River Gum Ward councillor Janet Halsall is intrigued by the artistic acoustic panel in one of the rehearsal rooms.WOODEN floors may be sprung and the airconditioned rooms may be soundproofed, but I can visualise a hive of activity, assertive directors and conductors, short passages of music not yet right, and voices going over and over this and that.
I see performing artists coming and going and parents bringing and collecting children.
And a hive of industry in the stage sets workshop, paintbrushes, saws and hammers as show after show come together from those first days of rehearsal when directors shake their heads in bewilderment.
All at The Factory, the new rehearsal centre for the arts at 65 Berwick Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne East, just along toward Cranbourne from Casey Fields.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford has invited all and sundry to attend the official opening of The Factory which he and noted actor Bud Tingwell will undertake at 11am on Saturday (18 November).
When I see things emerging in the south such as this rehearsal centre, Casey Fields, and the Casey Complex and I hear some Cranbourne people calling for a separate municipality, I wonder if the devil has entered their brains.
This is a wonderful and muchneeded facility and another facility the south would not have except for the support that comes from the wider municipality.
The facility also brings at least some equity in the comparison of council money spent on sport and the arts and is most welcome.
I’ve seen choirs and groups with their props stored in garages, shipping containers, shoved around halls, and left on trailers because there was never a proper place to store or build stage sets.
The Factory was designed after consultation with arts groups and provides several practise rooms of varying size.
Storage cupboards and larger areas have been provided, along with a sizeable workshop for building stage sets.
The centre has a large reception area that will feature a major sculpture.
Wide doors to larger downstairs rehearsal areas have been provided and a central kitchen will allow people from different groups to meet informally and socially.
Rooms are airconditioned and have sprung floors for dance practise.
Ballet mirrors and barres will be available and each practise room will have a piano.
Five garages will cater for trailer storage.
The kitchen has 14 cupboards for different groups to store their tea and biscuits.
The Factory interim committee chairman Councillor Wayne Smith said the council hoped to also provide a showcase for memorabilia.
When I think back over 50 years, or more, of little theatre and the way groups have struggled with storage and rehearsal areas I wonder how they coped.
Thanks to an unfailing dedication to their craft they persisted and we still enjoy this type of entertainment.
When I see the fine tuned presentations on stage I am always mindful of the enormous amount of skill, hard work and sometimes sacrifice that went into the product.
My view is that as this facility becomes known it will be a case of all roads lead to The Factory.
