2026 Season
In 2026 the indie arts community faces many threats to it’s existence. Practitioners and students alike are being forced to the fringes with limited resources and support. One of the most imminent of these challenges is the lack of access to space to perform, develop and refine new works.
While Underground sits in limbo without a dedicated space, we can instead create a metaphorical home that artists and students can learn and grow from without the external pressures of financial viability or stakeholder appeasement.
As part of this process, we want to interrogate and explore the qualities that make home - home.
Scenes From the Climate Era
Written by David Finnigan | Directed by Jai Bofinger
A mosaic of snapshots capturing how it feels to live through this historical planetary transformation. At the turn of the 2020s, the climate movement abruptly shifted into a new phase.
Governments and businesses suddenly escalated their climate commitments, while fossil fuel lobbyists swapped out denial for greenwashing tactics.
New activist movements initiated a wave of direct action – property destruction, rent strikes and attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure.
In science journals and academic conferences, radical solutions were debated and tested which would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.
And everywhere, extreme weather and climate impacts hit harder and faster than expected. We’ve already hit major tipping points which have pushed us past a point of no return.
Through a series of 66 vignettes, Scenes from the Climate Era maps some of the strange and unfamiliar contours of this new world we find ourselves in.
Prehistoric will be running from 8th July to 11th July at UQ’s Geoffrey Rush Drama Studio
NEVER CLOSER
Written by Grace Chapelle |
Northern Ireland, 1987. Deirdre is stuck – between arguments, nations, and the lives she almost lived. But when her old schoolfriends gather in her kitchen yet again for Christmas Eve, their growing differences push to the surface a powder-keg, waiting the tiniest spark. And then one of them turns up with her surprise fiancé.
He’s English.
Set against the backdrop of The Troubles, this brilliant debut play is an unforgettable drama of home, friends, the decision to leave or stay, and the possibility of forgiveness.
Prehistoric will be running from 8th July to 11th July at UQ’s Geoffrey Rush Drama Studio
DOG ON A TUCKERBOX
Written by Cullyn Beckton | Directed by
A mosaic of snapshots capturing how it feels to live through this historical planetary transformation. At the turn of the 2020s, the climate movement abruptly shifted into a new phase.
Governments and businesses suddenly escalated their climate commitments, while fossil fuel lobbyists swapped out denial for greenwashing tactics.
New activist movements initiated a wave of direct action – property destruction, rent strikes and attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure.
In science journals and academic conferences, radical solutions were debated and tested which would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.
And everywhere, extreme weather and climate impacts hit harder and faster than expected. We’ve already hit major tipping points which have pushed us past a point of no return.
Through a series of 66 vignettes, Scenes from the Climate Era maps some of the strange and unfamiliar contours of this new world we find ourselves in.
Playground Festival 2026
Written by UTC Community
UTC’s Annual Short Play Writing Festival, rebranded as the ‘Playground Festival’ is a festival dedicated to our communities aspiring playwrights.
Aptly named, the festival's emphasis on short plays aligns seamlessly with the concept of playfulness, encouraging creatives to take risks, challenge norms, and traverse the unexplored aspects of themselves and their work.
Bringing together dozens of creatives, It becomes a metaphorical playground where creativity knows no bounds, and innovative ideas are given the freedom to grow and roam.
It's an annual rendezvous where the serious business of storytelling melds harmoniously with the sheer delight of artistic play, resulting in an unforgettable and vibrant theatrical experience.