The Climbing Tree, a joint production between the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre [BMEC] and the Australian Theatre for Young People, tells the story of four teenagers whose voices have been drawn from Bathurst’s rich history.

“It’s about that ‘us and them’ mentality and what it’s like to deal with authority figures that teenagers answer to,” BMEC creative producer Kylie Shead said.

“It follows this group of four kids and explores their relationships among themselves and how the history of Bathurst shapes them.”

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Written by Rachael Coopes and directed by Stephen Champion, The Climbing Tree stars Jayla-Shae Davey as Kylie, Madelaine Osborn as Rayleen, Janda Nichols as Scott, Jack Walton as Will and Tim Hansen as authority/musician.

The play’s name derives from a tree in Kings Parade where generations of young people in Bathurst have gone to eat ice-cream from the nearby Annie’s Ice Cream Parlour.

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“During the first workshops we had here for the production three years ago, the young teenagers involved often brought up buying ice creams from Annie’s and going to sit in the climbing tree, which wound up positioning the play,” Ms Shead said.

Running in conjunction with the four-day Artstate program that began yesterday, Ms Shead hopes the event will attract the attention of visiting arts experts.

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“It’s fantastic to have these people coming from the city to see that we are making good theatre out here,” she said.

“We make lots of new work here, but often it doesn’t get recognised outside of Bathurst, which can make it tough for regional theatre producers.”

The Climbing Tree premieres Friday, November 2 at 7pm at BMEC, and will run for a further three shows on November 3 [7pm], November 5 [10am] and November 6 [10am].