New Centrestage artistic director Robert Lewis and administrative assistant Troy Ridgway. Pictures: NEIL RICHARDSON
Centrstage has come of age, now it just needs to stamp its brand of theatre firmly into Northern Tasmania's performance psyche.
Newly appointed artistic director Robert Lewis is excited to have the opportunity to further develop the theatre model, created by John Lohrey and Michael Edgar back in 1990.
Their vision for CentrStage was to create a senior university company operating as a platform for professional practice by staff, graduates and invited members from the theatrical community.
A vision ably driven most recently through the dynamic direction of Peter Hammond, who this month retired as the head of performing arts from the school of visual and performing arts.
''It's a new age for CentrStage because it's been strongly built on traditional ideals and technique, but it's time to be courageous in its artistic choices,'' says Lewis.
''When CentrStage was formed there was the Launceston Players and Three River theatre companies,.
''There are many more today - Encore has established a brand, Launceston Players continues as does Three River, there's also Mudlark, which has a strong brand.
''CentrStage is not a gap-filler, but it has come to the time where we have to make our brand resonate.''
Lewis believes the 2013 season for CentrStage packs a fresh punch.
''We have two world premieres for starters.''
Making their world premiere at the Annexe Theatre will be Hobart playwright Paul McIntyre's The Monsters Apprentice and Stephen Sewell's The Photo .
Also on the program is Something Natural but very Childish , based on the short stories of Katherine Mansfield, written by Gary Abrahams, the resident dramaturg at Melbourne's Red Stitch Actors Theatre.
''What's fantastic is that these three playwrights are all coming to town when their plays are to be staged so they can engage in a Q&A session after a performance,'' Lewis said.
''That's going to be fantastic - it'll create valuable conversation with our audiences, but it will also be great for our performers and crew.''
Next week CentrStage presents its first production for 2013, which is Roland Schimmelpfennig's drama The Woman Before , being directed by Chris Jackson.
Sally Plowright plays Tina in this production where Schimmelpfennig explores the fear that ''could come if somebody from your past just pops up and confronts you with some things you might have said in your teenage days''.
''It's a play where the challenge for me has been the monologues, rather than playing off other roles this has allowed me to explore my character more deeply,'' says Plowright, who is making her CentrStage debut after graduating from the University of Tasmania last year.
''Much of the plot is revealed through these monologues, my role has a narrator feel to it,'' she said.
Jackson summarises the plot this way: ''Frank doesn't recognise the woman at the door, and her arrival is the consequence of a choice he made 24 years before.
''Her arrival upsets the balance of a life created through a promise made but not fulfilled.
''Life can be compartmentalised, and this is very much about what happens when lives are disturbed through echoes of the past.
``There's a surreal edge to this play, cinematic moments as the play switches from present into the past and future.
''Essentially, The Woman Before is the enemy of theatrical domesticity.''
Warning: This play contains adult themes and coarse language.
WHAT: The Woman Before, presented by CentrStage.
WHERE: Annexe Theatre, Inveresk precinct.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 6, to Saturday, March 9, at 7pm.
TICKETS: $25 for adults, $10 for full-time students.
BOOKINGS: 6323 3666, the Princess Theatre box office or go to www.theatre north.com.au
