Vena Cava Productions: Shaping the Next Generation of Theatre

Vena Cava Productions have kicked off their 2024 season with a launch party Live, Laugh, Launch at The Roundhouse Theatre at La Boite.

Vena Cava Productions is QUT’s student driven, not-for-profit theatre company. Established in 1996, it offers semi-professional learning opportunities within the theatre industry, allowing students to grow and learn as emerging artists. As part of the future of the arts in Brisbane, they believe that young people deserve a platform on which to perform their works and shape the next generation of theatre makers.

The first Main House production of the 2024 season is Love and Information written by Caryl Churchill and directed by Grace Longwill. The play is made up of many scenelets set in a fast-moving kaleidoscope, where more than a hundred characters try to make sense of what they know. Love and Information premiered in 2012 on London’s West End and in 2015 in Australia.

The second Main House production is The Vera Watson Wellness Centre written by Tony Brumpton and directed by Shari Indriani Irwin and Tony Brumpton. An original work in development with the students at QUT, the play follows Adam, a naïve employee, as he starts his job as a service technician at the Vera Watson Wellness Centre. Surrounded by a surly manager, compulsive clients and enigmatic ‘caregivers,’ Adam learns that there is more going on than first advertised.

The final Main House production is in development and will be a student devised and directed work.

In addition to the Main House productions, Vena Cava’s annual Freshblood Festival will feature short, original plays by students Melissa Sheridan, Seb Handley, Neil Gordon and Elias Askew.

Vena Cava Productions aims to facilitate the creation of theatre characterised by both excellence and accessibility and they are dedicated to cultivating a platform that nurtures emerging artists.

The 2024 season dates are:

Love and Information 17^th April (preview), 18^th-20^th April

Freshblood Festival 4^th-5^th May

The Vera Watson Wellness Centre late June / early July (TBC)

Final production TBC

To support Vena Cava Productions, follow them at:

Instagram: @venacavaproductions

Facebook: facebook.com/venacavaproductions

Main Photo: The Executive Team

Back row: Cameron Walker, Anika Jocumsen
Middle row: Ben Spalding, Liu Gainsford, Lachlan Fietz, Anna Holmes
Front row: Josh Richardson, Vivian Hinz, Charlie Graham, Charlii Lobley-Evans

Photographer Zach McKenzie. @_mckenzie.productions_