![Anne Somes, left, Jarrad West and Karen Vickery have companies at ACT HUB. Picture supplied Anne Somes, left, Jarrad West and Karen Vickery have companies at ACT HUB. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/XBxJDq6WLub2UphQ8wEq23/98665955-37db-448a-81d2-b1d083f0ac80.png/r0_0_2902_1632_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Starting a new theatre venue is a challenge at the best of times. Starting one while COVID was still a major concern was even more challenging.
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"People elsewhere are not as COVID risk-averse as they are in the ACT," Anne Somes said.
But ACT HUB - the home of Somes' Free-Rain Theatre Company, Jarrad West's Everyman Theatre and Karen Vickery's Chaika Theatre - managed to present six well-received productions in 2022 and, essentially, to break even financially.
Those involved are looking ahead to 2023.
Somes said, "After a busy first year, we've decided to up the ante, with more events and happenings than ever before! A full program of shows along with an amazing array of one off events will ensure there will always be something to do at the Hub in 2023."
Opening the season on March 22 is Everyman Theatre's production of Tommy Murphy's Holding the Man. This is the Canberra premiere of the play, which was adapted from Tim Conigrave's memoir of the same title, a story about love and loss.
"It's finally happening," West, who will direct, said.
"It was delayed due to so many things last year."
In May, Free-Rain will stage Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias, about the bond of a group of Southern women living in Louisiana. Somes will direct.
Everyman returns in June with Marry Me a Little, a revue that brings together the songs of Stephen Sondheim to tell the story of two New York singles in adjacent apartments.
"It's a beautiful little show for two people," West, who will direct, said.
The companies will join forces as ACT HUB in August to present Noel Coward's Hay Fever, a comedy about an English country weekend with the eccentric Bliss family. Directing this production will be Joel Horwood.
From August 30 will be Lucy Kirkwood's The Children, presented by Chaika Theatre and directed by Tony Knight. It follows two retired nuclear physicists living in a remote cottage on the British coast while the world outside is dealing with a major disaster at a nuclear power station.
Vickery said this would be Chaika's only production for the year as she is heavily engaged elsewhere but she was enjoying the ACT HUB experience.
"Our first year was highly exciting - we learned an enormous amount."
Finally, in October will be Free-Rain's production of Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell, a psychological thriller in which two couples inadvertently exchange partners in a night of adulterous encounters. Cate Clelland will direct.
In addition to this season of productions, ACT HUB will host the premiere of a revised work by Canberra playwright and Canberra Times theatre critic Peter Wilkins, support local works in development and present the ACT HUB Learning program to provide professional development such as master classes.
There will also be music and social nights - jazz, cabaret - to bring different people to ACT HUB and keep it lively between productions.
"We want people to know where we are and what we are," Somes said.
For more information on ACT HUB see acthub.com.au.