The New Zealand Theatre Federation (NZTF) was founded in 1970.
After amalgamation, NZTF became the successor to both the British Drama League (est. 1932) and the NZ Drama Council (est. 1945) as the one national-body to provide advice, services, support and training, at all levels.
It adopted Theatre New Zealand as its Brand Name constitutionally in 2018.
Theatre New Zealand (TNZ) advocates for and represents community theatre groups and educational organizations, throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
Theatre New Zealand hosted an International Youth Theatre Festival in Christchurch, as part of our national 1990 Sesquicentennial Celebrations.
2020 celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Theatre New Zealand and the 80th Anniversary of the One-Act Play Festival system, now known as TheatreFest.
Ngā Whāinga/Objectives
Promote and advocate for Community Theatre in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Encourage high standards in all aspects of theatre performance; production, staging, design and writing.
Through Tautoko, act as a national consultative and advisory body, on all aspects of Recreational Theatre.
Receive, collate and distribute information on any aspect of theatre.
Conduct or arrange courses, workshops, festivals of theatre.
Incentivise new writing and staging of Aotearoa New Zealand stories
Support and develop whanaungatanga kinship in theatre throughout the motu.
Ensure the spirit of Manaakitanga is honoured at National Executive level, through all membership committees and each member group joining Theatre NZ Inc.
Whakaurunga/Membership
Over 50 Societies and recreational theatre groups nationwide.
20 plus Secondary Schools and Youth Performing Arts Groups
24 Individual Members and honours 10 Life Members.
Tuhinga Whakaari/Scripts
Theatre New Zealand works in association with Playmarket Wellington, in developing and promoting New Zealand plays and playwrights.
TNZ has preserved many historical New Zealand scripts in the May Ives Library, currently housed and curated at Playmarket Wellington.
TNZ ensures the collection of playwrights’ performance royalties from stage productions.
TheatreFest
Theatre New Zealand hosts an annual Festival of Theatre, TheatreFest (informally known as the One-Act Play Festival) evolving through Local, Regional and National levels.
TheatreFest presents many awards recognizing excellence in Writing, Directing, Acting, Design & Cultural accomplishments.
It acknowledges and awards Emerging Talent.
TheatreFest receives entries from both Youth and Adult Teams.
There are no cultural, literary or content boundaries/censorship.
It engages professional Adjudicators from ANZDA who give feedback and critique, to help expand the skills and knowledge-base of all participants.
Tomonga Ipurangi/eAccess
Theatre New Zealand is accessible on-line for information, administrative or creative support, including workshops in all aspects of theatre. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
