Rebekka Manns, a former Cobar PP performer who turned her hand to the real stage, was back in Cobar last week with her production of ‘TOO’.
After graduating Charles Sturt University with a Bachelor of Communications specialising in theatre/media last December, Bek and other members of her class received a $7,000 scholarship to take their theatre production TOO to regional audiences.
Bek is the group’s director.
“I wanted to create a theatre perfromance about things I knew,” Bek said.
“TOO is a physical theatre, dance and verbatim theatre performance,” Bek said.
“It delves into the questions of how do you perceive yourself and how do others perceive you?
“TOO explores self-image, and body image, through individuals, others and society using real stories from real people.”
TOO Productions performed two shows in Cobar last week with a performance for students at Cobar High and another for the general public at the Services Club.
“All audiences that we brought the show to, especially at the high schools in Walgett, Bourke, Cobar and Nyngan, were extremely engaged and focused on what was happening on stage,” Bek told The Cobar Weekly.
“They were very attentive, but also laughed at the humorous scenes and did get emotional, some tearing up at the scenes that were emotive and touching.
“The show was verbatim theatre which is interviewing people about body, self image and perceptions and what they said became the script, reaffirmed that real people were saying those things and it became even more relatable and honest,” Bek said.
TOO won the Blair Milan Memorial Touring Scholarship which provides financial support for the presentation of the work of final year Theatre/Media students in metropolitan and/or regional communities.
The production was selected from a multitude of other final year productions with the best application and production awarded the Tour Fund scholarship.
The funding helped TOO Productions to take their show on the road to present to senior students in remote and regional NSW high schools.
“The tour provides the opportunity for individuals that live in these areas to see theatre, as they are often missed during touring theatre due to their locations,” Bek said.
“Due to the message, we are trying to send to our audience, we feel, it needs to be heard by young adults, as they are often the most subjected and vulnerable to self-image issues.
