EXECUTIVE director of Arena Theatre Company, Sharon Custers, will have her final curtain with the youth production group next month.<\/p>\n
After four years, Custers will take her last bow as the company\u2019s leader and pass the baton to Gemma Robertson, who has worked as producer for the past nine months.<\/p>\n
When she joined Arena, Custers said it was a time of exciting, new beginnings as the organisation made the tree change from Melbourne to Bendigo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company had been in Melbourne for 50 years and we had permission to start fresh and do new things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hired a whole new team of staff and were embedding ourselves in Bendigo, saying \u2018yes\u2019 to every opportunity that came along.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really exciting time to be part of Arena. A lot has happened since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her fondest memories include winning a Helpmann Award in 2019 for Arena\u2019s original show, Robot Song<\/em>, and more recently collaborating with a group of local South Sudanese women to create the film Baai<\/em>, which explores their culture.<\/p>\n Topping her list, however, is the team she works with.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me the highlights have always been the staff that have joined us and the relationships that I\u2019ve built with them over those four years,\u201d Custers said.<\/p>\n