Short+Sweet Illawarra Top 22 Season Announcement
The wait is over, we have selected our full season of twenty-two plays in the first ever Short+Sweet Illawarra, and ticket sales are now open for this historic event for the Wollongong and Shellharbour community.
BUY TICKETS FOR WEEK 1 | BUY TICKETS FOR WEEK 2
WEEK 1 | 4th to 7th October
Venue: Harbour Theatre Shellharbour - Home of the Roo Theatre Company
IS THIS A DREAM
written by Katrina Samaras (Illawarra)
directed by Lily Christie Daly
Cast: Olivia Harris, Naoise Champion, Lillian Woods, and Annie May Roberts
Our depressed heroine meets three historical female icons in a dream-like quest for answers to life's big questions.
BRAINS
written by Bernadette Le Mesurier (Illawarra)
directed by Robert Bruce
Cast: Jon Meakin and Ricky Gamble
Sooner or later in the zombie apocalypse when most of the humans are gone, their brains are going to be hard to find.
TIMESAVERS
written by Barry Wood (UK)
directed by Byron Faulkner
Cast: Abbey McDonald and Jon Meakin
A new store has opened, offering a unique way to save time - But is it all a scam?
FOR HIRE
written by Alexander Cuff (Illawarra)
directed by Sevgi Murphy
Cast: Alex Groombridge and Julian Levanic
An assassin is hired to kill their close friend, who also used to be an assassin.
HIS MOTHER'S CURTAINS
written by Diana McLaren (Illawarra)
directed by Sophie Bentley
Cast: Annie May Roberts and Nelson Blattman
A couple is having a fight about whose parents are worse but there are added tensions boiling beneath.
THREATENED PANDA STRIKES BACK
written by Rex McGregor (NZ)
directed by Cara Severino
Cast: Kaylee Ashton, Isabella Whitcher and Patrick Harrison
As the World Wildlife Fund’s poster boy for endangered animals, Ling enjoys a comfortable life full of adulation and all the bamboo he can eat. But when a rival species challenges him for the role, he risks losing everything.
DARE
written and directed by Honora Jenkins (Illawarra)
presented by Kind Art Ed
Cast: Mitchell Fahey, Rachel Cairncross, Emily Cairncross and Minna Lehman-Kuit
120 WORDS PER MINUTE
written and directed by Trevar Alan Chilver (Canberra)
presented by Big Burley Fish
Richie's never found it easy picking a secretary, but today the perfect woman has walked in his door uninvited.
CRY FOR ME
written and directed by Pete Malicki (Sydney)
presented by The Monologue Project
Cast: Cris Bocchi
Alicia from Argentina is very proud of her greatest achievement in Australia: she found herself a job.
SURPRISE
written by Mark Harvey Levine (USA)
directed by Emily Oates
Cast: Alitha Cannon, Joaquin Hernandez Ucha and Rebecca Walton
Peter is a psychic, but only two minutes ahead.
WEEK 2 | 18th to 21st October
Venue: Bridge Street Theatre Coniston - Home of the Phoenix Theatre Company
CONTEXT
written by John C. Davenport (USA)
directed by Laryssa Sutherton
Cast: Zac Chadwick, Bradley Ward, Olivia Harris and Gillian Meers
The characters involved in a breakup say what's on their minds -- but not to each other.
THE GODDESS
written and Tom Peach (Illawarra)
directed by Bernadette Le Mesurier
presented by duGarde
Thalia and Sharon were BFFs at school, then Sharon married Thalia's father. Now he's dead and they must write his epitaph.
WAITING FOR MASTERCHEF
written and directed by Will Worthington (Illawarra)
presented by Eat Will’s Shorts
Cast: Arthur Gallagher, Bradley Ward and Sophie Bentley
Three protagonists absorbed in their digital detritus try to find meaning.
REALITY CHECK BY ELIZABETH
written and directed by Annisa Belonogoff (Sydney)
presented by Warrior Empire Productions
Cast: Annisa Belonogoff
Reality Check is a comedy about a single girl trying to navigate her way through the online dating world from home.
COUNTERPOINTS
written by Nicholas Fitzpatrick-Fuller (Illawarra)
directed by Jarrod Sleiman
presented by the Phoenix Theatre Company
Cast: Oscar Baker, Kiah Sassall and Cameron Johnstone
Our ‘hero’, Mike introduces his Commie-Atheist brother, Jack to his girlfriend over dinner-with messy results!
OH NO A GHOST
written by James Turnbull (Illawarra)
directed by Arthur Gallagher
Cast: Cara Severino, Sam Lovell and Jarrod Riesinger
Being a real estate agent is hard, especially when the house you’re trying to sell is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a murder victim.
SLOW DATING
written by Adam Szudrich (South Coast NSW)
directed by Lis Shelley (Lochiel NSW)
presented by Footprint Theatre Inc (Pambula NSW)
Cast: Penelope Hunt
70-something happily married Ester drops in to a 'speed dating' event for seniors that leads her to make a difficult decision.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
written by Crystal Jane (Sydney)
directed by Andrew Cremen
presented by Wollongong University Dramatic Society
Cast: Andrew Cremen, Elise Vohradsky, Jai Szwec and Courtney Rutherford
Six people reflect on an incident on the train the day before where a tradie called an Islamic girl a terrorist.
THE DEATH OF NIGHTSTICK
written by Alexander Cuff, Sam Lovell and Jarrod Sleiman (Illawarra)
directed by Sam Sweeting
presented by Cerberus Theatre Company
Cast: Alex Groombridge, Justin Clayden, Anna Murphy and Freya Jarret
Nightstick is the world's greatest superhero... and the actor playing him has gone a little too method...
A WOMB WITH A VIEW
written by Rich Orloff (USA)
directed by Karen Beavis
Cast: Kiah Sassall, Lily Christie Daly, Samantha Brownlee-Knight, Isabella Whitcher and Abbey McDonald
Moments before being born, a baby girl has second thoughts about leaving the comfort of her current home.
MISS
written by Martha Russell and Cara Irvine (Canberra)
directed by Cara Irvine
Cast: Martha Russell, Thomas Adams-Walker, Chelsea Hall, Declan Florance and Cara Irvine
Being a teacher is hard. It’s like being the ringmaster for a circus that you didn’t know you were in.
FIFTEEN SECONDS
written by Ken Levine (USA)
directed by Inga Silfr
Cast: Zac Chadwick and Naoise Champion
A young couple make eye contact for the first time and it could change both of their lives.