Sunday, 14 December 2025

Two gongs for Wonthaggi at annual Bruce awards

THE Wonthaggi Theatrical Group has come away from the state awards for musical theatre productions across Victoria, the 38th Annual Bruce Awards held on Saturday, December 13, with two awards.

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by Michael Giles
Two gongs for Wonthaggi at annual Bruce awards
Wonthaggi Theatrical Group has come away from the 38th Annual Bruce Awards in Melbourne on Saturday night with two gongs, one for the sets of their production of The Addams Family and one for the ensemble of Gutenberg! The Musical. Set designer and builder Tad Hendry, centre, is congratulated on his settings award by director Raf Pyka and production coordinator Mark Harrison.

THE Wonthaggi Theatrical Group has come away from the state awards for musical theatre productions across Victoria, the 38th Annual Bruce Awards held on Saturday, December 13, with two awards.

Winning his third ‘Bruce Award’ for sets was Cape Paterson’s Tad Hendry, a long-time contributor to theatre productions in South Gippsland and Bass Coast, taking his award this year for the sets for the Addams Family.

He came on top of the likes of Williamstown Musical Theatre Company, Footlight Productions, Ballarat Lyric Theatre and CLOC Musical Theatre in a hotly contested section at the annual awards night hosted by Western Arts Theatre at Camberwell Grammar.

Speaking at the weekend, Tad Hendry, said it was an honour to win the award but her shared it with director of the production Rafal Pyka, production coordinator Mark Harrison and many others who worked on the sets and support the production of The Addams Family.

“It was a big night,” said Tad Hendry.

Tad has previously won a Guild award for the sets for Wonthaggi’s Jesus Christ Superstar, and shared an award with John Cuttriss for the crucifix scene in JC as well.

Wonthaggi Theatrical Group also won one of the most coveted award on the night, The Ensemble Award for the performance of the whole cast of ‘Gutenberg! The Musical’.

However, while the Wonthaggi Theatrical Group came away with two awards, they didn’t manage the main gong of the night, The Bruce McBrien Award for the best production despite having both of its productions nominated among the eight best productions of the year around the state, as follows:

  • Pippin, Williamstown Musical Theatre Company
  • Billy Elliot, Footlight Productions
  • Come From Away, CentreStage
  • Nice Work If You Can Get It, CLOC Musical Theatre
  • The Addams Family, Wonthaggi Theatrical Group
  • Shrek the Musical, Stars and the Moon
  • Gutenberg! The Musical, Wonthaggi Theatrical Group
  • The Drowsy Chaperone, Western Arts Theatre

The ultimate award on the night was taken out by Footlight Productions for Billy Elliott.

Director Wonthaggi’s Gutenberg! The Musical Joel Stevenson and cast member Jay Nelson celebrate the Ensemble Award at the annual Music Theatre Guild Awards last Saturday night.

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