Sunshine Coast locals Marina de Jager and Riley Cope are collaborating for a third time to bring yet another show to the Coast.
Mr Cope and Ms de Jager originally met at the Buderim Youth Theatre, with Mr Cope going on to make his own cabaret shows.
“I studied at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney and got a bachelor ‘s degree in musical theatre,” Mr Cope said.
“Then in 2018 I joined Carnival Cruise Lines. It was called Carnival Paradise and I got to entertain with them for a year.
“I came home and decided to put together my own cabaret shows like In Flight Entertainment and Holy Ship.”
Ms de Jager is now working at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
“Marina did a bachelor’s degree in event management and worked with Montessori International College as their events coordinator – she created what was called the Imagineers Festival,” Mr Cope said.
“Since moving on from MIC, Marina now works at QPAC in Brisbane as part of their sponsorship team,” he said.
Both their previous shows on the Coast, Grease and Little Shop of Horrors, have been well received.
“Little Shop of Horrors was our first collaboration as part of the Anyway Festival of theatre, and we thought ‘go big or go home and perform that on the Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane’,” Mr Cope said.
“That experience for the both of us was very positive and very rewarding,
“Then Grease we sort of stepped it up a notch and decided to go to the Caloundra Events Centre, which was a challenge for us providing and paying for a larger venue.
“We ended up selling out four shows of 800 people.”
Mr Cope believes theatre is an important outlet on the Sunshine Coast.
“It’s important to bring musical theatre to the Sunshine Coast because there is a demand for it,” he said.
“We’ve also got many schools and youth theatres that train young performers that are coming through, and then they graduate and don’t have anything to go on to because there’s not a whole lot happening.
“We’ve also fostered a really nice community of individuals that keep coming back every year on year who have become family.”
Mr Cope and Ms de Jager are now excited for their next production Heathers the Musical, which includes a crew of 55 company members.
“We have 26 members in the cast and we have 10 creative team members,” Mr Cope said.
“Then you add all of our crew members and social media personnel, we’ve got about 55 company members in total.”
The production will also feature former West End performer Rachel Breeze as musical director.
Heathers promises to give viewers great theatre with some added spectacle.
“I think all I would say is if they know Heathers they can expect to have what they know with a little bit of extra glitz and glam on the side,” Mr Cope said.
Based on the 1988 movie Heathers, the musical follows Veronica Sawyer as she dreams of popularity, a dream of which becomes a reality when she meets the Heathers. The story unfolds as she navigates the game of popularity and revenge alongside her mysterious boyfriend JD, and whether Veronica will choose to fit in or stand out.
Heathers the Musical will be showing from October 31 to November 2 at the Events Centre Caloundra.
Tickets are available to purchase here.
Kelsey Reid is a journalism intern with Sunshine Coast News.
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