We move at a frantic pace in the independent sector. So every year we like to take a minute to look back before we move forward. And 2023 was an astonishing one for both KXT and bAKEHOUSE.
So. 2023. We began our year in the Cross with 4 seasons of work, incl 2 new Australian plays and a month long festival of queer work in development and production for Pride hosted by Sean Landis and Maddy Ghandi in the first full season of work from Fruit Box. Our final season in the Cross was the Australian premiere of Simon Longman’s Gundog pres by Secret House, the co-producers with New Ghosts theatre of the 2022 independent play of the year, directed by Anthony Skuse, featuring a visit from the UK-based playwright and receiving 4 and 5 star reviews.
On closing night of that show, a small team dropped the lights, cleared the chairs, put everything in a truck and drove it across town unloading everything by midnight to be installed for the inaugural show at KXT on Broadway, all ready for a building compliance inspection on Monday, and the bump in and production week for the first season. Our enormous thanks go to Virginia Plain theatre, Fruit Box, Secret House and Criss Cross productions who worked with us to make the transition to our new home in Ultimo as seamless as possible.
Also to Ben Brockman, Chris Starnawski, Emily Buxton, Charlie Vaux and countless volunteers who jumped in to carry chairs and lights and sound gear and boxes and endlessly mopped up building dust; to James Smithers who built the bar and decked out the change rooms; to Antony Mahklouf who’s beautiful artwork has graced both the Mountain St windows and the foyer wall; to the bAKEHOUSE Board Steve Newnham, Andrew McMartin, Matt Millar, Becks Blake, Michael Dean, and Renee Lim, for their moral, financial and practical support; to our new bar sponsors Atomic, and our venue staff Emily, Charlie, Bill and Aaron; our tertiary partners at UTS and Notre Dame; our builders Shannon and Dan (who built walls on the floor and managed an old fashioned barn raising but make it theatre); to our plumbers and sparkies and painters and acoustic engineers who worked miracles on a budget and schedule…
…and John and I want to personally thank Andrew who has somehow managed to keep us somewhat sane through it all.
We think it’s important to note that this all happened in a year when yet another small indie venue closed, the 3rd in under 2 years. We certainly hope that all the reports and surveys currently underway designed to bring change to the culture and arts sectors of Australia recognise the critical role that small venues play, and that supporting theatres like KXT is supporting artists
Since moving to Ultimo on the 13 March - only an exhausting 10 months ago - KXT on Broadway has delivered a further 15 seasons and 2 festivals; and our new space the KXT Vault has allowed us to support 17 developments; an additional 2 pop up seasons; and provide 10 weeks of free rehearsal space.
Bringing this year’s KXT stats to 23 seasons of work; 13 weeks of rehearsal support; 12 world premieres: 16 Australian premieres; 7 seasons of work led by artists of colour; 15 women-led productions; while providing space for something like 300 artists. Meanwhile downstairs in the Vault we made space for 24 artists developing work, alongside countless actors - seriously we lost track …
Audiences also moved with us from the Cross to Broadway, and while we’re still crunching the final numbers we can report 2023 included a number of sold out seasons. We’ve also seen new audiences from the creative hub that is Chippendale, Glebe and Newtown, and our new neighbourhood is fast developing as a centre for the arts in Sydney. KXT on Broadway is 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: we’re proud to say that when you’re programmed at KXT you become part of a fresh and exciting community of artists & audience delivering new Australian work
This year our additional space downstairs means we have been able to focus on expanding developments. Previous work supported through the bAKEHOUSE Residency program include: 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; Symphonie Fantastique by the Little Eggs Collective led by Mathew Lee and Julia Robertson; The Monologue Collective the brainchild of Laneikka Denne; U.B.U. by Tooth and Sinew with Richard Hilliar and Nicole Wineberg at the helm; Feminazi by Laneikka Denne; Porpoise Pool by Jojo Zhou led by Eve Beck and Bite Productions. All this miraculously during a pandemic on a tiny stage in the Cross, squeezed in between back to back seasons. Now with the KXT Vault downstairs it is a true joy to us to be able to have a home for new work. A special shout-out to Charlie Vaux who works with us in Artist Support, to be sure we can offer so much to so many independent and emerging artists.
There was a moment in March this year as Gundog closed out our 8 years in the Cross, when the director of the first show at KXT Michael Dean sat on stage and chatted with Anthony Skuse the director of the final show. 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 late 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, Darlinghurst Theatre Co, ensemble, Malthouse, Melbourne Theatre Co, even the UKs Punchdrunk. While we’re not claiming credit for all of these successes, we are certainly proud to have been able to offer support, guidance and pathways to so many along the way. In 2024 we’ll be relaunching STEP UP, the KXT Mentoring program; and the Laboratory, our investment in emerging writers and their work
So what does KXT2024 look like? click on the link below to find out
Suzanne Millar Creative Director KXT on Broadway