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Tempo Theatre Inc.

Read on to find out more about Tempo!

About Tempo

Tempo Theatre began life as one of Canberra’s earliest amateur theatre groups in 1974. It’s original aim was to produce modern and alternative musicals to complement the more traditional musicals being performed by Canberra Philharmonic at the time. It was also intended as an outlet for younger people to learn and develop performing skills. The group was founded by a number of well known Canberrans whose names are synonymous with quality productions.

Since it’s beginning Tempo has produced a large number of shows - many of them Canberra premieres. It has also broadened its range of productions to include Drama, Comedy and Theatre Restaurant. Tempo has been a stepping stone for many performers who have gone on to become popular and successful professionals in their own right.

Tempo has entered many festivals throughout NSW and has won many awards at these various events. We have also supported the local Canberra Festival. In recent times we have encouraged local writers to submit their plays for consideration at festivals and we hope to continue this in the future. We keep our members informed by way of our regular newsletter “GNAT” (Great News At Tempo).

Tempo was created to produce fun, low budget, entertainment that allowed just about anybody to have a go.

Tempo was created to produce fun, low budget, entertainment that allowed just about anybody to have a go. Our objectives (as per our constitution):

· Produce and promote live theatre in the ACT and region
· Foster a social club for people interested in live theatre
· Promote theatre skills development
· Participate & interact with other organisations with similar aims within the region

And in doing so, we encourage new talent on and off stage, includes teenagers and pensioners (and many in between!) and have a good time doing it.

Tempo has also returned to its origins and endorsed a policy of giving young and inexperienced performers a go. A number of the recent scripts performed by Tempo have been developed from a draft stage in a workshop environment. These script workshops take several weeks and when the script is ready it goes into the audition phase. We have been lucky to have a number of very talented writers as members of our group to provide this type of experience to our members.

Currently Tempo uses the Belconnen Community Theatre in Swanson Street Belconnen as its base, however, we often tour shows to other areas within our region. We are administered by a committee of 7 people who are elected annually at an Annual General Meeting. Tempo Theatre Inc, a community based group, is an incorporated body which holds registration under the Associations Incorporation Act of 1992 in the ACT. We are classified as a “not for profit” organisation where NONE of our proceeds are distributable to members and we hold a current Australian Business Number.

Given the continued popularity of non professional theatre in the ACT we believe Tempo still has a very important role to play both in providing a training ground for newcomers in all aspects of theatre and in entertaining Canberrans in new and different ways. A little over twenty-five years ago, Tempo was created to produce fun, low budget, low brow entertainment that allowed just about anybody to have a go.

If you live in the Canberra, Australia region and have a hankering to
write, direct, design sets, costumes, prompt, act, be a stage manager or light the show,
then you can contact Tempo through its current President,
Michael Weston on (02) 6289 6595 (or click on the name to email him).
OR Sec: Jon Elphick (click on the name to email him)