Black Apple Theatre

12/02/2023

Wonderful to see the powerhouse who is Julie Peters at her own Midsumma Festival show last night - completely caught unawares and thrilled there was a brief mention of her engagement in Thrive! Julie you truly are a legend, as everyone said at the end of the show - thank you for all your work as a trailblazer in and for our communities.

A treasure to spend one final night at Hares Hyenas in Fitzroy too - beyond thankful to you for providing a safe, inclusive and accessible space, and for nurturing LGBTQIA+ performers, arts and culture 💖

Images:
1/ The shop front of Hares & Hyenas in Fitzroy, with a ‘50% off sale’ chalk sign in the window.
2/ Julie on the Hare Hole stage, sharing about her incredible life and journey.
3/ Not a dry eye in the house as Crusader talks about first meeting Julie in 1991, and the history of le***an solidarity with trans women where le***ans would come into the shop to buy copies of any of the books transphobic people had come in and ripped up.
4/ The shop front again, but from the distance of across Johnston Street so you can see the whole building.

10/02/2023

Join Black Apple Theatre at 4pm today as they present Thrive at the Eureka Centre auditorium. Thrive is the story of the trailblazers and future-makers; of LGBTQIA+ Victorians, young and old. Real life, larger than life and in their own words. Tickets are available at the door or click here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

In Thrive, the rebel theatre-smiths of Black Apple Theatre set out to make some noise in the silence surrounding Q***r experience; harvesting true tales from the mouths of those who made history and those who continue to shape it, and transplanting them into a lush theatrical landscape where music and narrative intertwine.

Black Apple Theatre is inviting the community to come together for the premiere performance of this compelling new work as it appears on Australian stages for the first time. This is the story of planting the seed. This is the story of watching it grow. This is the story of how to thrive.

When: Saturday 11 February at 4pm
Where: Eureka Centre Auditorium, 102 Stawell Street South, Eureka, Ballarat.

Ballarat Council Black Apple Theatre Ballarat Frolic Festival Creative City Ballarat Ballarat Arts Alive Admin Ballarat Community Alliance Ballarat Trades Hall FedUni Arts Academy Ballarat Youth Services Ballarat Libraries Intercultural Ambassador Program City of Ballarat

10/02/2023

On the eve of the final performance of Thrive for the season, it was only fitting to order “a small cappriciosa, please!”

Those who know, know - and those who don’t, come join us 4pm Eureka Centre Ballarat to find out!

10/02/2023

ONE MORE SLEEP! Get your tix, grab a mate and we'll see you 4pm at the Eureka Centre Ballarat for the final performance of Thrive this season, as part of the fabulous Ballarat Frolic Festival! 🎭🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Tix available on Eventbrite or on the door: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

One of the best things about recent performances has been audience members sharing their Thrive highlights with us - here's just a few of them 🥰



Image descriptions: An array of colourful posts have different audience member quotes overlayed - the first, white text over the Pride flag colours, says: "I loved the hopeful and celebratory nature of the work."

The next is a light pink background with pink and yellow flowers and a rainbow, with the text "I know that this show will be meaningful to many people. Thank you."

Third is a blue and pink background, with the text saying: "Parts of it were my life, my journey."

Fourth has a purple background with a neon heart, and some illustrated people holding Pride flags and banners, with the quote saying: "The whole production was powerful, moving and beautifully told."

The fifth and final image is another Pride flag with the text: "Thrive made me feel proud, seen, strong."

The final image

09/02/2023

“Part of the journey of Thrive has been to return these regional stories to the places they belong.”

Join us tomorrow night to see why Ballarat is central to the stories told in Thrive, as well as some of our fabulous actors!

A CASTLEMAINE-based theatre company is bringing their stage production depicting real-life q***r experiences to Ballarat for the first time. Having debuted Thrive: Q***r voices, out loud on stage late last year, the Black Apple Theatre cast and crew will bring the show to the Eureka Centre tomorrow....

08/02/2023

"Gus Powers' set design evokes a late twentieth century rural Australia that is both incredibly specific and universal. The space is backyard, loungeroom and street all at once. It is filled with teacups and succulents, hanging washing and corrugated iron. It reflects the snippets of setting we glimpse in the projected interview videos and for anyone who has spent time in regional Victoria it is deeply familiar." Lucy Lucas, Theatre Travels

Have you got your tickets yet? Come join us and see Thrive, Saturday 11 February 4pm! www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

Image ID:
1- Gus, set designer, gestures as he speaks to the camera. His quote reads "To be involved in the telling of these powerful stories, to find a sense of belonging to a shared q***r multi-generational community in the countries of my childhood has been an unexpectedly healing experience that I hold very dear."
2- Actors Connor and Clare mid-performance; Connor is standing with one hand on his hip, leaning again a wall of corrugated tin. Clare is crouched; in front of them is a post with several old letter boxes hanging from it.
3- A table is set, with a couple of wooden chairs around it and an old freestanding lamp behind it.
4- Actors Daisy, Issy and Connor are sat around the table. Issy is pouring a cup of tea, which Connor is looking at, smiling. Daisy is staring directly ahead toward the audience.

08/02/2023

Three more sleeps til we bring Thrive: Q***r Voices, Out Loud to Eureka Centre Ballarat for Ballarat Frolic Festival! Get your tix via the link or on the door - look forward to seeing you there!

