A new theatre company has emerged in Launceston and is looking forward to shaping its own path to productions.
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DARE Collective founder Matt Taylor said the idea for the company was born from necessity when his taste in theatre and the boundary-pushing work he wanted to produce was not aligned with other companies in the city.
"It is something I always wanted to do," he said.
Taylor is a Tasmanian artist and was a 2018 graduate at the National Institute of Dramatic Art with a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing.
While at NIDA, he gained experience in devised work, puppetry, film direction, circus, opera, musical theatre, design and olfactory/sensory experimentation.
After graduating, Taylor worked in Sydney before returning to Launceston where he has enjoyed taking risks with content and style.
"One of the things that made me want my own independent company was that it would give me the freedom to do anything I wanted. I didn't start with a subscriber base or confines I had to worth with," Taylor said.
"A lot of companies maintain their relationships with the theatre, and there is nothing wrong with that, but in a way it limits them. Creating DARE, I wanted to have that ability to take risks."
Taylor said one of the tricky parts to creating a theatre company was deciding who the primary target audience was, but he knew he wanted DARE to be about a collective of people.
"My ultimate [dream] for DARE is the ability to bring anyone to the theatre for any particular show, but that can make it difficult to choose shows," he said.
DARE will not have a home to start with, but will utilise locations already existing around Launceston until the company has the capital to have a space of its own.
Taylor said he was hoping when the company launched its first show it would be a success, but it has been a rocky start.
Blueberry Play was scheduled to be the debut show, but has had two postponements following events out of the company's hands.
"We still have the rights, we still have the venue, but we don't have dates as of yet and we are waiting for the recasting process," he said.
"I hope [when it does go forward] it gets people seeing what DARE Collective is about and know we are going to produce exciting and interesting stuff."
As the company grows, Taylor said he hoped he would be able to get to the point where he paid his artists for their work.
"What DARE wants to do is eventually build ourselves up to be a professional company and one that pays wages to our actors," he said.
Audiences can expect, once the company is settled, there will be seasons announced and a range of works performed.
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