Our 1st Anniversary

November 9th was HUGE! It was our 1st Birthday celebrations and we had an amazingly action-packed night. Great entertainment and some fantastic guests was laid on, and with over 70 guests in attendance... what an atmosphere!.

To kick the night off in true theatrical style, we were treated to the exceptional talent of actor Malcolm Forbes , presenting writer (and painter) Ian MacDonald's chilling monologue "Armistice Bloody Day. Ian has written and directed documentaries, and is currently writing an epic feature film. Malcolm is a seasoned actor, who appeared in the merelyplayers production Birth Death and Everything Between earlier this year.

All of our Creative Industry Nights have featured an eclectic showcase of exceptional talent. This night was no exception. Following the drama of Malcolm's performance, we were treated to treated to the acoustic sounds of Neil Smith. With tracks taken from the album currently being worked on, Neil's offering for our evening was a great way to continue on.

Take a look at our events page and learn about the next merelyplayers event.

Creative Industry
Night #4

The main event for the evening was our fantastic panel of Creative Artist guests, all sharing their thoughts on taking their dreams and turning them into reality. All artists in all disciplines are faced with the daily challenge of realising their dreams and ambitions. What does it take to get your project 'out there'? How do you 'make it happen'? All of our guests are fulfilling their dreams, and they generously give us a little insight as to how they do it.

Our panel included Lee Donehue , director of Quiet On Set [and proud Industry Partner of merelyplayers] and actor extraordinaire. Joining her, one of Sydney's most prolific Inde Film-makers, and actor, Tony Chu - who is the fearless leader of the production group NAFA . Johanna Featherstone, Managing and Artistic Director of The Red Room Company, a company dedicated to creating, producing and distributing poetry, by new and emerging Australian writers, brought to our panel her experiences.

Visual Art is an important artistic discipline, and merelyplayers is pleased to have been able to present painter and Petersham gallery owner, Tony Hooke , an accomplished artist of many years. His angle on producing works predominantly alone was fascinating. One of the most dynamic artforms is Dance, and who better to fly the flag for movement based artists than Annalouise Paul , who has extensive acting, dancing and choreogaphy credits to her name. Her personal story of just 'doing it' and operating as a business within herself was informative and intriguing.

Taking centre stage, and as a special treat, merelyplayers then proudly presented our very special guest artist, Yuri the Storyteller. Yuri has been presenting some of the most beautiful stories from old, for many years. The potency of his tales, and the sheer electricity he creates with his simple and yet powerful style have to be experienced to be believed. Truely, the greatest storyteller in Australia. The applause proved it.

True to form, this night was as thrilling, informative and fun as our past events. The Attic Bar at the Arthouse hotel was be bursting at the seams with actors, models, dancers, writers, visual artists and many, many other creators. There were plenty of networking opportunities as well.