Scholarship opportunity for aspiring actors closes this week

Still, Alex Rathgeber leaped from the rural Horsham Art Council performances to principal parts in live theatre worldwide, including Raoul in the original West End production of The Phantom of the Opera when he was 24.

Since then, he has worked closely with the team from the Horsham annual event, the RM Showcase, to create The Alex Rathgeber Performing Artist Scholarship.

Applications for the Scholarship are open until November 10, 2023, at email RMShowcase@icloud.com

The RM Showcase event will be held on Saturday, November 18.

The scholarship is designed as a way of encouraging and fostering the talent development of promising young performing artists and musicians from around the Horsham and Wimmera region; the recipient receives a $1000 prize to support and encourage their development as a performing artist.

"Without the formative years of theatre with the Horsham Arts Council, I would not have fallen in love with theatre," he said.

This opportunity launched his 20-year career, and he has become one of Australia's leading men in live entertainment.

"Because of that great gift I received in Horsham, I try to pay it forward by helping others wherever I can," he said.

Mr Rathgeber's career reads like the who's who of the live entertainment world with principal roles in mainstage productions across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the West End in London.

"Phantom of the Opera was, of course, a highlight of my career," he said.

"But the lead role of Billy Crocker in Anything Goes was a culmination of all that I had learned, and it encompassed the three elements of singing, acting, and dancing," he said.

Mr Rathgeber received the Helpmann Award for that performance.

"I want others to feel the electricity of stepping out on stage, and the scholarship can help that become a reality."

The inaugural Alex Rathgeber scholarship was awarded to talented local singer Sofia Laursen Habel.

After winning the scholarship prize, Sofia spent 2020 and 2021 performing in concerts around the Wimmera before relocating to Denmark at the end of 2021 to continue pursuing her career as a classical vocalist.

Mr Rathgeber said it is easy to get into the narrative that you must be in the city to succeed because that's where it is all happening, but he believes it is the opposite.

"There is so much available in country settings; the community support and the genuine interest of the community is better than the isolation you can feel in a big city," he said.

"As well as the arts, I played sports; I was involved in athletics, running, and many outdoor activities.

"I'll always be a Horsham boy because of what Horsham did for me and the way people treat me when I go back to visit. Living in a rural environment does not exclude you from the world stage."

Mr Rathgeber has just completed a 10-month run of Mousetrap and said after a schedule of eight shows a week, he is enjoying a hiatus to consider what's next for him.

"When people come to a performance, I am aware, for some, it may be their first time, and I want them to feel the electricity I felt when I first attended a performance," he said.

"I want it to take them out of the ordinary of life and transport them to another place and time, and for that to happen, every performance must be your best.

"I have nothing booked to go to at the moment, and that breeds equal parts of anxiety and excitement, and you must become friends with uncertainty.

"But I'm at a different stage in my life, and I can look at where I want to go."

An autobiography may not be on the cards in 2024, but it is a possibility sometime, he said.

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