When Kara Lane was a teenager, her dad presented her with a plastic shopping bag full of brochures.
He had spent months writing away to conservatoriums and academies to find out what musical theatre training they offered.
It was the key to turning Lane's musical flair into a profession that has taken her from regional Queensland to performing worldwide.
"I didn't even know it was a career," she says.
"It was a way of him saying, 'You can follow your dream, go for it.'
"I was just awe-struck that I could continue my passion into my adult life."
But the West End star is not the only person to have graduated from Rockhampton's Pilbeam Theatre to international stages.
Gretel Scarlett and Lorinda May Merrypor have followed suit — the latter wowing Melbourne audiences as the titular character of & Juliet in her debut lead role.
Lane, Scarlett, and Merrypor believe the professionalism of their home town's performing arts scene is unique among regional areas and built the foundations of their careers.
"Everyone wants to put their all, their heart and soul into everything, giving other people opportunities to perform and making the show the best it can be," Merrypor says.
"It's as close to a professional industry as you would get in community theatre."
A passion they couldn't ignore
There are similarities between the childhoods of Lane, Scarlett, and Merrypor.
They each describe a chaotic schedule of near-daily dance, drama, and singing classes and performing in multiple productions each year.
They also emphasise the burning passion for the craft, an almost obsessive need to perform.
Lane's love for musicals seems inevitable when you learn her mother, Christine Netherwood, has been involved in the city's theatre community since the 1970s.
"It just seeps into your blood," Lane says.
"If I wasn't at choir, or dance practice … or at school doing a musical then I was at home writing my own shows, and I just was obsessed with it."
Lane left Rockhampton after school to study in Mackay and Sydney, before moving to the UK where she worked on cruise ships and later in touring productions.
Most recently, Lane was in the UK tour of The Addams Family — a role she was grateful to have confirmed prior to 2020 lockdowns.
Real world examples to follow
There are plenty of performance opportunities for young performers in Rockhampton. The Musical Union, dating back to 1888, puts on annual productions, along with Rockhampton Regional Council and several high schools.
By the time Scarlett and Merrypor were coming through the ranks, there were established examples like Lane to follow.
Scarlett, who has since played lead roles in Australian tours of Grease and Singin' in the Rain, remembers being star-struck as a six-year-old watching then-teenaged Lane.
"I was like, 'That's what I want to be,'" she says.
"It's so easy for people to be like, 'Oh, I want to be like Kylie Minogue.'
"She [Lane] was there, she was in front of me, she was a real human … it wasn't just pictures in magazines."
Scarlett was 15 when her family moved to Sydney, where she studied classical ballet before moving to Western Australia to study musical theatre.
After a series of lead roles in Australian productions, Scarlett took time away from the industry and moved to New York City.
She has most recently understudied roles in the Australian tour of Frozen and will be joining the US tour this month.
Scarlett says her career direction could have been "a different situation" without the grounding of regional Queensland.
"There's no selfishness of, 'Stay here in Rockhampton.' They're like 'Go, be awesome and take one for the team,'" she says.
"I am so lucky to have been born there and raised there.
"There's so many opportunities, and I think it makes us really hungry individuals."
'There are Rocky performers everywhere'
The youngest of the three, 26-year-old Merrypor's debut as the & Juliet lead has been well-received since the show opened in Melbourne last month.
An Aboriginal and South Sea Islander woman, Merrypor moved from Rockhampton to Brisbane to study after school.
She performed in the Australian tour of The Sapphires before landing the role of Juliet.
"This is beyond my wildest dreams … I still pinch myself," she said.
That hunger to succeed against metropolitan competition is something Merrypor also recognises.
"I can see my work ethic sometimes being different from other people," she said.
"I definitely would attribute it to just feeling like I had to do so much extra be on a similar level as other people."
Although they no longer live in Rockhampton, the women express a deep affection for their early training and the community at its core.
"There are Rocky performers everywhere," Merrypor said.
"It's really lovely to feel like the community is there with you every step of the way, even once you leave."
