Black Box Productions

25/10/2025

🏆 PLAYMATES 2025 — OFFICIAL RESULTS! 🏆

What a night! Our 20th Anniversary Playmates was pure chaos, comedy, and community — and this year’s showdown was one for the history books.

After a night of fierce improv battles, twists, and plenty of laughs, the Grand Final came down to two foundation teams:
🎭 Wollongong Workshop Theatre vs SPAT

Both teams gave everything they had on stage — but the judges have spoken…

🥇 Congratulations to SPAT — your 2025 Playmates Champions! 🎉

And the coveted Vu Moyu Player of the Night Award goes to:
⭐ ALANA MACLEAN-DOWLING from Wollongong Workshop Theatre! ⭐

A huge thank you to our incredible runners-up teams who made this year’s anniversary show unforgettable:
👏 Phoenix Theatre, Roo Theatre, Wollongong Comedy, and Black Box Productions — each of you brought heart, humour, and top-tier chaos to the stage.

To our amazing audience — thank you for packing the house and celebrating 20 years of Illawarra improv with us.
And to SPAT — thank you for being the perfect hosts for this milestone event.

💥 We’ll be back in 2026 for our 21st Birthday Edition, heading down the freeway to Roo Theatre in Shellharbour!

Get ready… the laughs (and rivalries) are only getting bigger. 🔥

22/10/2025

🔥 ROUND THREE: FOUR-MINUTE GAMES 🔥
The tension is through the roof, the scenes are stretching longer, and anything can happen! Four minutes might sound like a long time… but with unpredictable twists, sudden song breaks, genre swings, and time-jumping chaos, it’s barely enough to survive.

💥 HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUPS:

🎤 SPAT vs Wollongong Comedy – Show-Stopping Number
A boring workplace… suddenly a whistle blows… and the last line must become a two-line Broadway hit. SPAT and Wollongong Comedy will turn the mundane into musical mayhem. Who will nail the note, and who will end up tripping over the chorus line?

🎢 WWT vs Black Box – Genre Rollercoaster
From wedding to horror to sci-fi — all in one scene! The host changes the genre at will, forcing teams to think on their feet. WWT and Black Box will battle through chaotic tone shifts, frantic improvisation, and hilarious genre mashups.

⏳ Roo vs Phoenix – Time Warp
Scenes jump forward and backward in time without warning. A pre-game rivalry could suddenly become a post-game scandal or a dastardly cheating plot. Roo and Phoenix will navigate this timeline tornado, bending reality, relationships, and your funny bone along the way.

📅 One Night Only – Saturday, October 25
📍 SPAT Theatre, 15 The Drive, Stanwell Park
⏰ 7:30 PM Showtime (Doors 7:00 PM)

🎟️ Seats are limited for this high-energy, unpredictable night of improv — grab your tickets before it all goes off the rails!
👉 blackboxtheatre.org

22/10/2025

🔥 ROUND TWO: THE TWO-MINUTE GAMES 🔥
The laughs are louder, the stakes are higher, and the rivalries are getting real! 💥

Our Playmates are diving headfirst into the TWO-MINUTE GAMES, where the same challenge, new audience suggestions, and pure chaos decide who walks away with 2 bonus points and bragging rights that’ll echo all the way back to the Gong.

💣 THE SHOWDOWNS:
🎬 SPAT vs Phoenix – Subtitles
The hometown heroes of SPAT defend their turf against Phoenix — who are hungry to take the trophy back to Coniston in their debut year! Will experience triumph, or will fresh fire steal the spotlight?

⏱️ WWT vs Wollongong Comedy – Countdown
A rematch for the ages! Wollongong Comedy are the reigning Playmates champs, but WWT are gunning for their fifth title — a win that would make them the most successful team in Playmates history. Expect chaos. Expect carnage. Expect comedy.

💋 Roo vs Black Box – Soap Opera
Love, betrayal, scandal and sass — it’s all on the table! Roo are seasoned masters of melodrama, but can producing company Black Box finally cheat their way (just a little) to their first-ever victory?

