Intrepid Theatre

Welcome to year 10!

As we celebrate ten years and counting of bringing fearless, engaging and powerful queer art from across the country and the globe to Victoria, it seems more necessary than ever to see queer and trans stories on stage.

Even ten years in, we are still celebrating some firsts! This year’s festival sees our first ever co-presentation with Dance Victoria, bringing boundary-pushing queer dance to the festival, and our first commission, a brand new piece from trans storyteller and trailblazer Ivan Coyote. We are also bringing our Pay-What-You-Ten $10 ticket program to OUTstages for the first time, making the festival more affordable than ever.

I was inspired by the late night programming at the Edinburgh Fringe, so we are bringing our own version of late-night shows to audiences this year with the return of our Pop-up Cabaret Series, happening each Friday and Saturday night during the festival. We have transformed the Intrepid Studio and lobby into a late-night cabaret venue, and each evening features a different pop-up experimental performance. There’s a Kate Bush tribute, a collective of trans artists, and an Indigiqueer drag show. Plus, free online and in-person workshops to teach you new skills (drag makeup and navigating your income tax, a play reading from 2023 residency artist kai taddei and a free happy hour drag show at our friends, The Vicious Poodle. 

I’ve been told that the traditional 10 year anniversary gift is tin or aluminum – to symbolize strength or resilience. Fitting for OUTstages, year 10, too. This year’s festival curation explores the breadth of queer resilience: from  the weight of representation to the re-interpretation of a traditional art form; from a wild ride straight from the Edinburgh Fringe to the world premiere of a new commission from Ivan Coyote that celebrates the music that shaped us. 

And just like aluminum, there are some shiny and glitzy surprises in store. Enjoy OUT 10 and thanks for a decade of embracing and loving queer art in our city.

Now, let’s GET OUT, whether it’s your tenth time or your first! See you at the festival.

Sean Guist

Artistic Director