For the first time in almost 16 years, the curtains were raised at Armidale's Playhouse Theatre earlier this month, marking the end of an eight-year effort to restore the former schoolhouse and artistic space.

As the principal tenant and caretaker, ADMS now has a permanent home to stage its smaller productions, rehearse, train up-and-coming talent and produce shows.

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Ms Tilley and Dr Menzies arrived (separately) in Armidale about 30 years ago, and both joined the ADMS not long after.

Ms Tilley was already a keen amateur thespian when she moved here from Indonesia with her husband.

"I've always been a bit of a drama queen," Ms Tilley laughed.

"All my life, I been involved in amateur dramatics, and my grandparents were in theatre too, playing the piano, and my great grandmother played the piano in the vaudeville."

Dr Menzies is a classical music obsessive who was asked to join the group to help out.

"I was asked to be musical director for 'Me and my Girl'," Dr Menzies said.

"I am not really a performer; I'm more of a conductor and a producer, and an entrepreneur I suppose."

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Both can recount many stories of behind the scene, and on-stage adventures, during those years, including the mid-winter evacuation of a skimpily clad cast during a production of Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat thanks to an errant fire alarm.

Or the first time the company used pyrotechnics during a production of Orpheus and the Underworld, and the technical guy set fire to the stage with fireworks.

"Luckily, he was a fire person and quickly put it out with the fire extinguisher.", said Ms Tilley.

"There was also the time in Sweeney Todd when an actor went down the shute, bashed their head and knocked themselves out," Dr Menzies said.

Since 2018, the state government has provided more than $520,000 in funding to redevelop the Armidale Playhouse Theatre building, which was forced to close due to deteriorating conditions.

Various fundraising events were also held over the years, including an evening in 2018 where more than $15,000 was raised and the sale of all 101 seats in the theatre for a total of almost $50,000.

"Individual community members bought the seats which were then personalised with a sponsor plaque," Dr Menzies said.

"We sold them all within three months and still had people wanting to buy one,."

Armidale builder James Paliadelis has created a spacious performance area with climate control, portable staging, audio-visual equipment, stage lighting, a new mobile bar, grand piano and green room.

The work also included removing an internal wall and installing a large steel weight-bearing beam.

We take a tour of the new facilities (and a peek backstage) with Dr Menzies and Ms Tilley in the video below.

The next show to be performed at the Armidale Playhouse is the 2021 Favourite Shorts production on April 10 and 17. Tickets are available now at the Armidale Dramatic and Musical Society's website.

"One of ADMS's core principles is to encourage up and coming directors, writers, actors and all who are interested in theatre, to be able to practise and learn their skills through our annual Favourite Shorts production," said Ms Tilley.

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