📅 One Night Only – Saturday, October 25
📍 SPAT Theatre, 15 The Drive, Stanwell Park
⏰ 7:30 PM Showtime (Doors 7:00 PM)

🎟️ Tickets are flying faster than a bad improv pun — grab yours now before they vanish!
👉 blackboxtheatre.org

22/10/2025

🚨 PLAYMATES LEAK ALERT! 🚨
The first round of Playmates Illawarra 2025 has just been accidentally revealed 👀

Get ready for lightning-fast chaos in our 1-MINUTE GAMES ROUND — where quick thinking meets complete madness:

🔥 “IN A WITH A WHILE A” — SPAT 🆚 WWT
🔥 “MIME” — Roo 🆚 Wollongong Comedy
🔥 “MOVING BODIES” — Phoenix 🆚 Black Box

In each head-to-head showdown, both teams will play the same game, but with fresh audience suggestions for each scene! The team that earns the highest judges’ score wins the round and scores a bonus 2 points toward the overall leaderboard!

Which team will keep it together when every second counts? ⏱️
Click on the image to see how the game works!

🎟️ Tickets $20 – Family Friendly – General Admission
📅 7:30PM Saturday 25 October
📍 CWA Hall, Stanwell Park (Home of SPAT)
Book now at blackboxtheatre.org

Stay tuned… the next “leak” drops soon 👀

18/10/2025

🏆 PLAYMATES ILLAWARRA – CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF FRIENDLY CHAOS!

The leaderboard is in — 19 years of laughter, rivalry, and “totally made-up” brilliance have led us to this moment…

Playmates Illawarra turns 20 this year!

For two decades, the Illawarra’s boldest theatre groups have gone head-to-head (and heart-to-heart) in a night of pure improv mayhem — proving that cooperation, chaos, and comedy can all fit on the same stage.

Will Wollongong Comedy defend their crown?
Can SPAT pull off another home-field miracle ten years after their first win?
Will Phoenix Theatre rise from the ashes in their Playmates debut and shake up the leaderboard?
Or can producing company Black Box Productions finally cheat their way to their first victory? 😏

One night only. Six teams. Endless laughs.
The trophy may be small — but the bragging rights are eternal.

📅 7:30PM Saturday 25 October
📍 CWA Hall, Stanwell Park (Home of SPAT)
💸 All tickets $20 – General Admission
🎫 Tickets: blackboxtheatre.org

Scroll down, check out the Hall of Fame and Leaderboard below 👇 — and see who’s due for redemption, revenge, or just a really good time!

14/10/2025

🎟️ Tickets now on sale for PLAYMATES ILLAWARRA 2025!

Who will take home the trophy — and eternal bragging rights — for our 20-year anniversary?

For two decades, Playmates Illawarra has brought the region’s theatre legends together for one glorious night of chaos, comedy, and questionable choices. This year, we continue our new tradition of taking Playmates on tour — this year hosted by our Stanwell Park Arts Theatre (SPAT) after a full house at WWT last year.

It’s been 10 years since SPAT claimed their first (and only!) Playmates crown… and with the home-field advantage, will history repeat itself?

Six teams are ready to battle it out for glory, laughs, and possibly therapy:
🔥 SPAT (our hosts!)
🔥 Roo Theatre
🔥 Wollongong Workshop Theatre
🔥 Phoenix Theatre
🔥 Black Box Productions
🔥 Defending champs – Wollongong Comedy

📅 7:30PM Saturday 25 October
📍 CWA Hall, Stanwell Park (Home of SPAT)
💸 All tickets $20 – General Admission
👨‍👩‍👧 Family-friendly (ish!)

Grab your seats now at blackboxtheatre.org
— because after 20 years of laughs, legends, and local rivalry… this is the Playmates you don’t want to miss.

