New home announced for Genesian Theatre Company

September 8, 2020

Karen Sweaney

Faced with losing its heritage church home of the past 60 years due to an $82 million redevelopment of the site, The Genesian Theatre Company - one of Australia’s oldest community theatre groups in Australia - is excited to be rehoused in a similar-sized parish hall at St Joseph’s Church in Rozelle, in Sydney’s inner west.

The “Genesians”, who have staged up to 150 plays a year, have always performed in the 1868 St John the Evangelist Church, located on Kent Street in Sydney’s CBD.

Following the sale of the Kent Street heritage church home to a developer by the Catholic Archdiocese, with plans for a hotel tower designed by Richard Francis-Jones of fjmt studio to be built beside it and cantilevered over it, the Catholic Archdiocese offered them the new home at St Joseph’s.

Genesian Theatre Director, Barry Nielsen commented “we are so pleased to have found a great new venue so close by that will be easy for our many loyal patrons to attend – and we are also keen to attract locals from the Rozelle area and offer them our tradition of high quality productions at an affordable price.”

There were fears that the curtains might close for the last time on the 75-year-old Genesian Theatre Company, which has nurtured talents such as Bryan Brown, Baz Luhrmann and Nick Enright, after the purchase of its Victorian Gothic church in the Sydney CBD.

Subject now to the approval of the DA, work will start in 2021 to convert the Rozelle church’s unused old school hall into a 132-seat auditorium with a proscenium stage, with curtains, proper stage lighting, dressing rooms, machinery for scenery and possibly in the future a licensed bar for patrons before the performance and during the interval.

The Genesian Theatre advise that they are closely monitoring the COVID-19 advice from the NSW government and their own industry bodies and add “although conditions don’t appear right just yet for us to recommence performances we hope to return to the Kent St stage soon for a last curtain call or two before we embark on our new adventure in mid 2021.

“We look forward to showing you to your seat in the new Rozelle home of Sydney’s “unique little theatre” for many years to come as we keep the flickering light alive.

“We’re moving to a genuine residential community and we hope we’ll be embraced by the people there as well.”

Image top: The old Genesian Theatre building in Kent Street, in Sydney's CBD. Credit: Giovanni Portelli/Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and image above: Genesian Theatre Company's 2018 production of David Williamson's Travelling North directed by Sahn Millington https://www.genesiantheatre.com.au/

About the author

Karen Sweaney

Co-founder and Editor, Australasian Leisure Management

Artist, geoscientist and specialist writer on the leisure industry, Karen Sweaney is Editor and co-founder of Australasian Leisure Management.

Based in Sydney, Australia, her specific areas of interest include the arts, entertainment, the environment, fitness, tourism and wellness.

She has degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Sydney and Geological Oceanography from UNSW.

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