Watch as your drawings leap to life, off the page and onto the stage! 

Come along and explore the world of shadow puppetry with an experienced puppeteer, Jenny Ellis. 

This hands-on workshop will give children a range of skills to make their own shows and as well as a puppet they can take home. Participants will imagine and design their own unique puppet characters, then they’re guided through the process of making their puppets and bringing them to life. 

Children will work together in small groups to create their own shows. With a few tricks of the trade, they will finish with a performance of their own stories on a real shadow puppet stage.  

A young owl learning to become wise.

Owl’s aren’t born wise you know, they have to learn it from somewhere. A young owl named Poot Poot is sent to study at Owl school. He’s not like the other owls: he misses his family, he just wants to go home. He knows the only way he can go home is by gaining “wisdom,” but he doesn’t know what that is yet.  

On his journey he meets animals who share with him their own special kind of wisdom. He meets a wombat who shows him about persistence. He meets a Lyrebird who teaches him about listening carefully. He meets a Kookaburra who shares with him the value of humour. He meets an echidna who shares about resilience and a platypus who shows him how to accept himself and his own differences.  

Poot Poot finds out that wisdom isn’t just one thing, it’s a collection of many things you learn every day. But will he pass the final test and become wise enough to save the forest? The Owl’s Apprentice is a lively, funny, interactive solo show combining shadow puppetry and physical comedy. 

As well as a gorgeous voyage into the realm of shadow puppetry, The Owl’s Apprentice is about our Australian animals and gaining wisdom. The show is a creative springboard to scaffold learning from the Drama, Visual Arts and Science curriculum as well as the Ethical and Critical & Creative thinking capabilities.  

Performed by Jenny Ellis, a puppeteer of more than twenty years, who weaves the whole story together with a single set of hands, playing multiple characters at once. Shadow puppetry workshops are available, tailored for various ages. 

Children Are Stinky is an exciting award-winning children’s comedy by Circus Trick Tease!

Set in the 90s, with plenty of in-jokes and cleverly choreographed nostalgia, parents are in for a rollicking trip down memory lane. This is an enjoyable show for all ages that encourages the slight of years to be proud of themselves.

Children Are Stinky challenges children to step on stage and prove themselves worthy, smart, coordinated and creative against ridiculous circus performers. The results are heartwarming and hilarious, creating wonderful interactions and an audience of proud kids and parents.

Still buzzing from sell-out seasons across the globe, this show is building momentum and continuing to captivate adults and children alike.

This is circus fun for the whole family!  “Kylie and Jason lead us through a fluid and fast-paced hour of amazing acrobatics, brilliant balancing, hypnotic hula hooping and a smattering of stinky jokes all set to a great 90s soundtrack, sure to keep the audience moving” - Edinburgh Festival for Kids.

Due to huge demand, ARIA award-winning children’s entertainer, EMMA MEMMA, has announced a third leg of shows for her brand new tour Dance Island Party.

Friday 26 September, 2025 | 10am | GPAC Main Theatre  

Families will be treated to a sprinkling of Emma Memma’s classic songs featured in last year’s hugely successful Boop and Twirl Tour as well as new favourites like ‘Coconut Tree, ‘Welcome to Dance Island’, ‘Beach Trolley’ and 'Jellyfish Blob' soon to be released on the new ‘Dance Island Party’ album. For all Emma Memma music videos head to Emma Memma’s YouTube Channel .

Empowering the next generation through movement, creativity, inclusiveness and friendship, Emma Memma with her love of dance, sign language and music, brings visual communication to the forefront of the children’s media space and fans will get to immerse themselves in this joyful experience on Emma Memma’s Dance Island Party Tour. Emma will be joined by her friends including Elvin Melvin, BB Butterfly, Waffles the Wombat and her Memma Mates who will be swimming, twirling, signing and certainly partying!

Each 50-minute show will include an Auslan interpreter and Emma and Elvin will sign, and dance throughout the entire performance providing Auslan and English options for the audience. 

Live kids band The Mik Maks are ready to ROCK the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre.

Thursday 17 July, 2025 | 10.30am | GPAC Main Theatre

Join brother's Al and Joel. Joel's daughter Ava and loveable friend Drums the Panda as they perform their live 45 minute musical show that's perfect for children aged 2-8 years. 

Chances are you're already one of their 8.2 million YouTube subscribers or have seen The Mik Maks perform at a major event around the country.  Don't miss your chance to sing, dance, giggle and meet The Mik Maks in Traralgon.

A Storytelling and Drama Workshop for Ages 9 to 12.

Wednesday 22 January, 2025 | 1pm  | GPAC Function Rooms 1 and 2

Do you like making up crazy, imaginative tales? Do you enjoy pretending you are a whole other character in a whole other place and time? How about meeting new friends who like doing the exact same thing?  

Em Chandler invites you to join an adventure that explores the ins-and-outs, ups-and-downs, sideways and crossways of extraordinary characters.  

From ‘the rule of three’ to the ‘clock striking midnight.’ From creatures that shift shape and misfit monsters who are not what they seem.  

Storytelling is as old as time, and a wonderful way of opening the door to self-expression and confidence - and to find your tribe.    

Em Chandler (she/they) is a lauded storyteller, magician, and theatre-maker, bringing her unique repertoire of spells, stories and songs to intimate community events and major festivals.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood ...

