What's Your Brown's Mart Story?
BROWN’S MART THEATRE is gearing up to turn the big 5-0 in 2022, so they’re spending the next year compiling your fond memories to roll out a nine-month celebration when they reach their milestone year.
Executive Director Sean Pardy – who loves a good party – says some interesting stories are coming out of the woodwork.
“There’s a couple of romantic meetings, with couples that met at Brown’s Mart which is pretty cool, and some interstate actors who cut their teeth on the stage back in the day. Kate Champion’s a famous Australian dancer, who was the Artistic Director of Force Majeure, now becoming theatre director, and she remembers getting on the Brown’s Mart stage,” he says.
“I’m yet to get a mystery though. There’s talk of the Brown’s Mart ghost – there was a student film made about it about 10 years ago, but I haven’t seen the ghost yet. I’ve worked at several theatres where there are known to be ghosts, but I’m not the ghost-seeing type, it seems.”
Ghost or no ghost, when the time comes to celebrate, 50 years of stories will be rolled out through the Brown’s Mart precinct over nine months, and Pardy says there are no limits.
“These stories could come in multiple forms. For us, it’s almost like we’re an ideas or story agent. We’ll probably collate these ideas and partner with local artists, like Yo [Bell] from SPUN or Huni [Bolliger] to work with on an animation, we might team up with a great singer-songwriter, like David Garnham, Tracey Bunn or David Spry, to write a song about these stories.
“Ultimately, some of these stories might become a play – you never know what we might unearth – a fantastic story of reaching dizzy heights from adversity, a scandalous love triangle.
“What is cool, though, is that we have still Ken Conway on our board. He’s literally a legend and was Executive Director for 30 odd years from 1972. I mean, imagine the things he’d seen in the ‘80s and ‘90s!”
Have you got a special Brown’s Mart memory? Extra points for ghosts. Whatever your tale, the Brown’s Mart team is keen to hear them.
INFO brownsmart.com.au | facebook.com/brownsmarttheatre
Photo: Paz Tassone
