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About Us
Who are we
The Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Inc. is a not-for-profit organisation for the ongoing support, encouragement and development of non-professional music theatre in the state of Victoria, Australia. Our state has a very strong non-professional music theatre tradition and for many years, a large number of groups have staged a wide range of productions of high standard, but in recent times steeply rising costs and a more complex legislative environment have made running non-professional theatre companies and producing musicals more difficult. This lead to the formation of the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Inc.
MTGV Constitution
23rd June 1989, Revised 11 August 2007
Download the current Constitution for the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Inc
Our History
25 YEARS OF THE GUILD – 1986 – 2011
In the 1970’s the Melbourne City Council sponsored its Free Entertainment in the Parks (FEIP) programme which included recognition of the non-professional Musical Theatre, culminating in its Award Presentation taking place at the Melbourne Town Hall until, in the early 1980’s lack of finance curtailed its operation, leaving a void in this field of entertainment.
In 1986 I took up the challenge, and with the assistance of David Richards and Doug Savage, the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria was born to recognise the abundance of talent in all aspects of the non-professional Musical Theatre in a program of Awards for Excellence which was not to be seen as a competition. It also envisaged that more co-operation would take place between the existent companies and through that cooperation an improvement would develop in all aspects of productions and give an opportunity to the myriad of people to showcase their talent which may otherwise go unnoticed.
Whilst the Guild does not claim credit for the vast improvement in productions over those years, credit can be attributed to the many dedicated people who have contributed freely their time and experience on the Judging Panel and similarly on the Committee and Seminars over all the years.
The Guild has achieved much without funding at any time and may continue to do so provided, dedicated people are prepared to believe in it and contribute their time and expertise to its principles.
Bruce McBrien OAM. Founder
Bruce McBrien OAM
A true gentleman and an inspiration.
3 September 1926 – 30 August 2013
Bruce McBrien was born in Melbourne and studied Architecture. He however entered the world of catering and retailing, finally becoming a Buyer for Georges of Collins Street, before becoming the first Curator/Manager of ‘Rippon Lea’ at Elsternwick a position he held for 17 years. Upon retirement he was appointed Honoury Curator at Government House along with many other voluntary positions in Melbourne. He wrote ‘Marvellous Melbourne and Me’ subtitled Living in Melbourne in the 20th Century.
Bruce first appeared on stage in 1952 with Heidelberg Theatre Company and went on to perform in over 150 productions of the Lyric, Festival, Whitehorse, CLOC, PLOS, Rainbow and Elwood Theatre Companies. In 1986 he founded the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria, which now embraces over 80 companies and supports judges travelling Victoria for our awards for excellence program. They have become known as Bruce Awards in his honour. In 1990 Bruce was created a Knight of St John for community service and in 2000 received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his contribution to Musical Theatre.
Our Patrons
Nancye Hayes OAM
Jill Perryman AM, MB
Jerry Herman
Marina Prior
John-Michael Howson OAM
Matt Hetherington
Our Life Members
Bruce McBrien OAM (Dec), Val Pagram OAM, David Richards (Dec), Phil A’Vard AM, Bettine McCaughan OAM (Dec), Laurie Gellon, Peter Dale, Eileen Hattam, Elis Ebell, Graeme Cope, Judith Bradtke, Darrell Boyd, Horrie Leek, Marie Cumisky (Dec), Lyn Handy, Fran Boyd, Brenton Staples, David Dare, Wendy Tomkins, John Wallis, Alan Stone, Brett Wingfield, Frank Simcox, Mary-Ellen Wallace-Smith, Beverley Meldrum, Dot Parker, Bev Woodford, David Crawshaw, Brad Fischer
Committee of Management 2019
| ROLE | NAME |
|---|---|
| President | Ang Cuy |
| Vice President | Brett Wingfield |
| Secretary | Mark Spencer |
| Treasurer | Carole Cuthbertson |
| Committee | Fran Boyd |
| Committee | Damien Calvert |
| Committee | Anne Dewar |
| Committee | Elly Foster |
| Committee | Derek Ingles |
| Committee | Karl McNamara |
| Committee | Leah Osburn |
| Committee | Dot Parker |
