BCMA play sews seed for victory

ONE of Ballarat’s top musical theatre companies was celebrated recently with a Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Award.

The Ballarat Centre of Music and the Arts won the gong in the Junior Nominations’ Creative Design category, with Carolyn Harrison, Melissa Prichard, Tara Driscoll, and Ella Bedggood’s costume design for the company’s Finding Nemo Jr production netting the award.

With the award received in early December, BCMA director Paula Heenan said it’s an acknowledgement of how the troupe operates behind the scenes.

“It recognises the hard work our costume ladies do,” she said. “They work all year round to keep up with the five full productions we do.

“They really went above and beyond for Finding Nemo Jr. The costumes they made were exquisite and so colourful and true to the characters.

BCMA’s Finding Nemo Jr was one of the earliest performances of the production in Australia, and Heenan said the company’s design provided a benchmark for subsequent companies.

“We’ve been able to hire them out since we were one of the first groups in Australia to present Finding Nemo Jr,” she said.

“It’s proven to be a very popular show since we’ve done it and there’s schools over the country doing it for the first time so to have access to our hire costumes is pretty wonderful for them.”

BCMA’s costume design department is made up of two key members and about six people sewing with assistance from associated families.

Throughout 2023, the team also developed the outfits for BCMA shows like Imagine This, and Little Shop of Horrors.