By Dominique Tassell
Stanthorpe Little Theatre has unveiled its new foyer, ready in time for an exciting season of entertainment.
The new foyer features old windows taken from near stage.
Many people in attendance commented that the new foyer fits in so well to the rest of the building that many would not notice it was new unless told.
Judy Flitcroft, a longstanding patron of the theatre, remembers when they had to send everyone outside into the cold in order to charge the set on stage.
“We’ve been planning this for a while,“ she said.
Alongside having to turf out patrons into the cold, the lack of space meant the lighting person was very limited in their movement when a show was on.
Stanthorpe Little Theatre President, Shannon Cox, said they had been dreaming of this extension for a few years.
She said the theatre had thrown around “all these wonderful ideas“, but it wasn’t until they got in touch with architect Bruce Ward that those ideas became a real possibility.
Shannon says with Bruce’s help they came up with a plan, but had no way of making it a reality for a while.
She said she felt like “this beautiful man has put in so much time and effort to our dream, and we can’t just let this go by the wayside“.
In October 2019, Shannon applied for a grant for the theatre.
She said she put it in on a whim and “hoped and prayed“ something would come of it.
Shannon said when talking about all the things they could do with the theatre, she realised just how much it meant to the community.
“This is not a building, but this is a space for a community. So it’s not just us thespians that do our rehearsals and our acting, but it’s also a space where we have our beautiful junior choir that come every Tuesday and perform and practice.
“And we have our beautiful Granite Belt Choir that come on Wednesdays and practice here, then we’ve got our Baptist Church that come on Sunday mornings to pray and to connect
“And so you have this realisation where you realise this is more than just a building, this is a space where we connect.
“And there’s so many opportunities for so much, it’s just a very special place for us to share.“
Soon after the pandemic started, the theatre received a letter from Liquor and Gambling saying they’d received $35,000 to spend on extending the space.
Southern Downs Regional Council also provided $5000 for the space.
Southern Downs Regional Councillor, Stephen Tancred, said “it’s a pleasure to open this new foyer at the Stanthorpe Little Theatre“.
Councillor Tancred spoke of the wonderful community behind Stanthorpe Little Theatre, stating they were well-served by the community.
“Sir Laurence Olivier said ‘I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theatre is the outward and visible sign of a probable culture’.
“Our great Theatre. know as the Little Theatre, is one sign of our culture. Not a probable culture, not a possible culture, but an active and vibrant cultural life here in the Granite Belt.
“I’ll balance that quote with one from a female actor. Vanessa Redgrave said ‘I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water’. Well, didn’t we find out how essential safe pure water was in the past two years?
“Just as Council is charged with fixing water problems and we take that very seriously, we also take the task of promoting our cultural life very seriously and assisting the Little Theatre is part of that. It’s not Much Ado About Nothing, it’s a little bit to do about something.“
Councillor Tancred congratulated the Little Theatre on their grant and new foyer, stating that “in the cold weather there will a little bit less of discontent in the winter“.
“Your ongoing efforts to enlarge and improve the facility are more than something and are to be congratulated.“
The Stanthorpe Little Theatre will be holding their first performance in the new space on Friday 27 August, when the Burlesque show premieres.
The show will also be held on Saturday 28 August.
The show will celebrate Christmas in Winter with the Femme-Fatal-A-Tease Burlesque Troupe, and explore what is naughty and who is nice.
This is an 18+ event only and tickets can be bought at www.trybooking.com/BSAQL
