THE LAB REPORT 2025

SUNDAY 18 MAY 6.30pm

CITY OF THE PLAIN

Written by Lachlan Parry Directed by Lily Hayman

When the first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip, stepped ashore, he said “There are two crimes that would merit death; murder and sodomy. For either of these crimes I would wish to deliver him as a prisoner to the natives of New Zealand and let them eat him.” City of the Plain is a comedy anthology exploring Sydney’s relationship between gay sex and straight people. From the breakroom at Myer George St to the baron cultural landscape of Cronulla Boulevard, Sydney has a dark and delicious past of cultivating scandal and sodomy, at the same time as critiquing it. These are the sodomites that Governor Arthur Phillip warned us about...

FREE || bookings essential

the KXT on BROADWAY theatre and foyer is wheelchair accessible - please get in touch before the show so we can meet your access requirements in the most comfortable way for you (mob) 0431 426 226

THE LAB REPORT 2025

SUNDAY 18 MAY 4.30 PM

COCOON

Written by Robbie Wardough Directed by Saro Lusty-Cavallari

Deep in the Australian bush, two friends stumble upon an impossibly large cocoon — pulsing, unknowable and wet. They should walk away. But they don’t.

As days stretch on, the cocoon remains unchanged, and yet they can’t shake its strange pull. Obsession blooms, and the longer they stay, the more gripped they become. What is it? What might emerge? What are they really chasing?

COCOON is a surreal, intimate exploration of desire - not for what we want, but for want itself.


FREE || bookings essential

the KXT on BROADWAY theatre and foyer is wheelchair accessible - please get in touch before the show so we can meet your access requirements in the most comfortable way for you (mob) 0431 426 226

THE LAB REPORT 2025

SUNDAY 18 MAY 2.30PM

WAX

Written by Lisa Kelly directed by Saro Lusty-Cavallari

Cast Steve Corner, Sarah Greenwood, Bridget Haberecht, Sonya Kerr, Izabella Louk, Alice Livingstone, Robert Miniter, Shayne

Helensvale. Gold Coast. Queensland. 

On Christmas Day, and in the aftermath of an unprecedented tornado, the newly homeless Amy is invited to bunk at her neighbour Helen’s home in a radical act of connection and community support. 

As the family arrives for a makeshift Christmas lunch in the stifling heat, Helen’s kind gesture quickly reveals sinister intentions, as the prospect of a second storm ushers in spiritual awakenings and unearths buried truths.

With bold characters and out of left field panache, WAX. is an absurd climate change comedy that asks how we can possibly be human under systems that are eating us alive.

FREE || Bookings essential

the KXT on BROADWAY theatre and foyer is wheelchair accessible - please get in touch before the show so we can meet your access requirements in the most comfortable way for you (mob) 0431 426 226

THE LAB REPORT 2025

SATURDAY 17 MAY 8.00pm

LIVING SPACE

Written by Sarah Durickovic directed by Saro Lusty-Cavallari

Cast Kyle Barrett, Bridget Haberecht, Campbell Parsons

1949, East Germany. The war is coming to a swift end, and Germany wanes in the face of the eastern forces.  

Isolated in her vacant apartment complex, Marlene is the widow of a nazi officer. Plagued by the conjurings of her late husband, and equally by her besotted nazi brother in law,  Marlene discovers a Belarusian prisoner of war hiding in the apartment above. As tensions rise between the two, Marlene must confront the ghosts of her past as well as the stranger's own.

Living Space is an intimate, unforgiving contemplation on complicity, survival and the scars of empire on Eastern Europe.

The Lab Report is a part of The Laboratory program, a Montague Basement x KXT partnership supporting emerging writers, led by Saro Lusty-Cavallari. This program is supported by the Seaborne, Broughton and Walford Foundation

FREE || bookings essential


the KXT on BROADWAY theatre and foyer is wheelchair accessible - please get in touch before the show so we can meet your access requirements in the most comfortable way for you (mob) 0431 426 226

THE LAB REPORT 2025

Saturday 17 May 6.00pm

MARY AGAINST THE INVISIBLE MACHINE

Written by Jordyn Fulcher Directed by Ryan Witworth-Jones

Cast Violeta Baru Mugica, Candice Mejias, Steve Paton, Jonny Sainsbury

 Maria wakes in an interrogation room with no memory of how she got there. All she knows is if she isn’t home by morning, she may lose her younger brother to the system for good. But when the agents sent to interrogate her discover her digital identity has been erased, what begins as a desperate search for answers becomes a fight to reclaim herself before everything she loves disappears with her. And as the line between reality and perception blurs, even the agents tasked with upholding the system begin to unravel beneath its weight.

Set in a world both familiar and unsettlingly near, Mary Against the Invisible Machine is an interrogation of the fragility of our existence when it’s reduced to ones and zeroes. Through the lens of psychological realism and speculative fiction, it's the story of one ordinary woman’s fight to be seen, remembered, and believed in a system that thrives on making people like her vanish. The question that will remain is: what’s left when the machine forgets you?

