By Dongyun Kwon
A new theatre company wants to provide a production opportunity to people in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges.
Hills Act Theatre Company was formed in September last year by Healesville resident Phil Stephenson.
Stephenson has been in the theatre industry for about 45 years and now hopes to use his talents and experience to foster future theatre stars.
The founder said the main focus of the company is to get younger people on board to teach all different aspects of theatre.
“Last year, I thought it would be a great idea if I could use anything that I’ve learnt from the theatre to teach younger people who were trying to get into the theatre but couldn’t,” he said.
“I will look at plays that support younger people not only as actors but as directors, stage managers, set designers and everything.”
Stephenson went to the Victorian College of the Arts.
He also spent a year at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) before leaving to experience film.
“I did a few films and I dropped out because I wasn’t interested in the industry,” Stephenson said.
“I came back to (theatre) and did a lot of amateur theatre in different places in Queensland, in Noosa, down here, in Lilydale and Glen Waverley.”
10 people have joined the company and are now preparing for their first production Breathless which will be put on at The Memo, Healesville in April and May.
“The cast we’ve got are very varied. There are some who have had an experience and some who have never actually been on the stage,” the founder said.
“We’ve got a mix of people there who want to learn and they’re all at different levels, and it’s exciting to see them all come together.”
Ettie McCarthy and Harrison Garratt both recently graduated from Healesville High School.
Since high school, they have been interested in theatre production and have done some theatre productions together.
The two friends have joined the Hills Act Theatre Company to continue developing their skills.
McCarthy is now taking the role of assistant director to support Stephenson but is also practising acting skills.
“When you leave high school, you feel very untethered to any community, and one of the biggest lack of connection that I was going to miss was theatre,” McCarthy said.
“Because that was something you could always go to in high school.”
Garratt said he wanted to have more theatre experience.
“I was looking around, trying to find some theatre companies I might be able to join,” he said.
“I just finished a two-year course in screen acting at the Australian College of Dramatic Arts last year.”
Not only theatre experience, the Hills Act Theatre Company also provides a space for social connection.
McCarthy said they’ve created a little group outside the theatre.
“We’ve all become very close, very quickly,” she said.
The Bendigo Bank Healesville and Healesville Lions Club have bought $1000 worth of tickets respectively to support the Hills Act Theatre Company.
The Yarra Ranges Council has sponsored the company through its Monthly Grants program.
Stephenson said anybody is eligible to join the company depending on the play.
“The company is hoping that we’ll continue to do this, maybe two or three plays a year,” he said.
For more information, please contact Hills Act Theatre Company via email at hillsacttheatre@gmail.com, a phone call at 0480191058, or search up Hills Act Theatre Company on Facebook and Instagram.
