![Canberra Youth Theatre artistic director Luke Rogers. Picture Canberra Youth Theatre Canberra Youth Theatre artistic director Luke Rogers. Picture Canberra Youth Theatre](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/31122a95-80f7-49ed-b6f2-80cb019575c2.jpg/r0_222_4000_2480_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A new training program and the Australian premiere of a recent British play are among the elements of Canberra Youth Theatre's 2023 season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
CYT's artistic director, Luke Rogers, looked back at this year - the company's 50th anniversary - as well as talking about what's coming in 2023.
"It's been very, very busy," he said of 2022.
"We've had four big works - three world premieres, all of them published."
They've also had workshops and the emerging artists program has been thriving.
And for the first time since COVID hit, "It's all been in person."
In 2023, CYT will introduce the training program Young Creatives, providing opportunities for participants not only to learn about such production elements as lighting and sound design, set and costume design and stage management but to be seconded to work on productions.
The young creatives will be mentored by the emerging resident artists. They are: Emily Austin (director), Patrick Haesler (sound designer and composer), Ethan Hamill (lighting and video designer), Aislinn King (set and costume designer), and Rhiley Winnett (stage manager).
Next year will see the return of the Ambassadors program: a free initiative to attend shows, write reviews, advocate for young people in company decision-making, and represent Canberra Youth Theatre in the community.
And in 2023, Canberra Youth Theatre is launching its Producers Circle - a philanthropic initiative that will invite patrons to play a part in supporting productions.
![Honor Webster-Mannison. Picture supplied Honor Webster-Mannison. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/cd01926f-cd2a-4198-8c67-0f3ec5b61157.jpg/r0_0_2555_3194_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The winner of the 2023 Emerging Playwrights Commission was Victorian writer Honor Webster-Mannison, who will develop an idea for a play with CYT.
Rogers said the first play of next year's season was "kind of a coup ... we're very excited".
In May, CYT will stage, and Rogers will direct, the first Australian production of Dawn King's play The Trials.
Set in the near future, it has a jury of 12 teenagers weighing up the fate of adult defendants regarding their carbon footprints and how they exacerbated climate change. But is this about justice or revenge?
August will see the premiere of You Can't Tell Anyone by Canberran Joanna Richardson, the winner of the 2021 Emerging Playwright Commission.
To be directed by Caitlin Baker, it focuses on a group of teenagers making the uneasy transition from school to young adulthood as relationships change and lots of things come out.
"It's about paranoia, 100 per cent," Rogers said.
Finally, in late November, Rogers will direct another premiere, this one by CYT alumnus Mary Rachel Brown. In Rosieville, a homing pigeon with no sense of direction becomes the unlikely saviour of a young girl whose father has recently departed. As well as being an examination of loss and heartbreak, Rogers said the play was an allegory for the COVID pandemic and how people had to struggle and adjust to isolation and a new way of living.
As in previous years, CYT will hold workshops in Braddon, Belconnen, Queanbeyan and Tuggeranong for people aged between seven and 18 and other opportunities such as masterclasses and the Emerge Company program for 18-25 year-olds who are committed to developing a professional practice.
For more information about Canberra Youth Theatre's 2023 season visit canberrayouththeatre.com.au.