The quest in creating a fully sustainable, commercial musical theatre production company - with it’s home in Brisbane.
The time is right for a fully sustainable, commercial production company that offers Brisbane’s local talent the opportunity to work in their own backyard on exceptional musical productions of a national standard.
Shaping Theatre in Brisbane
Prospero, translated from the Italian word meaning “Prosperous”, is the name of the artist and magician from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, who uses his abilities to conjure up storms and reshape the landscape.
A hurricane, tempesta (latin), or strong storm, can only exist and grow under certain conditions. More commonly forming in tropical – or sub-tropical – weather, the air above the sea heats up and the moist air rises, gathering particles in its path. After it hits a coastal area, it can travel inland and to surrounding areas. At this point it may have changed in nature, and with the presence of power and strength, which has been there from the beginning, the storm grows bigger and stronger from the gathering of particles from all around. There is no denying the changed landscape after the storm, and the miracle of nature is such that it creates a positive outcome moving forward, with a refreshing outlook of renewal.
Much like its namesake, Prospero Arts will renew the landscape of professional Musical Theatre in Brisbane, and sub-tropical Queensland, by gathering the very best of talent from around the country with local emerging artists, to present a sustainable annual programme of concert style musicals. The intended result is the launching, serving and nurturing of continuing careers in Australia for our artists, creatives and producers.
Our Vision
Born and raised as a member of BMD’s Power family in Brisbane, Hayley Johnson (nee Power) is also an accomplished performer, and co-founder of PowerArts, as major sponsors, investors and co-producers for theatrical pursuits. An initiative that is now driven by the Power siblings (brother Dare and Hayley in particular), the intention was always to build stronger relationships within the industry, in order to gain the knowledge and first hand experience required to branch out with a self-owned, self-run and fully sustainable, commercial production company.
Since her WAAPA days in the early 2000s, and the launch of PowerArts in 2007, Hayley has now spent over twenty years in the Performing Arts industry, building strong relationships with actors, creatives and producers. With a newfound interest in the Queensland arts industry from around the country, now is the time to work some magic and make that conjured dream a reality.
Prospero Arts is a limited run production house, located in Brisbane, which models itself on Melbourne’s The Production Company (TPC), Reprise in LA and Encore in New York – all very successful companies which produce three or so semi-staged concert musicals per year.
