Here’s HELEN MUSA’s latest Arts in the City column.

The one-woman play A Hundred Words for Snow by English playwright Tatty Hennessy is the first Mockingbird Theatrics production for 2026. Actor Zoë Ross plays Rory, a 15-year-old girl whose father dies very suddenly. She decides to run away from home with his ashes to the North Pole, without telling her mum. The production will be at Belco Arts January 28-31.

Jennifer Croom’s winning portrait of chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong is on view at the National Portrait Gallery. The painting was the winner’s commission from the inaugural ABC series Portrait Artist of the Year and was unveiled at its permanent home in Canberra last month.

The 31st CAT Awards Presentation Gala will be celebrated at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, on January 31. For the first time, there will be two sessions, with the school and youth awards at 2pm and the open categories presentation at 5pm. Overall, 49 companies and 80 separate productions have been nominated and, in addition, there are 15 CAT commendations.

The managing director of Dramatic Productions in Gungahlin, Richard Block, has announced that the company will stage no show in 2026 as he prepares for a much grander production – his marriage to singer and voice teacher Teresa Wojcik.

Salut! Baroque has chosen the same theme as the Canberra Writers Festival, “Power, Passion & Politics”, as its motif for 2026. The ensemble will start the year with a related theme, taken from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, “Concord of Sweet Sounds”, as its performs everything from courtly dances to operatic laments. Wesley Church, Forrest, January 31.