Tropic Line was founded by Jean-Pierre Voos in 1986 to replace Michael Lanchberry’s Matchbox Co. which had ceased when he left JCU in 1985. The main purpose of Tropic Line was to offer senior students and graduates of the Performing Arts Course at JCU opportunities to present theatre at a professional standard and to meet a variety of critical audiences through touring.

In its early years, Tropic Line toured to Canberra (Arts Centre & Gorman House), Sydney (NIDA’s Fig Tree Theatre), Bateman’s Bay, Adelaide (Festival Fringe), Melbourne (Anthill Theatre & Gasworks Theatre) and Armidale. It frequently toured in the North Queensland region: Ingham, Innisfail, Cairns, Mossman (Karnak Theatre), Charters Towers. It was also invited to represent Australia at Tadashi Suzuki’s Toga-Mura Festival in Japan.

With the demise of the New Moon Company [of Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville & Cairns] in the early 90s, Voos began to position Tropic Line as a professional company for the region and to this end both he and the company separated from James Cook University in late 1994.

Whereas, in its eight years at the University, Tropic line averaged some three productions annually, the ensuing ten years saw an opening up of possibilities with the company presenting, on average, 6 plays a year. Of the 121 plays, over a third [45] were Australian works, including 31 by Queenslanders and of these, 21 were presented as ‘world premieres’.

Several productions have been toured by NARPACA on their circuit from Toowoomba to Cairns. And importantly, with workshops as well as plays, the company visited smaller NQ townships including Ayr, Hughended, Richmond, Cloncurry, Cannington, Julia Creek, Mt.Isa and Charters Towers. Tropic Line in 2001 was invited to the 5th Fortress Theatre Festival in Suwon, Korea.

2001 also saw the formation of a branch of the company, TLC (Terrifically Low Cost), whose principal aim is to nurture the talents of emerging artists, be they actors, directors or local playwrights, by working on smaller scale plays (smaller scale in length/cast size/cost) that also lend themselves to being presented in smaller, and sometimes unusual, venues. TLC productions nature of the work is such that they may be more demanding of an audience, perhaps more experimental, more challenging, less “safe”. Certainly they are a stimulating and healthy addition to the local theatre scene.

In Townsville Tropic Line, without a home of its own, has now presented plays in no less than 21 very different venues, including the Echlin St. Quarry, St. James’ Synod Hall, The Blue Bottle Café, the Basement Theatre (of the Civic Theatre), Teakles Gardens, Panorama House, The Old Magistrates Court, the 7th floor Car Park at Metro Quays, a disused  store  in Flinders West, the Mater Hospital Conference Centre, Molly Malone’s Irish Pub, the Millennium Club,  St. James Cathedral, the Prawn Stop Café, the Perc Tucker, Umbrella and Pinnacles Galleries, La Bamba Café Garden, the Museum of Tropical Queensland, Queens Gardens and the Civic Theatre.

In 2002, Tropic Line merged with its successor at JCU, HardSun, to become Tropic Sun.  The new company devotes itself, as did Tropic Line, to developing theatre in the NQ region.   As much as possible, it attempts to keep local talent from draining to the South by providing employment for professionals, while it avoids having to import talent.  At the same time, it offers development opportunities to the many community actors and theatre workers who live in the region – through participation in large cast plays such as an annual Shakespeare and by offering skills development workshops, sometimes with the assistance of The Queensland Theatre Co.

In 2002, Tropic Sun was awarded production of the year for its stunning production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome, again in 2003 for Shakespeare’s As You Like It and in 2005 for Henry IV.

In 2005 Tropic Sun developed partnerships with its two nearest professional neighbouring companies, Just Us Theatre Ensemble (JUTE) in Cairns and Crossroad Arts in Mackay. Now also encompassing the Darwin Theatre Company, the group goes by the name of ‘Theatre-To-The-Edge’(TTTE).

Collaboration between the various companies is growing apace with both collaborations in the creation of productions and with regular touring of shows between venues, funded by ARTS (Arts Regional Touring Service).

Late in 2006 the company moved to the Court Theatre, the former Magistrates Court building at the corner of Stokes and Sturt Sts in the City. This excellent building provides office, rehearsal and our own performance space and will remain the company’s home until the new “Artshub,” a joint venture between Townsville City Council, Arts Queensland and private enterprise is completed. We are advised that late 2009 to early 2010 is our likely occupation date.