Local Stages

Local professional playwright and director Catherine McNamara has assembled a stellar team of highly regarded arts industry creatives, locally and from across Australia, to share the story of her real-life nieces ViV! and Lil’ – her inspiration for the play.

Cath wanted to create an entertaining, funny and magical show with an atypical hero, inviting children and young people with disabilities to see themselves represented onstage.

“This is a real-life story. It’s based on my niece – the same age as a lot of kids who will be in the audience. When she was born, they discovered that she had a very rare disability. She was very different. And I think what I’m most excited about with this show, as we welcome children into the audience, we celebrate what makes us different.”
Catherine McNamara

ViV! – is a children’s theatre show about an adventurous, tough and sassy girl who lives with disabilities and her little sister Lil’.

Our heroine Viv takes the audience on an interactive and sensory journey, transporting us into her imagination, to meet the quirky friends who surf her unique brainwaves and celebrate her for all her “ViVness”. 

ViV! merges digital landscapes, puppetry and choreography with an original score played live, to take the audience on a magical journey. Come along and discover a mischievous crew of endangered Australian animals who are unique, just like ViV!

Artwork by Ruth Cant (Based in Warren, Central West NSW)

The creative development of ViV! was supported by Local Giants, a national program brought to you by a partnership between Performing Arts Connections (PAC) Australia, Performing Lines and Regional Arts Australia.
ViV! is supported by the NSW Government through CreateNSW.

Thanks to Box of Birds / Stalker Theatre, for their ongoing collaboration and support with digital design and projection.

— Catherine McNamara, ViV! Creator and Director

A woman. A dog. A campervan. And 4,500kms of wide-open road.

Mot wakes up one morning to find that her heart is missing from her chest. She can breathe; she has a pulse—but she feels… nothing.

So, she decides to go and look for it. With her dog enlisted as co-pilot, Mot heads down the Highway of Lost Hearts: into the deepest core of the Australian outback—navigating red dirt landscapes, fire and flood, brittle dryness, vast salt lakes, age-old mountains and murky waters filled with lost souls.

An allegory for a country that’s lost its heart, Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler is half gritty road journey, half magic realism and all heart. It leaves you pondering the question: when your heart goes missing, what lengths will you go to in order to find it again?

After a celebrated season at BMEC in 2021, Lingua Franca’s production of Highway of Lost Hearts is hitting the road on a NSW wide tour. Back for one night only, join us as we send off Kate Smith and Smith & Jones to share this Bathurst-made production with audiences around the state.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   “The grief, loss and humour of this play is transformed into a memorable and resplendent experience that is achieved through the relationship between monologist Smith and two female musicians, who in unison bring an enchanting dimension to a narrative that makes one ponder matters of the heart that go beyond the world of the play. This outstanding production is not to be missed.”  Arts Hub

Highway of Lost Hearts” was supported by the NSW Government though Create NSW and Art’s On Tour. Arts Out West also plays a role as an auspicing organization and partner. The project is a co-production between Lingua Franca and the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre’s Local Stages program. 

Performed by Kate Smith, Sophie Jones and Abby Smith
Playwright Mary Anne Smith
Director Adam Deusien
Designer Annemaree Dalziel
Lighting Design and Production Manager Becky Russell
Live Original Music Smith & Jones

A play that has changed thousands of lives, with humour and grace The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female strength and sexuality in all its complexity and mystery.

Hailed as the bible for a new generation of women, it has been performed throughout the world, and has inspired a dynamic grassroots movement, to stop violence against women. Each year a new monologue is added to the catalogue keeping the play an evolving conversation.

Performed by local actors and directed by Jonathan Llewellyn, this special event created for International Women’s Day raised funds for Bathurst Women and Children’s Refuge.

The sold-out smash-hit of 2023 returned in 2024 as part of Superfest. Think Schitts Creek, Upper Middle Bogan and The Castle all rolled into one! A riotous romp about winners and losers; lovers and fighters and what happens when the will to win spins us out of control and away from the ones we love!

Fast Cars is fast-paced comedy about the Brocky loving Byrnes family. They live for the big race, their home-grown Brocky burgers and making their dreams come true.

Matriarch Barb dreams of cracking her personal best walking ‘round the Mount; daughter Chez, a mechanic wants to be the King of the Mountain; and Insta-mad son – Tez just dreams.

But word on the street is business is bad for Barb’s Burgers and Babs and they need a boost. Big-time. Who and what can save Barb and her brood from going bankrupt?

Meanwhile slimy Mayor, Belle Farquhar is getting smashed in the polls. With the election looming she needs a plan to get back on top. And fast!! Farquhar declares that locals can drive in the great V8 race on the mountain and win a big cash prize. Bingo! 

The Byrnes are in! This is just what they need. Or is it?

Fast Cars will get your engines revving and hearts racing. This show promises to give you one helluva of bang for yer buck.

See The Trailer Here

Bathurst Sea of Sound returned in 2024, a change to the previous Inland Sea Of Sound title, this year with a focus on world music.

