Queer theatre in Port Macquarie brings love, visibility and authenticity

When April McLennan was 14, she knew she was queer but did not feel supported to express herself authentically in her small regional town.

It took another 14 years and a return to the town where she felt there was no queer community to find her first same-sex relationship.

After finishing high school, April left her hometown of Port Macquarie for Sydney to follow her dreams in the arts and to find a community.

"You almost have to pause on your authenticity until you can get to places where you can express yourself freely and find a community," she said.

Now back in Port Macquarie, she has found the support of a queer community she did not believe existed in her teens.

She credits taking a role in a queer theatre production with giving her the confidence to date a woman.

"It's everything that 18-year-old April wanted: to have a hot girlfriend and be in a cool play and have these cool friends," April said.

Putting aside fear

April is part of a local production of The Swell, about a queer love triangle.

"The character I was auditioning for was in love and they were engaged, and I had never been engaged or in love," April said.

"I guess I went a bit method [acting]. It got me thinking about where in my life I could be more authentic."

Not long after she auditioned, she put aside her long-term fear of dating a woman and matched with her now-girlfriend on a dating site.

"Female scared me more, it just seemed more serious," she said.

April said being part of the play gave her an instant group of supportive friends to ask questions and see relationships modelled.

"Without seeing it in front of me, it would have taken a lot longer," she said.

The power of storytelling

Those sentiments are exactly what social worker Stacey Napper and wife Kirsty Napper hoped to achieve when they decided to become first-time theatre directors and producers of the Port Macquarie production of The Swell.

Stacey had seen the play during Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and said she was so moved by it that she told her wife: "We have to do this."

They cast all-local actors and crew with varying degrees of experience, each fitting somewhere into the spectrum of queer, if even as an ally.

"It's incredibly important, especially in regional areas, to have that visibility, gender expression, identity, sexuality and LGBT story themes," Stacey said.

"When you are able to see parts of yourself, whether you're questioning or you know someone who is, and you see that representation through the art of storytelling, it allows you to build that relationship to that experience.

Sparking conversation

Michelle Ingram-Dobell, from the Port Macquarie-based LGBTQIA+ community group Out Loud and Proud, said having The Swell play in the town had brought the queer community more visibility and connection.

"In smaller towns people can feel really isolated if they're queer or questioning," she said.

"Putting those stories on stage helps people feel seen and understood, and it also gives others a chance to connect with experiences that they might not have thought about before."

Michelle said the play had sparked more conversation within the community.

"It's sharing a real human story that makes people laugh and cry and has a bit of shock factor as well, and makes people think about it."

Stacey said it presented a normal love, regardless of whether it was a queer relationship, showing how friendships in any sphere gave a sense of belonging.

"Arts and culture and storytelling are such a valuable way of expanding our minds and our hearts," she said.

"Love is love and we all deserve to exist harmoniously."