The Lab Report is a part of The Laboratory program, a Montague Basement x KXT partnership supporting emerging writers, led by Saro Lusty-Cavallari. This program is supported by the Seaborne, Broughton and Walford Foundation

FREE || bookings essential

the KXT on BROADWAY theatre and foyer is wheelchair accessible - please get in touch before the show so we can meet your access requirements in the most comfortable way for you (mob) 0431 426 226

THE LAB REPORT 2025

SATURDAY 17 MAY 4.00PM

CREATURES

Written by Gemma Hudson directed by Saro Lusty-Cavallari

Cast Jason Jefferies, Harold Phipps, Rachel Seeto, Ebony Tucker

In the not so distant future, office worker Alice has it all. Perfect job, perfect relationship, perfectly planned out future. That is, until Creature appears, a horrific being physically attached to her, who throws her entire life, and the order of her world, into disarray. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland and body horror, Creatures is a new play about disability and capitalism that is as honest as it is strange, and as whimsical as it is bloody.

The Lab Report is a part of The Laboratory program, a Montague Basement x KXT partnership supporting emerging writers, led by Saro Lusty-Cavallari. This program is supported by the Seaborne, Broughton and Walford Foundation

FREE || Bookings essential

THE LAB REPORT 2025

Saturday 17 May 2.30pm

Afterglow

Written by Sheanna Russon and directed by Cassie Hamilton, musical direction Lillian Herne

Cast: Jacinta Gregory, Addy Robertson, Xavier Smith, Jack Talty

It’s 2012. It’s the Barbershop Harmony Singing National Championships. Michael has it all figured out. They are scoring well, popular and on the way to being a judge. Enter Tom; brash, political… tall. As the two spiral into debate the night drags out into the early hours of the morning as gender and sexuality are drawn into question, but always at an arm's length. The night ends with a warm “see you in two years”. This begins a cycle of bi-annual Afterglows shared together.

This funny and heartwarming musical set in the world of barbershop harmony singing follows two people’s journey through their twenties as they search to find who they are to themselves, to each other, and to the world.

The Lab Report is a part of The Laboratory program, a Montague Basement x KXT partnership supporting emerging writers, led by Saro Lusty-Cavallari. This program is supported by the Seaborne, Broughton and Walford Foundation

F R E E || Bookings essential

the KXT on BROADWAY theatre and foyer is wheelchair accessible - please get in touch before the show so we can meet your access requirements in the most comfortable way for you (mob) 0431 426 226

10 YEARS || the bAKEHOUSE IMPACT at KXT on BROADWAY

Ten years ago - In 2015 - bAKEHOUSE was approached by Solotel to build and launch a theatre across level 2 of KX Hotel. Within a month we gutted the room, built the traverse space, and opened the doors to our first season. The first season in the Cross featured work from bAKEHOUSE Theatre, Priscilla Jackman, Kate Gaul and Siren Theatre, Michael Dean & Lies Lies & Propaganda, Tooth & Sinew theatre, Rachel Chant and Shane Bosher, Saro Lusty-Cavallari and the newly launched Montague Basement. We programmed 10 world premieres. There were 7 women-led seasons, as well as the Invisible Circus – an entire festival centring the work of women. Our StoryLines programming found a home in the Cross with the bakehouse season of Black Jesus, a cast that included Dorion Nkono and the professional debut of Elijah Williams, international partnerships with Mumbai-based companies and NFPs for Jatinga, and The Laden Table written by a team of Mulsim, Jewish and Catholic women went into development.  

2024 was the first full year of programming at KXT on Broadway. It’s almost impossible to imagine that 18 months ago we were moving from our home in the Cross, and even more difficult to imagine that in 2025 – this year, our 10th year of operation – we would have built a new home for independent theatre. But here we are. So this year is our 10th birthday. We’ll have a big party at Broadway somewhere in the middle of the year, but mostly we’ll celebrate by continuing to do what we love: supporting emerging and early career artists working alongside experienced professionals; programming and supporting the development of the best new Australian writing; inviting artists into our cool bank that’s now a theatre and welcoming people into the bottleneck bar

Trishala Sharma in JATINGA

We’ll dig through the records at some point and come up with the actual numbers, however we can say that thousands of artists have worked on the KXT stage since its inception in 2015. And hundreds of artists who began their careers here, learning the lessons that can only be learned in the cauldron of production, are now working at STC, Belvoir, Griffin, ensemble, Malthouse, Melbourne Theatre Co, and as far afield as Punchdrunk in the UK. While we’re not claiming credit for all of their successes, we are certainly proud to have been able to offer support, guidance and pathways to so many along the way.

