For nearly a decade, Mudgee Shorts performances have filled the Town Hall Theatre with clowns and criminals, lovers and fighters, ghosts and more. The best part is they're all straight from the minds of local writers.
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These stories have now been immortalised in a book, "Mudgee Shorts", which collects some of the best-loved short plays that locals have written, produced and performed over the years.
Playwright Jill Baggett came up with the idea during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Mudgee Performing Arts Society (MPAS) was unable to stage their shows in the Theatre.
Mudgee Shorts coordinator Heather Rushton was thrilled to revisit award-winning plays and fan favourites.
"I am just totally impressed by the quality of the writing that people around here are able to produce," she said.
"It's great to have it in print and to have a record, because plays are usually ephemeral, they appear onstage and then disappear."
Mudgee's local theatre group have organised a book launch which will feature staged readings of three plays featured in the book, reuniting cast members from the original productions.
The book has 28 of the most memorable plays written for Mudgee Shorts, including photographs from the local productions.
Mudgee Shorts was first staged in 2013, and since then has been held every two years, providing a showcase for the talents of local writers, actors, and theatre-makers.
The most recent Mudgee Shorts performance was the Mudgee Performing Arts Society's first show after the enforced break of 2020, which concluded its run with a sold-out show.
Friday's book launch will be held in conjunction with the Mudgee Readers' Festival's live streaming of highlights from the Sydney Writers' Festival program; a selection of writers' panels and conversations will screen at the theatre as they happen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Mudgee Shorts book launch is open to all. Wine and grazing foods will be served, and copies of the book will be available for purchase.
