In 2001, while Producer Matthew Kopelke was working at the Queensland Deaf Society in a part-time capacity to pay for his university studies, he was approached by co-worker Darryl Robson about producing a play for the local Golden Valley-Keperra Lions Club's annual Christmas In July theatre restaurant evening, which raised funds for medical research. Darryl was aware of Matthew's background in media production and university studies, and seeing an opportunity to expand BTR's production footprint, Matthew quickly agreed to the proposal.
Despite not having a script... or a cast.
That lead to the production of 2001's Christmas Under Siege, the success of which lead to the request in early 2002 for a follow-up production for that year's evening. While the sequel, Beyond Traditional Recognition: The Stage Experience, was a much more fraught affair (the leading lady had a family crisis occur the week before the performance, thus requiring some emergency last-minute theatrical gymnastics), the evening was once again a success.
This lead to a second follow-up request in early 2003, with BTR once again attempting to mount a production for the Lions Club - the ultimately unproduced script Dragging Out The Corpses. While the script was written quickly enough, and to the usual high standard of BTR work, this time around it seemed impossible to find available cast members who could work with the dates provided. This was particularly problematic given how late the request for a production had come from the Lions Club - the previous two years saw BTR have a little over 3 months to produce the content, whereas in 2003 the request came a mere 5 weeks out from the date's event.
The combination of the 2003 production being cancelled, as well as Matthew's December 2003 departure from the Queensland Deaf Society, meant that there was no request for a production in 2004. As a result, BTR Theatre's production history is limited to these two theatrical presentations.
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