Artsworx announces 2012 season

After an especially challenging year, the USQ Artsworx team are looking forward to a bigger and brighter 2012.

Manager, Dr Rebecca Scollen said that ‘like many businesses, we have experienced the full force of nature this year’.

‘The extreme weather conditions of the past year saw significant drops in our enrolments for the McGregor Summer School in January and again forced our annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival indoors.’

Their spirits may be a little dampened, but the team have not been discouraged, coming up with a bigger and brighter season of performing, creative and visual arts for 2012.

‘We have a wonderful crèche of well-established annual projects - the McGregor Schools, Shakespeare in the Park Festival, Twilight Series, Children’s Theatre Week and the Exhibition Series,’ said Dr Scollen

‘The challenge is to keep this mix fresh and appealing to a broad cross-section of the community; from children visiting the theatre for the very first time to the connoisseurs of the classics.

‘It’s also a juggling act to find the right balance between pedagogy and public demand; offering an important performance platform for our students while, at the same time, hosting a selection of professional production and visiting artists.

The 2012 season will open in January with the 44th annual McGregor Summer School when arts enthusiasts from around the nation will visit Toowoomba to participate in the ten-day arts retreat.

‘We are offering over forty workshops programed to suit a range of skill levels from absolute beginners right through to professionals in the fields of music, performing, fine and creative arts.

‘The Summer School is a leader in the field and is a much anticipated event, not only for the tutors and students, but for the local community as a whole who are treated to ten days of concerts by some of the nation’s finest musicians.’

The boutique Twilight Series is also back with another year of beautiful music, charming theatre and thought-provoking conversation – together in a very attractive subscription package offering savings of up to 40% on tickets.

The series includes six music recitals featuring Brisbane-based quintet, A View from Madeleine's Couch with their sultry Brazilian sounds; an all-new Baroque Trio with Nicola Haydn (flute), Matthew Henry (cello) and Phillip Gearing (harpsichord; dynamic saxophone/violin/viola/double bass/piano quintet Topology); the Duelling Divas featuring Melissa Forbes, Melinda van der Muellen and Alison Riethmuller; Canberra line-up, the Brass Knuckle Band with a program of original jazz, latin, swing and funk-style music; and Brisbane quartet, Angel Strings who will herald in Spring with a delightful program for violin, viola and cello.

‘Next year, we are pleased to be including a theatre component in the Twilight Series which will star the School of Creative Arts’ final year actors in a celebration of love and other frustrations.’

Directed by Scott Alderdice, the Twilight Theatre Show will include scenes, songs and prose all revolving around the central theme of love.

‘Rounding off the series will be a quirky discussion of ideas, an exploration of the origins of our language, and an entertaining deconstruction of every day topics which we are calling Think Twice at Twilight.

‘This project is based on the popular local ABC radio segment hosted by Belinda Sanders and including panellists, Andrew Mason and Laurie Johnson.’

May will bring with it the annual Children's Theatre Week and the classic tale of Cinderella - as told by a loveable larrikin, Toby. Directed by award-winning actor/writer/director and comedian, Liz Skitch, A Toby Show will bring together the Fairy Godmother, the Ugly Step Sisters and ‘Cindy’ in a wonderful theatrical experience guaranteed to delight audiences young and young at heart.

‘Liz is a highly regarded theatre professional with a body of work ranging from children’s theatre through to cabaret and employs a range of comic styles; clown, satire and stand-up comedy.’

The USQ Keyboard Ticklers will return by popular demand to present their annual tour-de-force of music-making in June, this time performing a program of classical masterpieces on two grand and four upright pianos.

October, and hopefully more balmy weather, will welcome the ninth annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival.  

‘In 2012, we will move the Festival onto the University campus, enabling us to take advantage of a range of outdoor and indoor performance spaces – the feature, of course being our magnificent mainstage on the University’s front oval.

‘Over the next decade, we hope to grow the Festival to include a wider range of activities and next year will be start with a spectacular mainstage season of Richard III, the return of the To Glee or Not to Glee project and screenings of classic and modern film versions of Shakespearean greats.

USQ Contemporary Singers will shine in an evening of song, dance and drama in November.

Directed by Liz Buchanan, with choreography by Alison Vallette and Musical Direction by Melissa Forbes, Postcards from 42nd Street will draw on shows from the golden era of musical theatre right up to the present day.

‘This one is a must see for both tried and true musical theatre fans and for anyone who’s wondering what all the fuss is about.’

The season will also see the return of our annual Tracking the Arts Race Day, the Exhibition Series, the McGregor Winter School in July and McGregor on the Bay in September.

Enrolments are still open for the McGregor Summer School and Twilight Series subscriptions and gift certificates for the 2012 season are now on sale.

For further details about the 2012 season, visit www.usq.edu.au/artsworx or contact the USQ Artsworx Box Office on 07 4631 1111.