The board's decision was a long time coming, but Brisbane's La Boite Theatre has a new artistic director. David Berthold will be a familiar name to long-time Brisbane theatregoers - he was assistant to Aubrey Mellor at the Queensland Theatre Company in the early 1990s when that company was really kicking artistic goals (as it is now). There's more about Berthold here.
However, as a consequence of the drawn-out selection process, La Boite won't be launching its 2009 season until January 29 next year. By contrast, the QTC has already launched its season, and other arts organisations around Australia either already have or will soon. The big question for La Boite is: Will there be enough pennies in people's pockets to buy subscriptions after Christmas? Also, with some of the city's better actors already busy in 2009, thanks to a jammed-packed QTC season, Berthold certainly has his work cut out for him. At least there's a teaser on the La Boite website, saying the season will include Shaun Charles's adaptation of Andrew McGahan's The White Earth, a comedy-drama called The Peach Season by Debra Oswald, and Matrix Theatre's production of The Kursk, which played at the Metro Arts theatre last year.