Every year we take a minute to look back before we move forward. This is where we’ll often talk numbers – and they’re good numbers: almost 15,000 people through the doors; 220 artists supported at KXT on Broadway on the stage; an additional 118 artists working in the KXT Vault as part of our Artist Support programs; that’s just shy of 340 artists this year; 47% of the season led by Artists of Colour; 80% were women-led seasons; 10 shows in the season were world premieres of new Australian writers and 7 of those were women playwrights; 16 weeks of free rehearsal space to companies; 92% capacity averaged across all seasons (shoutout to the couple of sold out seasons that nudged that figure so high!); 54% of the season had more than 12 artists working on the project

They’re good numbers and they help tell the story of the 2024 season. But this year there’s one number we’re especially proud of:

$232,932

That’s the income generated by work at KXT that went to artists.

And another number $205,000

That’s the financial investment from bAKEHOUSE into work on the Broadway stage: or approx. $5k per week, averaging $15k per season.

Shoutout to the 17 producers who rolled the dice on ticket sales, investing their own cash to get shows onto the stage. Producing work is a labour of love – more so in the indie sector where many producers are forgoing fees, working long late hours, and finagling schedules, budgets and timelines, to get their passion projects in front of an audience. The 2024 season saw 8 new producing companies working at KXT on Broadway for the first time, programmed alongside experienced companies like Secret House and White Box theatre.

Roshelle Fong in NOMNOMNOM

Making art is expensive. But the value it delivers cannot be under estimated: the communities that have been supported; the people whose stories have been told; the audiences who have left changed a little or a lot; the laughter at difficult times… theatre is a crucible for change for good. It’s the home of big ideas and conversations, and at Broadway we’ve been honoured to be a part of that.

KXT on Broadway is now home to multiple value-adding Artist programs: the Vault at KXT; Storytellers Festival; KXT Crossroads events; bAKEHOUSE Residencies; step Up mentoring, the laboratory; and StoryLines. Each year we program new work that comes through our Artist Support programs and we’re proud to say that when you’re programmed at KXT you become part of a fresh and exciting community of artists delivering new Australian work

We want to highlight the residency program. Previous work supported through the bAKEHOUSE Residency program includes: Symphonie Fantastique by the Little Eggs Collective led by Mathew Lee and Julia Robertson; U.B.U. by Tooth and Sinew led by Richard Hilliar; Hubris & Humiliation by Lewis Treston led by Rily Spadaro and Pheobe Pilcher; The Italians by Danny Ball led by Danny Ball, Thomas D’Angelis and Emma O’Sullivan; dog by Shayne; DIWA by Jordan Shea; Mercury Poisoning by Madeleine Stedman; and much more. Our 2024 program at Broadway featured 4 seasons of work that had come through the Residency program. So in 2024 we opened the door wider and welcomed in 20 teams for development. Through January, we invited them upstairs for a showcase season, with a free program of readings and works in progress currently playing. We’ll be announcing our callout for the residency program shortly, alongside a few other opportunities, so keep an eye on socials or subscribe to the eNews for all the latest. 

Over the years bAKEHOUSE has been supported at KXT by a slew of other indie companies. In 2025 CrissCross Productions the company Emily & Charlie Vaux run together will continue their work at KXT, alongside kwento, Legit and Montague Basement. Standby for news of more exciting partnerships through 2025

Our thanks also go to Saro Lusty-Cavallari for managing and heading up the Laboratory program; venue staff Lily, Ziggy, Aaron, Charlie, Bill and Emily; Sophie Parker who saved our lighting bacon a few times; and Joanna Erskine for her ongoing work in the Storytellers season, back in 2025, and the bAKEHOUSE Board Renee, Matthew, Steve, Andrew and Michael

bAKEHOUSE at KXT in the Cross: John Harrison, Suzanne Millar, Andrew McMartin

FIND OUT MORE

ANDREW MCMARTIN

Andrew McMartin (he/him) is the Production Manager and one of the founders of KXT. He works, often unseen, to make sure all of the operational elements of the venue are performing as efficiently and safely as they can.

Andrew has a long history working in theatre, events and film. During Covid he attained his Masters in Screen Producing from AFTRS and then went on to be the Senior Production Coordinator for the Australian made 3D animated film My Freaky Family.

Andrew has managed venues and events of all sizes including all the Australia Day activities on Sydney Harbour for the NSW Gov, multiple events for Sydney Festival, Mardi Gras, Tropfest, Sydney Film Festival, Adeliade Fringe Festival, Melbourne Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival among many others.

Andrew has also been a Stage Manager for countless numbers of plays, events and musicals over the years both in Syndey and on tours before he first joined the bAKEHOUSE team in 2013. As the resident bAKEHOUSE Stage Manager and Production Manager he has worked with the team on Human Activity, Coram Boy, Visting Hours, Jatinga, The Laden Table and Black Jesus (KXT - Kings Cross Theatre); The Ishmael Club (Old Fitz); His Mother’s Voice (ATYP Selects); Love Field (TAP Gallery), and the development showings of Two Chairs and His Dark Materials.

Andrew worked with Suzanne and John to create both the first KXT in at Kings Cross in 2015 and the new KXT on Broadway in 2023. Andrew continues to work on the Board and behind the scenes to consult on all aspects of the theatre to help it to continue to develop into the future of Sydney Independent theatre.