Life memberships for Jeannie and Amy
In its 10th year, Off the Leash Theatre has presented its first life memberships to Jeannie Haughton and Amy Moss.
The dedicated duo received their awards during a small dinner at Albert and Smith at West Gippsland Arts Centre.
Jeannie said they were surprised to learn of their life memberships during a Zoom meeting. Although the committee originally wanted to surprise the pair at a 10-year gala celebration, the pair were instead honoured at a small special dinner as soon as restrictions allowed.
Off the Leash Theatre president Tracey Rabl reflected on how lucky the company was to have the talented duo involved and emphasised all their hard work to get it started and make it what it was today.
Tracey said Jeannie co-founded the Drouinbased theatre company and was the “resident playwright”.
“It started as a little hobby and then it started to get some momentum,” Tracey said.
She has served as president, vice president and artistic director.
Her original work “Nightshades” saw her awarded the GAT Alby Fisher Award last year, was published by Australian Plays and will see her read parts of the play at the Women’s
Playwright International Conference in Canada. Originally planned for 2021, the event has now been postponed to 2022.
Tracey said Amy had been Jeannie’s right hand man in getting Off the Leash off the ground.
Amy has contributed much work behind the scenes as well as on the stage, directing several works as well as gaining awards and nominations for many acting roles.
Jeannie said the pair had been involved in almost all of Off the Leash’s productions staged during the past 10 years, totalling about 25 shows.
“Amy and I were involved in nearly all of them, so it was really nice with the whole 10-year thing to look back at all the work and good shows we’ve done and the people involved,” she said.
Off the Leash Theatre made the decision in mid-March to postpone all shows for 2020, including “Rabbit Hole” which was set for the following week.
Tracey said they had commitment from the team to move these shows to 2021 but lingering restrictions could further impact the schedule.
Jeannie is now heading up a new original work titled “Dress Code” exploring people’s relationship with clothing. She is gaining local stories and hopes to stage it in June.