In 2026, Backroads awarded three $7,000 grants to support small-scale, high quality performing arts productions to tour regional NSW. The three productions will stage six performances across six communities in 2027, including Morundah, Leeton, Cootamundra, Young, Bellingen and Armidale. You can read more about the successful projects below.

Tutti Frutti: Cabaret & Chaos

Kristy Leigh, Tutti Frutti
Touring February 2027
Venues & Locations: Young Town Hall, The Arts Centre Cootamundra

Tutti Frutti Cabaret is an award-winning, five-star-rated, high-camp variety show featuring burlesque, drag, circus, cabaret and comedy. Every performer in the touring cast identifies as disabled, and the cast also includes LGBTQIA+ and gender-diverse artists. Tutti Frutti is made for intimate venues where the audience feels close to the action and part of the night. It is cheeky, warm and welcoming, with the energy of a big cabaret show delivered in a setting where performers and audiences can connect and interact.

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Shadow Boxing

Teresa Izzard, Feet First Collective
Touring May 2027
Venues & Locations: Bellingen Memorial Hall, Armidale Playhouse

Shadow Boxing is a gripping solo work of physical theatre exploring masculinity, sexuality, violence and vulnerability. In a stripped-back boxing ring, Samuel Addison brings 15 characters vividly to life in a 55-minute tour de force of raw physicality and emotional intensity. Following acclaimed performances in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Karratha, this powerful award-winning production invites audiences to reckon with the quiet violence of rejection and the resilience it takes to be truly seen.

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HOPES and DREAMS

Bernie Maxwell, Brave Move Productions
Touring July 2027
Venues & Locations: Paradise Palladium Theatre, Morundah; and Roxy Theatre, Leeton

Hopes and Dreams is a two-hander drama, a haunting portrait of ordinary lives quietly coming undone. Marion Morton drifts through her days in a haze of memory and routine, her sharp wit masking an ache she cannot name or unwilling to face. Douglas, her steady and unremarkable husband, clings to work, habit, and the safety of small talk, unaware of the chasm widening between them. As fragments of the past seep into the present, the boundaries between longing and delusion blur. Through shards of humour and melancholy confession, Hopes and Dreams exposes the fragile illusions that hold two people together, and the silence that finally tears them apart.   

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2025 Recipients

Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA)
Village Circuit - 'Prima Facie'
Venues & Locations: Byron Theatre, Byron Bay; Tweed Heads Civic Centre; Murwillumbah Civic and Cultural Centre; Kyogle Memorial Institute; Saraton Theatre, Grafton; and Star Court Theatre, Lismore.
A new mobile model including a new touring circuit across six venues to bring theatre to towns and villages across the Northern Rivers, reducing geographic barriers, and building anticipation through repeat visits. The inaugural NORPA Village Circuit tour is Suzie Miller’s award-winning Prima Facie. This new NORPA production of the acclaimed one-woman play will offer audiences a gripping, thought-provoking experience that resonates deeply with contemporary Australian society, offering a compelling narrative that explores critical issues around consent, justice, and personal agency.

Tim Maddren, Got Ya Back Productions
'Banjo'
Venues & Locations: Kempsey Bandbox Theatre; Saraton Theatre, Grafton; TAS Hoskins Centre, Armidale; Tenterfield Cinema & Theatre; Bowraville Theatre; and Glen Innes Town Hall
A music-theatre production that intertwines the poetry of Banjo Paterson with the melodies of Coldplay and the language of contemporary dance. Through this fusion, the show loosely traces Paterson's life events, offering a visceral, exciting, and beautifully fresh narrative that feels both timeless and new. Banjo explores the dual themes of the hardships and the beauty of life in regional Australia. It celebrates the richness of the Australian experience while acknowledging the challenges of rural life, encouraging the audience to connect with both the joys and the struggles that define the regional experience.

Danielle Brame Whiting
'Flat Pack'
Venues & Locations: James Theatre, Dungog; Merriwa School of Arts; and Old Court Theatre, Scone
A one woman show infused with comedy, fantasy and nostalgia, exploring the relationship between the eldest daughter, her aging father, and her family, through the lens of memories. It considers the grief of taking on the role of carer to your parents and the weight of being the person who takes on all the decision-making tasks. Sifting through the many boxes strewn around the garage, the play tries to unpack and understand childhood memories through the eyes of a middle aged woman, and make sense of what it is to be the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran.

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2024 Recipients

Marty Bright, Blue Mountains Comedy
'Laughs Out West'
Locations: Lithgow Workies Club, Malachi-Gilmore Hall, Carcoar Royal Hotel
A touring showcase of diverse comedians from around Australia, hosted by Marty Bright. Including performances and pre-show engagement to increase and encourage community connections that can only come through gathering in laughter.

Lillian Rodrigues-Pang, The Story Line
'The Church of the Clitori'
Locations: Bellingen, Brunswick Heads, Gosford
A bold, experimental parody on a church service with a feminist lens. Drawing on the positive beauty of storytelling, singing together, and praise, and addressing patriarchy, power, appropriation, genital love and female value, with a focus on the underrepresentation of the clitoris.

Alyce Fisher, Theatre On Toast
‘Tinderella & the eight unique uses of Tinder’
Locations: Merimbula, Bermagui, Moruya
A comedy cabaret created and performed by Alyce Fisher exploring real life Tinder tales and app dating culture, which aims to empower audiences to take control of their own app dating experience.

Lorina Barker, Taragara Aboriginal Corporation
'Trucked Off'
Locations: Inverell/Tingha
An immersive theatre performance in collaboration with Dr Lorina Barker, theatre practitioner Julie Collins, and the Wangkumarra Elders, telling the story of the removal of Lorina’s family from Tibooburra to Brewarinna, 500kms away, with Wangkumarra Elders and family members participating as actors.

Gai Bryant, Spare Parts Productions
'Caribé/Ally Regional Tour'
Locations: Cootamundra, Oberon, Coonabarabran, Kempsey
A five-piece touring group comprising of musicians from two Latin music ensembles, Caribé and ALLY. Featuring storytelling, dance and music inspired by Afro-Cuban, Afro-Peruvian, Brazilian and Andalusian cultures.