Featured artists to the festival included Back to the roots, Zashto, Eishan Ensemble, Larissa Burak, Daniel Champagne, Where Song Began, Residual  and Gardens Of Stone.

Featuring local artists in conjunction with Reckless Brewing, it included the event “Homebrew”.

A highlight was a special performance on top of Wahluu with the sounds of two Swiss Alphorns sending out a sea of sound to the town below. Joining them were a choir of enthusiastic locals under the direction of well-known musicians Smith & Jones. Featuring new commissioned work and a choral arrangement of Dolly Parton’s The Light of a Clear Blue Morning, we welcome the sunrise for the final day of our festival. No need to book, just turn up a few minutes before for this very special event.

The local Wiradyuri elders held a beautiful ceremony welcoming the sunrise.

After dark was a celebration of winter through song and words. An evening sharing some of Bathurst’s finest performance talents with an appreciative audience while enjoying a mulled wine in the warm and embracing Wattle Foyer at BMEC. This special chilled out event closes off two weeks of fabulous cold weather fun during Bathurst’s Winter Festival.

Link To The Event

Inland Sea Of Sound Festival Ran 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

2023 Fast Cars – Kate Smith & Friends – 22-25 March

2021 Highway of Lost Hearts – Lingua Franca – 19-20 November

2021 Kangaroo – Miranda Gott – 20-21 July

2021 Cabaret Kite #18 – Unsolicited Advice – 9 March

2021 – 2024 Regional Songwriting Contest

2020 The Persian Queen – Cathy & Phil Snitch – 10 October

2020 Cabaret Kite #17 – ONLINE – 10 June

2019 Mighty – Lingua Franca – 2 March

Catapult Festival ran in 2005,2007, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018

2018 The Climbing Tree – Artstate – November 2 – 5 & Riverside Theatres Parramatta 25 November

2018 Latin American Film Festival 14-17 October

2017 Cabaret Kite #16 – 10 Years of Local Stages – 16 December

2017 Beloved Monster classes

2017 17 Things the Government Doesn’t Want You to Know About the Internet – BMEC 13 April, ATYP 24 April

2017 Latin American film festival

2016 Developments of Jason & This Land (not fully realised)

2016 – 2018 Regional Theatre Project including 17 Things the Government Doesn’t Want You To Know About The Internet& The Climbing Tree

2016 CWSPF – Mudgee Shorts

2016 Catapult – Emerging Artists project

2015 Cabaret Kite #15 – 19 December

2015 Unsustainable Behaviour – Lingua Franca – November

2015 Wattle Foyer Soiree – 24 August

2015 BW&RF – first festival 21-24 May then every year following

2015 – 2023 LEAP (Local Emerging Artists Program) – Inland Sea Of Sound

2015 Made in Bathurst Project 1 – The Tosca Project (not fully realised)

2015 CWSPF Dubbo & smaller communities showcase

2014 If There Was A Colour Darker Than Black I Would Wear It – Smashed Arts

2014 Oh My God I’ve Been Kidnapped & I Hate What I’m Wearing – the Musical – Kate Smith – 15-17 May

2013 to present – Compareo

2013 Right Behind You – Lingua Franca – 16-17 August

2012 Cabaret Kite #14 – International Man of Mystery – 1 December

2012 Cabaret Kite #13 – 24 September

2012 Windows on the World – Collette Keen – 24-25 February

2012 – 2015 Smashed Arts Program

2011 Cabaret Kite #12 – Glam Rock Christmas Cabaret – 3 December

2011 Africa – My Darling Patricia – 8 June

2012 Synthesis – Lingua Franca – May

2012 Love, Chemistry and Cryogenics – Michelle Griffin – 23-24 March

2011 Cabaret Kite # 11 Arabian Nights – 3 June

2011 Talk 2 Me – Alison Plevey & Larissa Wilson – 18-19 May

2011 Wattle Foyer Soiree – 11 May

2011 Titanomachy – 27-29 April

2011 The Disappearance Project – Version 1.0 – 8 – 9 April

2011 On Becoming a Witch – Cate McCarthy & friends – 17 – 18 March

2011 The Sand Dwellers – Kaye Nankervis – 24 -26 February

2010 Cabaret Kit #10 Summer Lovin – 4 December

2010 APAP Concert – 2 October

2010 Cabaret Kite #9 Election Promises – 7 August

2010 Cabaret Kite #8 Capital Punishment – 17 July

2010 Soiree #5 – 23 June

2010 Cabaret Kite #4 Curioser & Curioser – 12-13 March

2010 No Planet B – Alison Plevey – 11-12 March

2010 Soiree #4 – 3 March

2009 Cabaret Kite #6 – Shaken Not Stirred 21 November

2009 Cabaret Kite #5 – 1 August

2009 Cabaret Kite #4 –  28 May

2009 Cabaret Kite #3 – 21 March

2009 Soiree #3 -1 July

2009 Soiree # 2 – 19 February

2008 Cabaret Kite #2 – 03 May

2008 Soiree # 1 – 09 July

2007 Cabaret Kite #1 – 9 March

2007 Needfire – The Beltane Collective – 3-4 April

August 2007 Local Stages Launched