A NEW musical about former Prime Minister Julia Gillard is just one of the entertaining shows announced for the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre’s 2017 season.

“All art, not just theatre, serves society,” says the philosophical program manager and artistic director at The Q, Stephen Pike.

“Much that is best in art and culture is non-monetary and it should not be judged by the same yardstick as other financial investments.”

Very true, but a savvy operator like Pike knows that variety is the spice of theatre, so he’s promising drama, comedy, a variety of music and musicals, dance and film from local, national and international artists.

“Julia: The Musical”, he says, has been written by Dr Francesco Sofo, better known as the director of Canberra’s Dante Musica Viva choir, who approached him about 12 months ago. Pike jumped at the opportunity and will co-produce the musical, which deals with the rise of Australia’s first female Prime Minister.

Pike himself will direct the council’s annual in-house production, this year “The Addams Family (Musical)” which, he says, dramatises every father’s nightmare as 18-year-old Wednesday Addams falls in love with a sweet young man from a respectable family. Macabre it may be, but this show is billed as “a fun show the whole family can enjoy.”

Administrator of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council Tim Overall has expressed excitement about the new community engagement project, “Town Folk”, that will see comedian Damian Callinan and filmmaker John Cherry interviewing and filming prominent Queanbeyanites, resulting in a mixed night of cinema and performance late in the year.

Other favourites cited by Mr Overall included Irish two-hander comedy “Stones in His Pockets”; Matt Hales’ new-age hypnosis show “Hypnolycious” and for children, “Horrible Harriet”, a play adapted from Australian children’s author Leigh Hobbs’ characters, starring the larger-than-life Mr Chicken.

Pike identifies a few likely shows, including Pigeonhole Theatre’s “The Summer of the 17th Doll”, directed by Jordan Best; “Always… Patsy Cline”, directed by Denny Lawrence, to be staged cabaret style in the Bicentennial Hall and “Around the World in 80 Days”, in which three actors play 39 characters covering seven countries, all in one night. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Now, Pike says, it’s time to book for the subscription season and, in 2017, there will be a special card for patrons aged 25 and under in the hope of getting a new generation to enjoy live theatre.