FAMDA’s South Gippsland One Act Play Festival has wrapped up another successful weekend, with audiences treated to 23 performances across the final weekend of August. The 2026 festival was the best attended in FAMDA’s history, with productions from schools, community theatre groups and established performers drawing strong support across the weekend.
Among the highlights was Koonwarra Village School, which impressed audiences and judges with its Young Players production They All Lived by Forrest Musselman. The production took out the Llew Vale Community Bank Award, competing against entries from secondary schools. The school also featured strongly in the senior festival, with its Parents & Staff production Advice for Astronauts producing plenty of laughs on Sunday morning.
“The students gave such polished and tight performances but most of all you could see how much fun they were having and the support they gave one another was phenomenal,” said KVS school director Sarah Maclean.
Advice for Astronauts also earned a nomination for Maclean as Best Director, while its costumes won the Design Award. School principal Angus Henderson, who played the Moon and Sun without speaking a word on stage, received the Adjudicator’s Choice Award.
There was also strong recognition for local FAMDA talent. David Derricott was nominated for the Australian Playwright Award for A Witness to Life, while Bruce Grainger received a Best Lead Male nomination for the same production.
The festival’s Best Production Award went to IssyB’s A Flock of Tigers by John Finnemore. Desiree Munro, who also received a Best Director nomination, was recognised in the lead role category.
For Jane Vale, presenter of the Llew Vale Award, the standard of performances continues to impress. “I’m bowled over year after year at the performances we get to see. It’s an absolute honour to be witness to such great talent,” she said.
FAMDA acknowledged the support of the Community Bank, whose funding helps make the festival possible. David Barrett
