NORPA’s premiere production for 2012, Railway Wonderland, has received funding under the state government’s 2012 Arts Funding Program, announced yesterday.
The program grants totaled $1.6 million, of which NORPA received $55,000 towards the locally generated production.
NORPA’s artistic director Julian Louis told Echonetdaily it is the largest of many production grants given out around the state in this founding round.
‘It’s very good news and a huge recognition of the exciting creative ideas in the region. This grant adds to a regional arts fund grant of 27,000 which together will help us realise the full vision of this exciting project,’ he said.
A celebration of place and memory, Railway Wonderland is an immersive theatrical work where the audience enters a world of departures and arrivals.
Railway Wonderland breathes life into a disused railway station in Lismore through the memories of Anna – a serial escapee from a nearby retirement village. Anna’s interactions with four characters waiting for the Sydney bus unlock her past in a series of epic stories across time.
The rhythm of the trains is created through live music and song. The show features a choir and video projections that will take the audience to the 1940s and back again.
