Award for Audrey puppets
Horsham Arts Council has continued to consolidate its reputation as one of Victoria’s leading regional performing arts organisations by winning a major state award.
The council clinched the Peter Blizzard-allan Award for design from a high-quality field of nominations at annual Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Bruce Awards for Excellence in Narre Warren on Saturday.
The award highlighted the work of Beau Ladlow and Milly Henley for their creation of Audrey II puppets, a critical element in the council’s production of the musical Little Shop of Horrors.
The puppets were among three Horsham nominations in the category, which also included the program design for Little Shop of Horrors and the coat from the sell-out production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Other nominees were from performing-arts groups from across Victoria.
Horsham Arts Council has consistently won recognition at the Bruce Awards since joining the guild and collected an award every year since a 2008 production of Cats.
Arts council spokesman Simon Dandy said Beau and Milly had made four puppets, one including robotic parts from China, from scratch.
“What made it impressive is they achieved it all in a short turnaround when we decided to change shows,” he said.
“They spent many hours and nights on them and with help from others really put in a lot of effort.”
Mr Dandy said graphic designer Belinda Elliott also continued to impress with her work on production programs.
“The design award brief is very broad and Belinda won recognition for both her programs this year,” he said.
“In fact, she’s won recognition for the past five programs she has done, which reflects on how good they are. They would stand up anywhere.
“These awards make us very proud. We don’t strive for them, but it is icing on the cake for everyone.
“It just shows we’re doing some great stuff.”
Mr Dandy said there was little time to rest on any laurels with the arts company in full preparation for a May production of the popular musical Rock of Ages.
“This show is going to be awesome,” he said.
“It is so upbeat and funny and everyone knows the songs.
“We’ve cast the show and we have a meet and greet this Sunday.
“Rehearsals officially start in late January and the band has already started.”
The not-for-profit Music Theatre Guild of Victoria promotes the development of non-professional music theatre in Victoria.