Report of 2004
Date: 31-Dec-04
Author: Tim Williams
2004 saw Valley Artists produce The Anniversary, Snow White - The Pantomime and Wollombi High School Reunion.
In May Fi Fi La Boom (aka Fi Burless) debuted as a director with Bill MacIlwraith's black comedy The Anniversary.
It was Mum's (Janine Oliver) night of glory and her 3 sons lived in fear of it each year. Henry (Tim Williams), Terry (Nev Newman) and Tom (Eamonn Smith) seemed destined to remain under her manic control. Karen (Fiona Bateman) and Shirley (Fi Young) would do their very best to change the status quo.
Wonderful set (Bert et al) and sensitive Stage Management (Marcel et al) complimented the usual huge group of Valley artists that made this a journey to remember.
In November our annual sponsors dinner again utilised Laguna Hall for the Wollombi High School Reunion. Another zany party night with our wonderful sponsors dressing and generally behaving like school old boys and girls. Too many moments to recollect here but Nick Lycos raised many eyebrows with his signature cheekiness! Who else but Alan Glover as the Headmaster.
Contrary to rumours the Cheer squad will not be reforming to tour!
In December Jacqui Hickmott adapted, directed and choreographed Snow White - The Pantomime to consistently large audiences. Many new faces and some wonderful performances. Captivating dance sequences, beautiful costuming (Jacqui with Linda Marsh et al) and colourful props were so well supported by clever set design and construction (Giles Tester and others).
Special mention for Giles Tester who somehow coped - "She'll be".
This Community really loves a panto and for director, cast and crew and many helpers congratulations on landing it. John and Robbie organised and ran the ever-popular ice-cream trailer and added colour and humour as always.
It takes much hard work and commitment to ‘be as good as we can be' in every production and I encourage anyone with interest to come and join the circus that is Valley Artists.
Talking of circus, our next production brings theatre to The Circus Of Life. Already in full swing ahead of production in May this year, the Circus features locally written work with co-direction by Nev Newman, Julie Simpson and Claude Aliotti.
Finally I'd like to again emphasise the importance of Sponsorship to Valley Artists. We operate on minimal budgets with participation on a voluntary basis only. We have accumulated some wonderful theatre gear which we used to have to hire which we are able to make available to the Community at large. Many members of the community have benefited from scholarships to NIDA and similar. None of this is possible without the generous ongoing support of our sponsors. Please speak to me or any Valley Artists person if you'd like to know more. Sponsorship packages run for the calendar year and remain the only ticket to the ever-popular sponsors night later in the year.
Congratulations to the many who have contributed to yet another successful year of top shelf community Theatre!
Tim Williams
President 2004