Saturday 9 November 2024 | 12pm & 5pm | GPAC Main Theatre

After sell-out seasons across the world, including London’s West End & Broadway, The Gruffalo returns to Australia!

Join Mouse on a daring adventure through the deep, dark wood in this magical, musical adaptation of the classic picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Searching for hazelnuts, Mouse meets the cunning Fox, the eccentric old Owl and the party mad Snake. Will the story of the terrifying Gruffalo save Mouse from ending up as dinner for these hungry woodland creatures? After all, there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo – is there?

Songs, laughs and scary fun for children aged 3+ and their grown-ups…  

“funny, charming and smart… brings the house down” – Sydney Morning Herald

“Beg, borrow or steal tickets. Your kids will love you for it” – Stage Whispers 

Top Class Regional 2024: Music is sure to be an incredible concert representing young musicians and composers from across Victoria. 

Concert | Tuesday 16 April | 4pm | GPAC Main Theatre | From $12

For the first time, the VCAA is bringing Top Class concerts to regional Victoria. Audiences will enjoy a selection of top performing VCE Music students from 2023. 

This dynamic concert features incredible students performing a range of styles, genres and instrumentation. Top Class Music is an opportunity to see and hear some of Victoria’s finest up and coming musicians. 

The concert presents various instruments, interpretations and styles by soloists and groups, as well as original student compositions. Compered by curriculum experts, the concert provides examples of top performing students and insights into preparing for VCE performance examinations. This is an opportunity to enjoy a brilliant and eclectic concert series suitable for all ages. 

Full program will be available in mid-February 2024. Visit: www.vcaa.edu.au/seasonofexcellence 

Part of the VCE Season of Excellence 2024, presented by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. 

VCE Inspo Forum | Tuesday 16 April | 2.15pm | GPAC Little Theatre | Free

Want to get your VCE studies off to a flying start? This specially developed forum features guest artist Dr. Adam Starr and a Q & A panel including VCE Top Class Music alumni and a curriculum expert. 

The VCE ‘Inspo’ Forum consists of an insightful thirty-minute Ted Talk-style session by special guest artist Dr. Adam Starr. Adam will provide specific examples from their own work and crucial strategies to generate, explore and consolidate elite creative ideas from their inception.   

This will be followed by a fifty-minute Q & A session, where students and teachers can directly engage with an experienced panel featuring VCE Top Class student alumni, a curriculum expert, and special guest artist Dr. Adam Starr.   

Facilitator, Adam Starr:

Dr Adam Starr has taught in the Bachelor of Music Degree at Melbourne Polytechnic since 2012, lecturing in Composition, Composition for Media, Music Technology in Composition, Arranging, Performance, Career Strategies in the Music Industry, Ensemble and Guitar. 

A fun and whimsical story-telling workshop, led by acclaimed children’s entertainer Em Chandler, designed to help children develop their imagination.  

Tuesday 9 April | 1:00pm | GPAC Town Hall Theatre

Come fracture, explore, and retell some classic fairy tales through kindness, wonder, and play! Let’s use our imaginations, blankets, chairs, and all sorts of everyday objects to make troll bridges and little pig’s houses! We can be sneaky Goldilocks and Big Bad Wolves with a colander hat or blanket cape. And what happens when we start to change the stories? Are there more than three billy goats gruff? What if they were superheros? An alien invasion, or pig fairy godmothers? Let’s find out together.  

Using a combination of imaginative play, verbal and non-verbal storytelling, music, and ‘following the leader’, participants will retell traditional fairy tales as a group, before ‘fracturing them’/pulling them apart, asking “what if…?” and letting our imaginations guide us. We’ll turn everyday objects into our set and props and work collaboratively to retell a classic fairy tale or two that won’t have been told quite that way before.   

About Em Chandler:

Em Chandler (she/they) is a lauded storyteller, magician, and theatre-maker. With over 16 years of experience working with kids and their adults, Em is a proud queer/trans artist who connects with others through kindness and wonder, bringing her unique repertoire of spells, stories and songs to intimate community events or major festivals. Passionate about social justice, fairy tales, and drinking tea, The Sydney Morning Herald calls Em "pure enchantment". 

How would you like to join the circus, just for a day? Follow Your (Red) Nose! introduces kids to the joyful, confidence-building, and inspiring world of red-nose clowning. 

Wednesday 3 April | 10:00am | GPAC Town Hall Theatre

Led by professional Clown Doctor and funny specialist - Kayla Hamill, this specially designed workshop is for children of all abilities, social skills, introverts and extroverts. Clowning is a serious business. Well, serious and loads of fun too. Each participant receives their own red nose, and through a series of carefully planned and inclusive games and activities, they will learn how to delight an audience, and each other, with generosity, adaptability, and kindness.  

The workshop concludes with a short presentation for family and friends.  

You will learn about connecting with yourself, your fellow performers, and your audience, how to be open, playful, and ‘seen’, without embarrassment, How to be resilient and generous with others, and how being silly can give you confidence, and the ability to adapt. 

About Kayla Hamill: 

Kayla Hamill is a performer and facilitator who runs creative workshops that help children develop confidence, social and performance skills. Recently, Kayla oversaw community outreach for the Fairfax Youth Festival, a creative arts program aimed to teach and inspire young people from rural Victoria. 

“You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret.” - Charlie Chaplin