This week Gasworks launched their biggest Midsumma program yet, and also solidified their place as Melbourne’s biggest Midsumma venue for this year’s festival. A packed house filled the Albert Park venue to have a barbeque and a drink, and celebrate the array of talent and hard work that has gone into creating these exciting offerings to the festival.
Mayor of the City of Port Phillip, Cr Bernadene Voss opened the evening with pride (pun somewhat intended) and joy, as City of Melbourne are a long standing partner of Midsumma Festival.
“2016 is looking to be a great year for Gasworks with more than 200 performing arts events and 30 exhibitions taking place, that’s just a tremendous achievement” Cr Voss said.
“This year Gasworks is host to more Midsumma events than ever before, making it the biggest Midsumma hub across Melbourne”.
“We are extremely proud to have such a fantastic arts space in our city; one that not only champions local arts but also represents the values of our community” Cr Voss said.
Director of Midsumma Tennille Moisel had this to say about the upcoming season at Gasworks.
“We were so excited when we started seeing all of the registrations come through and every time something from Gasworks came in it was amazing. Not only do they have one premiere event this year but they have two…They have 12 events altogether, and they are also the only venue for the third year in a row who have had programming across all of our key programing streams” she said.
CEO and Director of Gasworks Arts Park Tamara Jungwirth spoke about how Gasworks operates as an energetic arts incubator and multi art form hub.
“More work each year is made right here” she stated proudly. One example of this is their circus development program last year brought them performer Dave Coombs, who has worked with Gasworks and After Dark Theatre to created Uncovered.
“Grab a ticket and encourage those emerging artists to really engage with new ideas here,” she said.
“The program is absolutely bursting at the seams with a diversity of genre and content; theatre, circus, cabaret, outdoor cinema, photography and CD collage”.
Here at Gasworks it’s our belief that we can come together and have arts experiences together as part of our everyday life, and festivals are ideally placed to help us do that” she said.
Included in the Gasworks 2016 program are two world premieres and two premiere performing art events. This year features:
Elegy: Premiere Event A young man pieces together a personal story of love and escape. Also on display at Gasworks is the photographic exhibition by Bradley Secker that inspired the play.
Gone: Premiere Event This entertaining and cheeky new comedy is a tale about desire, loss and letting go of the things that have…. Gone…. This show explores the effect of body image and social media on gay men and contemporary gay culture.
Gender Spanner Are you a man? Are you a woman? Are you sure? Jessica McKerlie’s latest work, you can read Theatre People’s review of opening night here. http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/gender-spanner/
Uncovered A man walks into a bar… Imagine a place where the drinks flow freely, nothing as it seems and no one knows your name…
Beyond Priscilla: The Play Inspired by Daniel Witthaus’ journey around Australia in 2010 to challenge and confront homophobia ‘one cuppa at a time’. Gavin Roach’s newly developed
Gasworks Backyard Cinema See two cult John Waters classics; Cry Baby and the original Hairspray, both outdoor screenings will raise money for MQFF.
You can read the full program and purchase tickets to the shows at http://www.gasworks.org.au
This article first appeared at: http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/gasworks-biggest-midsumma-program-yet/ on 26 January 2016.
