Latest news with #KyleCallaghan
West Australian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Loss of founder sparks new breath of life at Stage Left Theatre Troupe
The death of Stage Left Theatre Troupe's founder has inspired a renewed focus on community engagement. The club recently had a Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser, raising $500 for the Cancer Council. President Kyle Callaghan said it marked the start of Stage Left re-embracing the community-focused vision founder Kevin Blair, who died earlier this year, had for the troupe. 'We got a lot of feedback at that event where people said they thought we were closed and only ever put on shows and didn't really do community events,' he said. 'We reflected on it and realised the community was right, all we ever did was stuff for ourselves. 'When Kev passed we . . . were going through the list of things he did for the community and we looked at ourselves and said 'we are really not doing enough' — it was a big wake-up call. 'We are ready to commit wholeheartedly and anything we can throw our hands in to help with, we will.' Callaghan said he hoped to bring back professional theatre workshops with other companies, as well as other skill-building workshops for the community. 'We are happy to host events, help out, work in partnership with people,' he said. Admitting the recent Biggest Morning Tea event was a '12th-hour thing', Callaghan said he was determined to make that event bigger and better for next year. He also encouraged community members who had ideas they wished to share to consider joining the committee. To find out more, email admin@ .
West Australian
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Stage Left restarts youth program to help build more confidence in young people
A local theatre troupe's youth program has been given a fresh breath of life, with organisers hoping to help youth build their confidence. Stage Left's SLAY program — targeted at youth aged 8-16 — has been resurrected to give young people more options not only for theatre skills, but also confidence and people skills. President Kyle Callaghan said the program had fallen over a few years ago, but a new co-ordinator had been enlisted to help keep the program happening, even if participation numbers were not big. 'This time around there will be no more counting the heads, no more trying to make it sustainable, we are just going to rock up and whatever happens, happens,' he said. 'Even if we just get people in the program, we are going to be stoked. 'We just think it's critical we get this back off the ground.' Callaghan said while the program took place at a theatre troupe, it was not designed as a theatre program. 'As you get into the upper ranks obviously it becomes a little bit more theatre-focused at that stage, but SLAY is primarily about helping build young people up,' he said. 'Helping them to discover themselves, socially interact with others, and being able to actually walk up to somebody and have a conversation without having to hold people's hands to do so. 'A lot of it is a character-building and it's about having fun, having a laugh, learning new social skills, basically building yourself as a young person, building your own personality and feeling safe to be able to walk out into society doing whatever you want.' The program restarts this weekend. To find out more email admin@
