Baggage Productions has had a great year this year. This year heralded the return of the much beloved Christina Costigan to our shores and to the Baggage fold. Whilst she was never gone from the actual team it has been a delight and pleasure to have her home.

The year started for us with “The Subconscious Cometh”, a short play season that was ably supported by Pozible.com.au. Crowd-funding made that production into a real success and we have friends, family, fans and even a few random supporters to thank for that!

Kelly and Tiff act up in Subconscious Cometh Rehearsals

The gang in Subconscious Cometh Rehearsals

This was a year of change for the company. Having always performed our own original work, we decided to put our money where our mouths were and actively encourage women writers to get their work staged. We did this with the Mad Women Monologues.

The monologues arose from a simultaneous desire to see really good monologue work, and also to showcase the amazing talents of the female writers that are out there, toiling away. We received 60 submissions from within Australia and even a few international. The quality was excellent, we were overwhelmed with the storytelling skills of the women who submitted and we were honoured that they entered into our new idea with such fervour and commitment.

Baggage Productions staged three nights of the Mad Women Monologues. This encompassed 23 monologues, 23 actors, 16 directors and three venues. These nights were such a resounding success that we could not have been more pleased and thrilled. It is testament to the strength of the writing, the power of the performing and dedication of the directing.

As a result of the Mad Women Monologues, Baggage Productions was able to give almost $1000 to the National Breast Cancer Association, and have also raised money to continue staging works next year. The Mad Women Monologues will return in 2012…. We can’t wait

We have a full dance card in 2012 and we’ll be back here and on Facebook to talk about it. Thank you to the Independent theatre family in Melbourne – you are incredible.