AusLeisure

Set to be celebrated throughout September, New Zealand Theatre Month will be celebrated from Whangarei to Invercargill with more than 450 shows and events staged by more than 70 different organisations including professional theatre companies, community theatre groups, schools and other institutions around the country.

From professional companies such as Auckland Theatre Company bringing premiere NZ works such as The Giltrap Audi season of Stuart Hoar’s Rendered, to distinctly Māori company Taki Rua’s Hine Kihāwai, to grassroots theatre like Theatre Whakatane’s Hang On a Minute Mate, each show will bring its own special magic to the stage. Hundreds of Kiwis will participate in the creation of shows, while thousands more are set to enjoy the festival as audience members. Appealing to New Zealanders from all walks of life, the festival will cater for the most committed theatre-goer to those who will be drawn to step foot inside the theatre for the first time.

Conceived by New Zealand playwright Roger Hall aided by arts figure Malcolm Calder,

NZ Theatre Month is the culmination of the duo’s years of championing for a month of celebrations dedicated to New Zealand theatre, with the ethos behind the month being to ‘celebrate and elevate’ Aotearoa’s theatre.

The programme umbrellas all theatre which is ‘conceived in NZ’, and open to the public in September.

Festivities will include a range of productions created by all kinds of artists with countless creative visions. In addition to theatre shows, a wide range of ancillary events will be held at theatres, libraries, and schools around the country. These events, from performances to open days, talks, discussion panels and displays, will address an enormous range of content matter to serve New Zealand’s unique culture.

NZ Theatre Month will kick off on 1^st September at Takapuna’s Bruce Mason Centre with a tribute to Bruce Mason, the ‘Godfather of New Zealand theatre’. This will be followed on Monday 3^rd September  by an official launch by Grant Robertson, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage at Parliament in Wellington.

Aside from highlighting all New Zealand theatre, the festival will hone in on several significant themes unfolding in our current theatre landscape. Women in Theatre will place wāhine the centre of the frame, with plays such as Modern Girls in Bed, Medusa, Kororāreka, Orientation, Mrs Krishnan’s Party, Promise & Promiscuity, Sightings, Valerie, Jane and Mum’s Choir all either focusing on women’s stories or being shaped by female creatives.

Generational will focus on showcasing the shifting forms of what defines a theatre show. From top shelf text-based theatre from cherished playwrights such as Carl Nixon, Oscar Kightley and Alison Quigan to the inter-disciplinary work of contemporary theatre makers like Nisha Madhan, Chye-Ling Huang and Benjamin Henson, this theme covers the changing face of theatre in contemporary New Zealand.

NZ Theatre Month is being celebrated from 1^st to 30^th September.

The www.nztheatremonth.co.nz website is set to go live in the next week.

Related Articles

13th July 2018 - Skills Active launches First Qualification for Performing Arts

27th May 2018 - Creative New Zealand survey shows that ‘art makes New Zealand a better place to live’

1st May 2018 - EVANZ announces new General Manager appointment

29th March 2018 - Increase in professional theatre, music and dance in New Zealand communities

21st September 2017 - NZ Theatre Month to ‘celebrate and elevate’ New Zealand performing arts

6th April 2017 - Takapuna’s Bruce Mason Theatre to host permanent digital arts showcase

3rd May 2015 - Bruce Mason Centre joins Auckland Conventions portfolio

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.