JUTE Theatre Company invites audiences to take part in the creative journey of HUNTERS, a powerful new Australian play by Michael Sams, with a special public reading at Bulmba-ja Arts Centre on Friday, 6 June.
Sams is an award-winning playwright whose works have been performed nationally and internationally, with HUNTERS marking his latest full-length work supported through JUTE Theatre Company’s DARTS regional development program and Townsville City Council RADF.
The public reading marks the culmination of the play’s first creative development — a week-long studio process led by Director Amber Grossmann and brought to life by a professional ensemble of actors.
Set over a single winter’s night in a remote cabin in the NSW hinterland, HUNTERS brings three generations of men—grandfather, father, and teenage son—together for a hunting trip that spirals into a brutal reckoning with the past. As truths unravel and loyalties shift, the play delves deep into masculinity, intergenerational trauma, and the silences that shape us.
JUTE’s co-founder and Creative Producer, Kathryn Ash, is a firm believer that Australian stories deserve to be heard at every stage of their life, from the spark of an idea to a fully staged production.
“HUNTERS is raw, brave, and deeply resonant, and this public reading is an invitation to audiences to support local talent and storytelling by taking an active role in the creative process, which helps shape the future of what is destined to be a truly seminal and exciting new Australian work,” Ms Ash said.
Cairns theatregoers become part of HUNTERS’ creative journey
Following an intensive week in the studio, seasoned actors will perform a work-in-progress reading of the emerging script. This public event offers a rare glimpse into the early creative process, inviting audiences to witness the raw energy of a new work in motion.
After the reading, attendees are encouraged to join a Q&A with the creative team — an open discussion that forms part of the development process and helps shape the next chapter of the play’s evolution.