07/02/2023

"Connor Dariol, in his portrayal of Max Primmer, has a twinkly, cheeky energy that punctures and reinvigorates the space each time he speaks." Lucy Lucas, Theatre Travels

Come see Connor as he brings this incredible energy to Max's story - from coming out in the 60s, to Melbourne's 'underground' gay activist and social scene, to the HIV/AIDS crisis, to moving all around Victoria - and what is it with milk bars?

Tix available for the show, Saturday 11 February 4pm at the Eureka Centre www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

Image description:
1) Connor (actor) is looking directly at the camera, with blurred bushland and water in the background. He has a moustache and is wearing a floral button-up shirt, with a sparkly dangly earring. He is looking proudly at the camera, with a slight smile on his face.
2) Connor looks directly at the camera, smiling. His quote reads "It's just q***r stories unaltered. Not adjusted to fit any narrative... Just q***r people speaking for themselves."
3) Max and Connor, who met at the Castlemaine show, stand together, beaming.

06/02/2023

Missed us in Naarm? Come see Thrive on the Pride V/Line from Southern Cross to Ballarat this weekend, and join in the other awesome festivities at Ballarat Frolic Festival too!

🏳️‍🌈🚂🏳️‍⚧️ EXCITING NEWS! V/Line are bringing the PRIDE train to Ballarat Frolic Festival THIS Saturday...

🤩 Leaving Southern Cross at 10:14am, it arrives in Ballarat at 11:43am! Plenty of time to get to the youth event Biggest Games Day Ever run by Tiny Pride, The Y Ballarat, BADAC and Cafs (11am-3pm) or the Own Voices Writing Workshop with Sam Elkin & Yves Rees organised by Ballarat Libraries (1pm-3pm), theatre show Thrive by Black Apple Theatre (4pm-5:30pm) and then Q***r-aoke at Ballarat Trades Hall (8pm-1am). Check out https://www.frolicfestival.org/events for our full Saturday program and tickets! 😎

🏨 You could even stay the night at Mercure Ballarat before catching our Victoria's PRIDE Party Bus leaving from Ballarat at 10am to the massive Collingwood Street Party organised by Midsumma Festival. PHEW! What a weekend! 🥳

🌈 Launched for the 2021 Pride season, V/Line’s Pride train travels around the network to demonstrate V/Lines ongoing support of our diverse communities and their diversity and inclusion journey. V/Line are diversity super stars and we're so happy they're going to be part of Ballarat Frolic Festival in 2023! ⭐

06/02/2023

"Aspen Beilharz brings a beautiful, ethereal calm to her portrayal of powerhouse Julie Peters, a woman whose incredible life deserves an entire play of its own." Lucy Lucas, Theatre Travels

Tix on sale to see Thrive at the fabulous at at: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

Image ID: There is a carousel of four images: in the first, Aspen (actor) and Julie (one of the five stories featured in Thrive), who met at the Castlemaine show, stand together, smiling, in front of the Thrive set. In the second image, Aspen is on stage standing side on, in front of a projection that is playing a snippet of Julie's interview. Julie is looking in the same direction as Aspen, their faces mirrored. The third image is of Julie, who smiles widely at the camera. Her quote reads "In my head, this is just me. What's the big deal?" In the final image, Aspen is looking proudly at the camera. Their quote reads: "Thrive keeps history alive and reminds us that we are all making history day by day."

05/02/2023

"To the voice of Kaye Powell, a teacher and the ethical heart of the group, Issy Weiskopf brings a joyful radiance that balances beautifully with the harsher realities underlying many of Powell’s anecdotes." Lucy Lucas, Theatre Travels

Grab your tix to come see Thrive at Ballarat Frolic Festival, Saturday 11 February 4pm Eureka Centre Ballarat! www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

IMAGE ID 1: Issy and Kaye stand together, leaning into one another, beaming.

IMAGE ID 2: a social media tile, with a black border and the word THRIVE in the bottom left-hand corner, includes the following quote from Isabelle (actor): "I feel so honoured to be able to speak [Kaye's] words, because I think she's done so much good; I feel very honoured that we get to hold these stories and that we get to disseminate [them] out, because they're very, very special."

03/02/2023

"[Daisy] Webb’s portrayal of Cobie Farmer is infused with a refreshing stability and honesty, her down-to-earth nature belying a wisdom beyond her years." - Lucy Lucas, Theatre Travels

Come see Daisy's fabulous talent in Thrive at Ballarat Frolic Festival, Saturday 11 February, 4pm at : https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thrive-q***r-voices-out-loud-tickets-502220363627

Image ID: There is a carousel of three images: in the first, Daisy and Cobie, who met at the Castlemaine show, stand together, smiling, in front of corrugated tin. In the second image, Daisy smiles looking to the right of the camera, and her quote reads "I feel really lucky to be part of this ensemble. Not only are we sharing the stories of these amazing q***r people, but we all have our own perspectives to bring to this show. It's done a great deal to help me feel like I am a part of this community too." The third image is of Cobie, who is also smiling and looking slightly to the right of the camera. Talking about finding community, Cobie's quote reads "I think that was just kind of like a lightbulb moment of: okay, I see my people here; I'm welcome here. These are my people."