Revived hub of independent theatre has plenty in store
The Store Room Theatre, formerly home to some of Melbourne ’s most innovative independent theatre companies, is preparing a dynamic new program for 2009 after being dark for over a year. Based above the Parkview Hotel in North Fitzroy , the Store Room – an intimate, 63-seat venue – picked up a swag of awards, including a coveted Green Room Award, within a few years of opening its doors in 1999. It quickly developed a reputation for staging exciting productions by emerging theatre makers, and became a meeting place for Melbourne ’s independent theatre community. “It became a very sought-after venue to present work at, and it was quite hard to get work on there,” recalls writer/performer Angus Cerini. “So even though they were a really small venue above a pub … it had a lot of cache to it; and that’s represented by the kind of shows that went in there and their kind of audiences. The audiences that the Store Room managed to attract in a very short space of time would put...