Paula J Armstrong

The Ten Minute Quickies is the name of a performing arts competition presented by the Eltham Little Theatre Inc., a not-for-profit association committed to supporting and engaging the community in performing and visual arts, located in the leafy North Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

In previous years, Eltham Little Theatre has received a much appreciated grant from the local Nillumbik Shire council to assist presenting the Quickies. Unfortunately, the council is unable to provide the usual grant this year. This is where you come in! Rather than let The Ten Minute Quickies disappear from the performing and visual arts calendar, Eltham Little Theatre is committed to continuing to provide the event to encourage and foster up-and-coming visual and performing artists. To this end, we seek your support to make it pozible again in 2014!

The Ten Minute Quickies competition provides aspiring Australian playwrights the opportunity to have a short play produced and presented to an audience. Under the leadership of producer Paula Armstrong, the competition commenced in 2009 and took the local - and not so local - theatre community by storm. It has grown stronger and more popular every year since: indeed, the Gala awards night is now sold out within 2 weeks of bookings being open.

In 2012, we were delighted to include an arts exhibition that ran concurrently with the Ten Minute Quickies - providing visual artists with an opportunity to display their work to the public. The exhibition proved to be a great success with audiences and visitors and will be back again in 2014.

The cheekily named Ten Minute Quickies provides a breathtaking feast of 11 ten minute plays by writers from across Australia. Both audiences and judges get to vote on award recipients for Best Play, a People's Choice Award, and awards for Best Director, Best Actress and, not to forget, Best Actor. Presented with a heady mix of drama, comedy and satire, the judges and audience have their jobs cut out for them picking winners in the various categories. The theatre foyer buzzes with life as each play is discussed and dissected as personal selections are made.

The Quickie event brings together a diverse range of people including new and established directors and playwrights, actors, judges and production crew members. In fact the Quickies have proven very successful in attracting our local youth and creating another stream for youth to diversify their theatrical interests. In 2012 we had 7 youth members who were trained in stagecraft and lighting. The Gala night sold out within 2 weeks, with approximately 600 patrons attending the event as a whole. It creates a wonderful avenue for writers to showcase their work and for new and experienced directors to bring them to life. There has been a mentoring feel to the festival with the more experienced directors sharing their wisdom with new directors.



SO....ISN'T IT TIME FOR A QUICKIE?



'One More Day' by Cerise de Gelder

There are no challenges foreseen for this event.