This past Monday 9th November, Tantrum Theatre launched its 2010 season at the Playhouse, introducing a fresh and exciting program of what is on offer next year. After a very a successful and innovative 2009 season, Tantrum is ready to go beyond and step into a new and exciting chapter.

In 2010, Tantrum will be included in the Civic Theatre’s Inspirations Playhouse Season twice. To open the Inspirations season, Tantrum will be producing Nick Enright’s Blackrock, which will be performed locally for the first time since its Newcastle premier in 1996. Based on events that transpired in our town twenty years ago, this local story deals with the unthinkable murder of a young girl at a party and the repercussions for the people involved, as well as their families and the wider community.

Daniel Ballantyne, Manager of Newcastle City Council’s Commercial Enterprise Services said “Tantrum just continues to put out by giving young people their head start and wowing audiences…We can’t wait to see what Brendan and the seniors do with Nick Enright’s contemporary classic in 2010”.

Tantrum will also close the Civic Theatre’s 2010 Inspirations Playhouse Season with an exciting new collaboration with acclaimed Newcastle playwright Carl Caulfield. Tantrum and Carl will produce 2039, an edgy, satiric, black comedy that looks to the future to examine the present.

Following on from 2009’s groundbreaking production of Peepshow, Tantrum’s senior ensemble will create Dreams of a Forgotten City. This production will give the 18 to 26 year old Tantrum members a rare opportunity to devise a contemporary and unique piece which will use idle spaces located deep within the bowels of our industrial home town.

Tantrum also continues to forge industry pathways for young emerging artists with their innovative arts programs such as the Emerging Writers Program. Following 2009’s Act One, a showcase of the works of four young writers of the Emerging Writer’s Program, Tantrum will present Act Two. As these four young writers will continue to be mentored, they will develop plays which will push the boundaries of theatre and the use of multimedia, and also cross over between audience and actors to be presented as part of the This Is Not Art Festival again.

Tantrum Theatre continues to offer high quality drama workshops and thought provoking original productions with and for the young people of Newcastle since 1976. In 2010, Tantrum will also provide brand new performance opportunities for its 14 to 17 year olds, a new wave of emerging artists. These opportunities include working with organisation such as L!vesites in order to allow Newcastle to experience this young talent.