The Brook

This little weatherboard church hall is the home of the local theatre group, Brook Community Theatre.

Since 1987 it has had a long and proud history of providing the mid-mountains with plays and performances that actively involve members of that community.

Unfortunately this is soon to end as the building has been sold and the theatre group will be homeless.

The final production in the venue is "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice", opening on November 24th and finishing on the 15th of December. I spent this afternoon rigging and focusing the ten lights on the tiny stage with a bit of vocal support from the auditorium.

While I was doing this I had a chance to admire the features that make this hall such a special place, the wooden gabled roof, the arched windows and the hand painted vignette above the proscenium that apparently depicts the historic "Crossing of the Blue Mountains ".


It will be sad to see the last of this sweet little performance space and I really hope that, whatever it gets used for, these special features are preserved.

Ironically a few stations stops west another wonderful Community Hall is under threat - this time by a Highway. The Lawson Mechanics Institute would make a fantastic new home for the Brook Theatre. It's larger, has better facilities, great acoustics and vocal group of loyal mountain supporters that don't want it to be demolished for the sake of an extra lane on a Freeway.

Situations like this really makes me wonder about our priorities - I hope the Councillers and State Parliamentarians that are supposed to be making our Community a better place to live in will see come to their senses and Save The Hall.