several works attributed to the STCSA name from 1978, and notes here that the entity "appears to be operating under State Theatre Company name from August 1978".

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References

  1. ↑ Leask, Margaret. "Tasker, John Howard (1933–1988)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . First published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 18, (MUP), 2012. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  2. ↑ "State Theatre Company of South Australia Act 1972, Version: 12.5.2011" (PDF). 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 "State Theatre Company of South Australia Act 1972". legislation.sa. Government of South Australia. Attorney-General's Dept. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "South Australian Theatre Company : [ephemera collection]". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Milne, Geoffrey (2004). Theatre Australia (un)limited: Australian theatre since the 1950s. Australian playwrights ; monograph no. 10. Series editor Veronica Kelly. Retrieved 2 August 2019– via State Theatre of South Australia: About.
  6. ↑ "Magpie Theatre Company". Ausstage: The Australian Live Performance Database. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  7. ↑ "A head full of new ideas". murraybramwell.com. 1 December 1993. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "About arts and culture". South Australia. Dept of the Premier and Cabinet. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  9. ↑ "About". State Theatre Company. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  10. ↑ State Theatre Company of South Australia (30 September 2020). 2019–2020 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). Government of South Australia. ISSN   2652-7731 . Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  11. ↑ "Contact Us". State Theatre Company South Australia. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Venues". State Theatre of South Australia. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  13. ↑ Smith, Matthew (18 December 2018). "Mitchell Butel named new artistic director of State Theatre Company". ABC News.
  14. ↑ "State Theatre Company South Australia announces new Resident Artists". Australian Arts Review. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  15. ↑ "Decameron 2.0". Broadsheet. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  16. ↑ "Event: Decameron 2.0". The Adelaide Review . 8 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  17. ↑ "From Katie Noonan in concert to a live horror film, the best Australian arts to stream this week". ABC News. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "Education Awards". State Theatre Company. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  19. ↑ "Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature". State Library of South Australia . Retrieved 14 May 2022.

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