Scratch theatre with food, the sounds of sap rising through 1000-year-old trees, a searingly funny family drama reinvented nightly … If it sounds like a wild mix, says Phil Spencer, programmer of National Theatre of Parramatta’s inaugural Heartland Festival, that’s because it was designed to be.

“We wanted to open up as many doors as possible – for different kinds of artists to engage with us, and for audiences who might not normally think of the theatre as where they’d spend an evening,” Spencer tells Limelight. “We’re not just putting on a show. We’re building a scene.”

Heartland Festival. Image supplied

Running from 25 June to 5 July 2025 at the soon-to-be redeveloped Riverside Theatres complex, the inaugural Heartland Festival is a new venture for National Theatre of Parramatta (NTofP), which has, for the past decade, dedicated itself to bringing work by Western Sydney artists to local and Sydney-wide and national audiences.

With over 50 artists involved, the two-week Heartland program features theatrical premieres, spoken word, comedy, workshops, and “splendid catering,” says Spencer.

“The festival couldn’t exist without the last 10 years of capacity-building and connecting that NToP has developed with artists,”...