30/09/2025

PLAYMATES ILLAWARRA 2025 – 20 YEARS OF CHAOS, FRIENDSHIP, AND FUN!
For two decades, Playmates has been the Illawarra’s ultimate theatre mash-up — six companies, one stage, endless laughs, and zero room for grudges. This year, we’re turning 20, and we’re ready to celebrate bigger, louder, and sillier than ever!

And speaking of celebrations… a huge welcome to The Phoenix Theatre (Coniston), stepping onto the Playmates stage with their first-ever team! After years of hosting us behind the scenes, Phoenix is now joining the fray — waving the flag for friendship, goodwill, and pure Playmates spirit.

We’re also hitting the road with our 2025 hosts, Stanwell Park Arts Theatre (SPAT), for a one-night spectacular:

📅 Saturday 25 October 2025
🕢 7:30PM
📍 CWA Hall, Stanwell Park

Our 2025 Teams:
Wollongong Comedy – defending champions ready to keep their crown
Wollongong Workshop Theatre – bringing heart and chaos from Gwynneville
Roo Theatre Company – representing Shellharbour with flair
Black Box Productions – Wollongong’s mischief-makers
Team SPAT – our hosts bringing home-field energy
The Phoenix Theatre – newcomers, but already waving the friendship flag high

Fun fact: SPAT’s only Playmates win came on our 10-year anniversary — with home-field advantage and a packed house, will history repeat at the 20-year mark?

Playmates is bigger than any one team — it’s about friends, fun, and fearless theatre. Six teams, one stage, one unforgettable night — come join the party! Tickets opening soon!

06/08/2025

A New Chapter for Black Box Productions

Dear friends and collaborators,
As we look ahead, I’m excited to share a new chapter for Black Box Productions—one focused on sustainability, community support, and building a strong foundation for the future.

From now through to 2027, Black Box will operate with a refined focus. We will continue to produce Playmates Illawarra annually, as always. The Short+Sweet Illawarra Film Festival will also remain part of our regular program.

All other productions—including 24 Hour Theatre, Short+Sweet Illawarra Theatre/Cabaret/Comedy, Short+Sweet Philippines, and our planned full-length production (2026)—will be placed on hold until 2027.

This shift will allow us to focus our resources where they’re most impactful: on managing The Golden Age Theatre. Our goal is to see this space flourish as an inclusive, creative hub for the entire Illawarra arts community.

As part of this vision, we’ll soon open expressions of interest for three local theatre companies to become resident companies at The Golden Age. These groups will join Black Box in a four-company residency model, working alongside one another with reduced overheads and shared access to this unique performance venue. Residencies will be reviewed annually, with a strong focus on collaboration and support.

This new direction also allows me, personally, to work at a sustainable pace over the next two years while continuing to support the community from behind the scenes.

Thank you for your ongoing support. I’m proud of what we’ve built so far and excited about what’s to come.

Warmly,
Luke Berman
Artistic Director – Black Box Productions

13/07/2025

We at Black Box Productions have absolute faith in Tom Peach’s work—sharp, human, and unafraid to take risks. Samuel & is fiercely original local theatre, staging next weekend at Coledale Community Hall. Black Box family members Cathy Bates and Andrew Gobran bring plenty of heart and energy to this production. Don’t miss it. Support bold new work. Support Tom Peach. Support local storytelling.
Tickets selling, get yours now:
https://events.humanitix.com/samuel-and-6nm4gvsx
:D

Get tickets on Humanitix - Samuel & hosted by South Coast Writers Centre. Coledale Community Hall, 745 Lawrence Hargrave Dr, Coledale NSW 2515, Australia. Dates from Friday 18th July 2025. Find event information.

05/07/2025

Our 24 Hour Theatre actors are hard at work and loving the challenge so far! We’re breaking for lunch to recharge before diving back in. Check out these snaps from rehearsals happening all throughout The Golden Age Theatre—so much creativity and energy in every corner!
Tickets Still Available - https://events.humanitix.com/24hour2025