Last October, Tyran Parke went to see a production of the musical Jersey Boys by Launceston’s Encore Theatre Company, a community ensemble which has been staging shows since 2008. In the bar at the Grand Chancellor Hotel afterwards, he got talking to Rob Sherrard, who told Parke that he had just bought Launceston’s City Baptist Church.
“By the end of the conversation, I had a free church and from that Raise the Roof was born,” says Parke. “It’s amazing what can happen in a bar if you are up for a conversation!”
Maria Lurighi and her gospel choir perform at Raise the Roof, Australian Musical Theatre Festival, 2023. Photo © Cameron Jones Visuals
Parke is the Artistic Director/Executive Producer of the Australian Musical Theatre Festival (AMTF), which takes place annually in Launceston, Tasmania. First staged in 2019, the fourth iteration has just unfolded over five busy days (17–21 May). He is also the Head of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) Musical Theatre program, a director and singer and runs his own company, Clovelly Fox Productions.
The story about how he came to stage the gospel concert Raise...
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