HotHouse: A regional creative powerhouse with community at its core.
Since its evolution from the Murray River Performing Group into HotHouse Theatre in 1997, Albury-Wodonga’s professional theatre company has been Australia’s beating heart for vital regionally made, nationally significant theatre.
Back then, committed local theatre-makers transformed a run-down butter factory into a professional theatre demanded on the banks of the Murray River, a place of significance for the region’s First People. The Butter Factory Theatre’s location reflects its role as a cultural bridge connecting two Australian states and many communities.
For our local community, HotHouse is a place for storytelling. In 2003, when fires tore through this region, part of the community’s recovery process was the development of the award- winning verbatim play Embers, based on interviews with locals. Embers was co-produced by HotHouse Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company in 2006 and toured nationally.
Since 2004 HotHouse’s A Month in the Country program has changed the national conversation around the development of new theatre work. A transformed farmhouse in Splitters Creek now offers a regional retreat for creative teams developing new theatre works. The residence and the beauty of the nearby Wonga Wetlands welcomes and inspires artists from all around Australia, connecting locals with visiting creatives.
For three decades the artists and audiences of Albury Wodonga’s HotHouse Theatre have made their mark, embracing bold and imaginative theatre and community initiatives, responding to and reflecting the rapidly changing world.
