AUTO-TUNE

29 July - 1 August, 2026

AUTO-TUNE

AUTO-TUNE

Described as an ‘absolute must-see’, this auto-tune rock opera is brought to you by re:group performance collective, the acclaimed team behind Coil, UFO and POV.

Set in Wagga Wagga in the early 2000s, AUTO-TUNE is a raucous work of “gig theatre” that follows Michael, a teenage Silverchair fan who discovers he has a strange superpower. The same way auto-tune technology perfects pitch, Michael finds he can time-travel, auto-tuning his life to rid it of dumb statements, awkward pauses and cringe jokes.

But when this music-mad weirdo makes the biggest mistake of his life, will his auto-tune superpower save him? Told through an audiovisual set of 17 banging songs and live video captions, this innovative and genre defying performance feels like discovering your new favourite band on the side-stage of a music festival.

In a pitch perfect world where algorithms seem to be the answer, AUTO-TUNE is a fifty-five minute romp into a messy, sweaty universe that proves otherwise. It is a regret-filled love letter to millennial culture - Nokia 3315s, teen drinking, Limp Bizkit and questionable decision-making - featuring eclectic and energetic songwriting and a compelling narrative about the value of mistakes.

Session Times

Artists


Malcolm Whittaker

Malcolm Whittaker

Malcolm Whittaker (b. xxxx) works as an artist, writer, researcher, performer, producer and teacher, doing so both solo and as part of re:group performance collective and Shammgods, often collaborating with artists and non-artists on a project basis. His artistic practice typically involves engaging participants and collaborators in play spaces drawn from popular culture and everyday social rituals, taking forms such as theatre and gallery situations, site-specific and public interventions, performance lectures, film shoots, phone calls, support groups, radio programs, and more. He has presented work extensively across Australia as well as in the UK, Finland and Europe.

Mark Rogers

Mark Rogers

Mark Rogers is a multi-award-winning playwright, screenwriter and theatre-maker living on Dharawal Land. In 2019 he won Sydney Theatre Company's Patrick White Award and the Griffin Award for New Australian Writing for his play Superheroes, and his play Naked & Screaming won Best Production at the 2022 Matilda Awards. He received Screen NSW's Short To Feature Fast Track Initiative for a project that premiered at SXSW Sydney and screened at the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival, and has feature-length projects in development with Closer Productions and Cosmic Scream supported by Screen Australia. His extensive playwriting credits span companies including La Boite, Griffin, Merrigong-X, Old 505, Brisbane Festival and PACT, and his work with re:group performance collective and Applespiel has been staged at major venues including Belvoir, Darwin Festival, MONA:FOMA, Malthouse and the Sydney Opera House. He holds a PhD from the University of Wollongong.

Solomon Thomas

Solomon Thomas

Solomon Thomas is a theatre maker and video artist exploring the intersection of the physical and digital in theatre, working as a director, performer, puppeteer and video designer. His recent works include AUTO-TUNE (Opera House, 2024), POV (Belvoir, 2024), Oh Deer! (Rising, 2023), Sex Magic and UFO (Griffin, 2023), The Sucker (Brand X, 2021) and What the Ocean Said (Opera House, 2022). He is a core member of re:group performance collective, whose work Coil has been presented at the Opera House, MONA FOMA, PACT and Next Wave, and has also collaborated with Branch Nebula, My Darling Patricia, Nick Cave, Applespiel, Studio A, Chiara Guidi and Erth. He has been an artistic associate with Erth Visual & Physical Inc since 2014, touring with them through the UK, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Japan.

Steve Wilson-Alexander

Steve Wilson-Alexander

Steve Wilson-Alexander is a theatre-maker living on Dharawal land, and a founding member of both re:group performance collective and FAST PRINCESS, the resident film-making collective at Cerebral Palsy Alliance from 2016-18. His past roles include Youth Artist in Residence at Wollongong Youth Centre (2012), a member of PACT Collective (2015), participation in International Visiting Artists Week at Back to Back (2017), and an Artist Farm residency at The Theatre Practice, Singapore (2018), along with work on the Ben Tre Festival of the Coconut, Hue Festival, and Santiago A Mil International Theatre Festival. He assistant directed and designed video for Something that Happened with Strangeways Ensemble (2023), and his theatre work with re:group includes Route Dash Niner, the national tour of Coil, POV, KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, and AUTO-TUNE at the Sydney Opera House.

Ashley Bundang

Ashley Bundang – Musician and Performer

Ashley Bundang is a musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist based on Dharawal Country on the NSW south coast. Over the past decade she has composed, recorded and collaborated with bands including Totally Mild, Sui Zhen, Zone Out and The Ocean Party, touring Australia and major international festivals such as Splendour in the Grass, Meredith Music Festival and SXSW in Austin, plus promotional tours through Europe, the US and Japan. She has also completed artist residencies in Cadiz, Spain and Tokyo, Japan, and more recently founded the south coast indie pop band Classic, whose debut album (released March 2023) draws on influences from 80s post-punk, dream pop and indie rock.

Carly Young

Carly Young

Carly Young is a theatre-maker and producer living on Dharawal land and a founding member of re:group performance collective, having created film, video and performance works across Australia and internationally. Key projects include the national tour of Coil (2022-23), Route Dash Niner Parts 1 and 2 for Merrigong Theatre Company (2016-17), Hotel Obscura at FAI AR Marseille (2015), LOVELY at PACT Sydney (2014), and various works at Crack Theatre Festival, Adelaide Fringe, You Are Here Festival and La Mama Theatre. She also works as a creative producer across visual arts, music and theatre, and was an inaugural participant in All The Things We Couldn't Say, a collaboration between Salamanca Arts Centre and Checkpoint Theatre, Singapore.

Kelsey Lee

Kelsey Lee – Lighting Designer

Kelsey Lee is a Sydney-based lighting, set and costume designer whose work spans theatre, dance and events for both mainstage and independent companies. Her designs aim to explore scenography by sculpting architecture and space to tell a story, working closely and collaboratively with creative teams. A graduate of NIDA's Design for Performance program, she was the first to solely design the set, lighting, props and costume for her graduating show, and has won a Sydney Theatre Award as Co-Designer on "Destroy, She Said" along with two further lighting design nominations.

Liam Halliwell

Liam Halliwell – Musician and Performer

Liam Halliwell is a sound designer and musician based in Naarm/Melbourne who has written and recorded prolifically under the "Snowy" moniker for the past decade, as well as performing with live ensemble Snowy Band, named by The Guardian among 2020's best new music. The group's two acclaimed albums have been toured across Australia and internationally, and Liam has also played in numerous local indie groups including The Ocean Party, Cool Sounds, Emma Russack and Good Morning. He works as a freelance audio engineer recording, mixing and mastering for many bands, artists and films, and as a designer has worked on Bodysnatchers Theatre's Plastic, Soothsayers and Gobbledygook, plus re:group's Tom William Mitchell and Coil.

Acknowledgements


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Location

135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217

AUTO-TUNE