The Maitland Repertory Theatre, a volunteer community-based society, carries on a tradition of live theatre in Maitland which dates, it is thought, from 1838.
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The organisation was founded in 1947 in the lounge of the Grand Central Hotel in Bourke Street; the meeting had been called by radio announcer Alan Cairnes of 2HR, Maitland's radio station, and Jim Allison, the City Librarian.
Allison was elected inaugural president of the society and Cairnes one of its directors.
The Repertory's first play, 'Tons of Money', was produced by Cairnes and staged at the Town Hall with rehearsals undertaken in the National Fitness Rooms above Woolworths (now the Reject Shop) in High Street.
This was a British farce about a deeply-indebted investor who comes into money via an inheritance and uses nefarious means to stop his fortune going to his creditors.
From the Town Hall the Society moved its productions in 1950 to the Methodist Hall, where the acoustics were better.
Props and other equipment were stored in various places including farm sheds.
St Mary's Hall and St Paul's Hall were also venues where plays were staged, and on occasions the society performed in Cessnock, Branxton, Singleton and East Maitland.
For some years, meetings and rehearsals were held in a disused hayshed near the hospital, in rooms in the Bank of NSW building and elsewhere. Much stored property was lost in the flood of 1955.
Eventually, a block of land was purchased at the corner of Grant and Devonshire streets and a three-room hut from the Greta Migrant Camp was erected there as 'home base' in 1960.
Then, in 1964, the Congregational Church in High Street was purchased: it has ever since been the organisation's playhouse, now called the Theatre.
Several plays are performed there yearly and meeting rooms and storage space are available on site. This centralisation of everything has been a boon.
Since 1947 Maitland Repertory has produced more than 400 plays, its offerings including comedies, melodramas, musicals, crime thrillers and classics.
There has been Shakespeare ('The Taming of the Shrew', 'Much Ado About Nothing', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'All's Well that Ends Well') and Ibsen ('A Doll's House') as well as George Bernard Shaw ('Pygmalion'), Oscar Wilde ('The Importance of Being Earnest'), Agatha Christie ('And then there were None' and 'The Mousetrap'), AA Milne ('Toad of Toad Hall'), Kenneth Grahame ('The Wind in the Willows'), Joseph Kesselring ('Arsenic and Old Lace') and many others.
Numerous Australian playwrights have featured, among them David Williamson ('Travelling North'), Ray Lawler ('Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'), Louis Nowra ('Cosi'), Dorothy Hewett ('The Man from Muckinupin') and Jonathon Biggins ('Australia Day'). In 1973 most of the offerings were Australian.
Fifteen years later a play written and directed by local thespian Frank Oakes and focused on Maitland's 1955 flood was staged.
Several actual incidents from that memorable event were depicted in the well-received 'The Flood Show'.
The Theatre is considering a reprise in 2025 for the 70th anniversary of the flood.
The Repertory Theatre is embedded in the cultural life of Maitland, bringing live theatre of quality to local audiences.
It teaches aspiring thespians and fosters a youth arm for under-30s.
Vigorous fundraising, business support and working bee activity have helped it maintain and improve its theatre facility.
Maitland Repertory's latest production of A Streetcar Names Desire will be held at Maitland Repertory Theatre from July 3 to July 21.
The play, by Tennessee Williams, is being directed by Daniel Shaunessy and stars Celia Kelly as Blanche, Matt Scoles as Stanley, Gabby Johns as Stella and Josh Hayward as Mitch.
