La Boite Theatre Company
La Boite Theatre is an Australian theatre company based in Brisbane, Queensland. La Boite was established in 1925 and is Australia’s longest continuously running theatre company. Playing a vital role in the cultural landscape, La Boite Theatre occupies the space between independent theatre and the state company. La Boite is based at Brisbane's Roundhouse Theatre, Australia's first purpose-built theatre-in-the-round. Located in the Kelvin Grove, Queensland. It seats 400, or 340 in thrust staging. The company moved into this new venue in February 2004, leaving its former smaller theatre-in -the-round building, the La Boite Theatre Building, in Hale Street, Milton, where it had been since 1972. Known for its bold, contemporary approach towards theatrical texts, and its development of new Australian work, La Boite prides itself on being an incubator and producer of new work, focused on the sustainability of Brisbane-based theatre practice from emerging to established practitioners, producers, and arts managers. La Boite declared its mission is to "create powerful connections between artists and audiences through stories that entertain, move, empower, surprise and transfix". Previous Artistic Directors include Todd MacDonald (2015 - 2020), David Berthold (2008-2014)Sean  Mee (2000–2008) and Sue Rider (1993–2000). La Boite's programs. Apart from its main season of productions, La Boite runs a number of creative development and participation programs. HWY - La Boite's Pipeline for New Work & Ideas. HWY, a series of Artist Development Programs, is designed to inspire creativity, from commissions to dedicated developments of new work, conversations, workshops and participation in an annual HWY 'Live' program. The suite of artist development opportunities includes La Boite’s Associate Artists, Assistant Creatives, and Artists in Residence; a cohort of diverse theatre makers who work with La Boite to develop new work  over a 12-24 month period. HWY is led by a commitment to collaborative practice, an exchange of creativity and skills, an ongoing conversation about theatre in Australia, and a drive to expand our reach and diversify voices on the La Boite stage. La Boite's Young Artist Programs. La Boite is committed to providing a space for your theatre-makers to grow and develop their craft. Many of the programs offered partner young artists with professional performers, writers and producers who are passionate about creating a space for new artists, learning and making new work. Programs include, Young Artist  Lab, designed for ages 12 - 14; Young Artist Company, suitable for ages 12 - 17 and 18 - 26; and Assembly, a six week program that supports twenty-one emerging artists (seven writers, seven directors and seven actors) to develop their skills, and work towards a public outcome at the culmination of the program. La Boite's Youth & Education Programs. La Boite's Youth & Education department covers a range of offerings, from school show excursions, pre and post-show workshops, tailor-made courses facilitated by artists in-school, professional development workshops for teachers, and as of 2020, now offer a range of  online workshops and mainstage recordings, complete with exams, learning assessments, teaching resources. Seasons. 2010 season. La Boite Indie History. Establishment and early years (1925-1956). La Boite was founded in 1925, under the direction of British teacher of speech and drama Barbara Sisley and English literature professor Jeremiah Joseph Stable. Known as the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society, it is one of the oldest, continuously operating, theatre companies in Australia, operating under Sisley's direction until her death in a road accident in 1945. Sisley had directed fifty-seven productions for the company including a number of Australian plays. After Sisley 's death, the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society survived from 1946 through to 1956 under the energy and passionate drive of Tom Stephens, Alex Foster, Cecil Carson and Gwen MacMinn. Relocation to Hale Street and the first 'La Boite' (1956-1969). Babette Stephens succeeded the position of Council President in 1957, before accepting the first formal title of "Theatre Director" in 1959. As a prominent professional Australian actor and director, she helped to create the first permanent theatre for the company when she succeeded in getting the company to purchase four cottages in Sexton Street and Hale Street in Petrie Terrace  and the creation of the first "La Boite". The suggestion was made to convert one of the cottages into a "theatre-in-the-round" theatre space similar to Hayes Gordon's Ensemble Theatre in Sydney. In the lead up to the launch of the theatre's new season in Hale Street in 1967, Brisbane Repertory Theatre adopted the new name "La Boite", The French translation of "the box". La Boite's intimate, 70 seat space attracted a new audiences, and a group of directors and actors, including Jane Atkins, Eileen Beatson, Ian Thomson, Barry Otto, John Stanton and Muriel Watson . The repertoire of the company changed to a more radical, non-mainstream one. Australian plays became a regular feature of the season. Second relocation and company expansion (1969-2000). Jennifer Blocksidge became Honorary Director in 1969, and remained in the role until 1975. In 1972, La Boite's second in-the-round performance space was established, with the purpose-built, 200 seat theatre-in-the round, award-winning Blair Wilson designing the new La Boite Theatre Building (now heritage-listed). Blocksidge established her eventual aim to make La Boite a professional theatre company through the establishment in 1973 of the  first professional 'theatre-in-education' team in Queensland , the Early Childhood Drama Project (ECDP), and the 1976 appointment of La Boite's first salaried Artistic Director, Rick Billinghurst. Billinghurst embarked on a program of Australian and overseas works. Malcolm Blaylock was appointed artistic director in 1980, when La Boite became a "pro-am" theatre company. The early 1980s was a buoyant time for La Boite and for the pro-am or professional community theatre companies funded by the Australia Council. Blaylock programmed innovative, risky, and politically challenging Australian and non-Australian plays. The appointment in mid-1982 of Andrew Ross as  Artistic Director brought La Boite into more professional main-house repertoire. By 1983, the company had lost both state and federal funding. The following years were considered financially trying for La Boite, but a huge effort by the Council and "resident directors" Mike Bridges and Mary Hickson kept the company and theatre afloat. The 1986 appointment of Jim Vilé as both artistic director and CEO was a time of a more "open door" programming at La Boite where "every day and evening of every month of the Theatre's year was accounted for with a production of some kind…" Patrick  Mitchell took over from Vilé as Artistic Director in 1990. By 1991, the stress of running such a vibrant pro-am theatre company proved too much and David Bell took over as Artistic Director later in that year. Bell's innovative cross arts approach to theatre saw the beginning of La Boite as a professional company and produced performances which blended circus, opera and modern dance with theatre. Although the innovative fusion of Bell's work gained critical and artistic success, La Boite once again was financially floundering. However, the appointment in 1993 of Sue Rider as Artistic Director saw  a period of unparalleled growth once again bolstered the performance of new Australian and Rider's commitment to Queensland artists. Third relocation and present-day (2000 – present). Sean Mee had been one of Brisbane's leading actors for many years and he had started his career at La Boite with the Early Childhood Drama Project in the 1980s. He took the company in new artistic directions. The company left the theatre it owned and moved to the new La Boite Theatre – the Roundhouse Theatre, a larger replica of the second La Boite Theatre. It was built in the Creative Industries  Precinct of Queensland University of Technology's Kelvin Grove Campus. Mee's Artistic Directorship saw the company both artistically and financially reap the benefits of embracing primarily programming new Queensland works commissioned through La Boite. In 2008, Mee relinquished his position of Artistic Director. Despite the initial trials with the company, including the Australia Council cutting funding to the company, David Berthold took up the position of Artistic Director, and under his leadership the company has broadened its scope to include international works in its programming whilst retaining the company's over 85-year commitment to fostering Queensland and Australian  theatre. Berthold's efforts with the company have been heralded as having "completely repositioned a Brisbane institution [La Boite]", and has garnered several prominent awards, including numerous winnings of the prestigious Matilda Awards.