Balancing the 'town and gown': the risky business of creating youth theatre in regional Queensland

Abstract

[Abstract]: QUE Theatre Inc. is a new youth theatre company in the rural Queensland town of Toowoomba that was established in March 2003 through a specific outcome of a regional partnership among the state theatre company, Queensland Theatre Company, the Department of Theatre at the University of Southern Queensland and the Empire Theatre which began in 2001. Although QUE Theatre Inc receives generous advisory and in kind support from all three industry professionals, it is QUE's relationship with a regional university (USQ) that has emerged as a key to the company's success. The findings in this paper are a result of an audit of the programs and pedagogy at the heart of this regional youth theatre initiative.