INDEPENDENT theatre collective, Australian Capital Theatre Hub in Kingston, has announced a jam-packed 2024 season with nine separate productions.

The three independent theatre companies who collectively form ACT Hub are Free Rain Theatre, Chaika and Everyman Theatre and by working together, they have stormed the local theatre scene in the past year, building audiences with high-quality acting and top texts.

Next year looks to have more of the same, with the chosen theme “Colour and Light” suggesting the aim of making theatre not just accessible but enjoyable, with the theatrical experience frequently extending out into its often-packed foyer.

The three hard working principals in the collective, Anne Somes, Karen Vickery and Jarrad West, are joined by a hot line-up of directorial names, such as Luke Rogers, Steph Roberts, Cate Clelland and Joel Horwood, with West probably taking the prize for busyness on and off stage.

In the line-up are two contemporary Australian adaptations of great classics, two Pulitzer Prize winners, a seven-piece collection, an indoor-outdoor setting, a one-hander and an epic saga.

First up, Everyman Theatre directors Steph Roberts and Jarrad West will stage “Queers”. Curated by Mark Gatiss, it celebrates a century of social attitudes and political milestones in gay history as seen through the eyes of seven individuals, told within the setting of a British ale house. The show features original music by Alex Unikowski and runs February 14-24.

Chaika Theatre (the name means “seagull” in Russian) follows with a contemporary translation and adaptation by Karen Vickery of Anton Chekhov’s first great work, “Seagull”, set in a country house near a lake. This will be directed by Vickery and Tony Knight and performed indoors and outdoors, to make full use of the ACT Hub’s location in the historic Causeway Hall. Picnicking is encouraged. April 10-20.

Everyman Theatre returns with “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” where, at a wedding reception at a Knoxville, Tennessee, estate, five identically clad bridesmaids hide out in an upstairs bedroom. Directed by Steph Roberts, it runs May 8-18.

Free-Rain Theatre Company then presents Tennessee Williams’s 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning play “A Streetcar Named Desire”, staged by Anne Somes. Set in the French quarter of New Orleans, this tragic play offers some of the greatest acting roles of 20th century theatre. June 19-29.

“Mary Stuart”, adapted by Kate Mulvaney from Friedrich Schiller’s play of the same name and here directed by Luke Rogers, is presented by Chaika Theatre July 24-August 3. Here two mighty queens, both beloved by their people are at war. But Elizabeth is on the throne and Mary Queen of Scots languishes in a prison cell.

Just as this year, ACT Hub sometimes presents work outside the three participating companies, as will be the case with Joel Horwood’s production of “Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan McMillan, in which a seven-year-old, played solo by the very grown-up Jarrad West, start to make his mum a list of every brilliant thing in the world, with the help of people in the audience. August 14-24.

Free-Rain Theatre Company reprises one if its big hits with Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County” running September 4-14. This 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner focusing on members of the dysfunctional Weston family gathered at the family home in Oklahoma, will be directed by Cate Clelland.

“The Inheritance,” by Matthew Lopez and inspired by E.M. Forster’s “Howards End” comes next, directed by Jarrad West for Everyman Theatre, November 12-December 2.

Finally, December 11-21, also directed by West for ACT Hub’s silly season, will be the aptly titled “Tick Tick… Boom!” by Jonathan Larson. It’s a musical that tells the story of an aspiring composer who lives in New York City in 1990.

There’s a lot more. The season will also include events, learning program workshops, and productions devised as part of ACT Hub’s development program.