By arts editor Helen Musa

It’s showtime this week for more than 1500 students from across the ACT public school system, as Step into the Limelight brings its annual showcase of young singers, dancers, instrumentalists and performers to the AIS Arena.

When I catch up with artistic director Veronica Thwaites-Brown, a well-known vocalist and the conductor of SCUNA, the ANU Choral Society, she tells me there is no other role quite like hers.

By night, Thwaites-Brown is familiar to Canberra audiences for her musical and theatrical work, most recently in the musical Come From Away. But her role as an executive teacher within the ACT Education Directorate gives her a rather different perspective.

It allows her to identify emerging talent and pass on some of her own experience, particularly the understanding of just how much hard work goes into a performance before anyone steps on stage.

Themed Break Through, this year’s production is a huge undertaking, involving about 60 schools. Three school terms have gone into preparing the show, with a strong commitment to live music.

“We hold auditions, and student ambassadors pick the dancers, singers, instrumentalists and people with special skills, including circus,” she says. Some students are called back while others can submit their auditions digitally.

The result is a fully curated show, with Thwaites-Brown and the production team bringing together a wide range of musical and performing talents. The concept is overseen by Joel Copeland, the principal of the Education Directorate’s Instrumental Music Program.

Essentially a pop music spectacular, the production is designed to create something different from the usual school performance, with live music providing an important part of its character. The Education Directorate’s Band Program provides a strong foundation to the production with its live music.

Thwaites-Brown herself chooses many of the musical numbers, although the final selection is a collaboration shaped by the team’s sometimes overlapping, sometimes differing musical tastes.

Audiences can expect massed choirs, a boy-band medley, a Robbie Williams number and classic songs from featured vocalists who are given more elaborate musical arrangements by featured vocalist coordinator, Jessica Marchant, a music teacher from Amaroo School.

One of the challenges is that performing arts expertise is not evenly distributed across the public school system, with varying levels of specialist support in schools and colleges. The production team, therefore, works carefully to ensure that students have the musical backing and rehearsal material they need.

The creative team is made up of teachers who volunteer their time, making the spectacular a valuable opportunity for students to work alongside experienced educators from Amaroo School, Aunty Agnes Shea High School and Melba Copland Secondary School.

Costumes and make-up are another substantial operation, headed by Sara Crawford from Harrison School and a team of helpers.

Students generally provide their own basic costume, perhaps plain white or black, or something within a selected colour palette, with the costume team then adding a little imagination and mix-and-match creativity to bring the look together.

Thwaites-Brown says the production has changed considerably over the years, particularly as technology has become an increasingly important part of staging a large-scale event. Sound and lighting are now major elements, with Eclipse Lighting and Sound providing professional production support.

With two evening performances expected to sell out, an additional matinee has been added.

“It’s very exciting,” she says. “They run on adrenaline.”

For her, however, the real achievement is not simply the spectacle of more than 1500 young people performing in one arena, but the experience of bringing them together, developing their skills and giving them the confidence to step into the limelight.

Step into the Limelight Arena Spectacular 2026, AIS Arena, Bruce, November 5 and 6. Tickets through TryBooking.

News all day, every day at CityNewsQBN.com.au.