By Madison Pawle, 6 April, 2011
This year is a big year for Black Swan State Theatre Company, celebrating its first season in residence at the new State Theatre along with 20th anniversary.
Black Swan celebrates its 20th year with a programme “rich with new work and sprinkled with classics”, including works from Tim Winton, Shakespeare, Andrew Bovell and Tennessee Williams.
“It explores our culture with joy and dynamism. It cracks open cultures that may seem foreign, one that is in our own backyard, with tenacity and tenderness.
“It is muscular and tough and joyful and daring,” says BSSTC Artistic Director, Kate Cherry.
Since its inception in 1991, BSSTC has developed into an integral part of Perth’s cultural landscape, being recognised as the State’s flagship theatre company in 2004.
Having cemented a reputation for innovation and fostering contemporary works, BSSTC was granted exclusive residency at the State Theatre centre.
Opening its doors in January 2011, the State Theatre has been heralded as “one of the finest...theatre complexes in Australia” by Ms Cherry.
She sees the State Theatre as an integral part of the further development of a performing arts culture in Perth.
She also notes the growing appetite amongst people of Perth for an artistic culture to rival that of Melbourne, which is considered the hub of arts in Australia.
The State Theatre marks the establishment of the first fully-funded professional theatre in Perth through the State Government.
Similarly, it is acclaimed as ushering in “a new era for performing arts in Western Australia” by Minister for Culture and the Arts Mr John Day.
As well as a keystone in the development of theatre in Perth, Mr Day is certain that the venue will attract increasing amounts of people to the heart of the city.
Ms Cherry came to the helm of Black Swan in 2008, after a long and varied career in Australia and abroad, and looks to the future with optimism.
“My agenda is for Black Swan’s presence to extend beyond WA to festivals and touring circuits nationally and internationally,” she said.
“I will use my quite extensive overseas network to forge opportunities.”
The expansion of a national and international profile would see the exposure of Perth as a cultured and urbane city, possibly prompting an increase in tourism to WA.
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