President's Message August 2024

TNZ Rebranding: why the Koru?
(Tama Smith & Kiri Riwai-Couch, National Executive Members)

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini.
“My success is not mine alone, but of many.”

This fitting whakatauki aligns with Theatre New Zealand’s kaupapa and relates
to the strength of a community bound by its history and collective effort. These words
further emphasise Theatre New Zealand's commitment to unity and collaboration
essential in the theatre arts community.

Our tohu, the koru design, often associated with the iconic New Zealand silver fern, symbolises the unfurling fern frond and represents new beginnings, growth, and renewal for Te Pūtoi Whakaari o Aotearoa.

As the koru unfolds with grace and strength, Theatre New Zealand aspires to cultivate an inclusive, dynamic artistic community, celebrating the continuous cycle of creation and cultural expression inherent in the koru’s form. The extended line or stem of the koru embodies how historical community theatre work, forms the foundations for contemporary Kaupapa.

As the koru unfurls, it draws strength from this base, much like a new theatrical initiative built upon the rich legacy of past community endeavours. This line ending in the koru is the landscape connecting to the past, enriching present and future creative pursuits, ensuring that the evolution of community theatre remains grounded in a strong tradition while continuously fostering innovation and inclusivity.

Nga Mihi

PAUL PERCY 
President - Theatre New Zealand
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New Members, AGM and all the rest

Waikato, Bay of Plenty Taranaki Region

A very warm welcome to Toni Sullivan of Taupo who is the new Representative for the Waikato, Bay of Plenty & Taranaki Region.

A very warm welcome to the following 12 new members:

Antics (South Canterbury), CentreStage Rolleston (Canterbury), Chilton St James School (Lower Hutt), Fiere Theatre Productions (Christchurch), Limelight Theatre Company (Carterton), Marlborough Girls College, Marlborough Children’s and Youth Theatre, Mount Aspiring College (Canterbury), St Margaret’s College (Christchurch), Taieri College (Otago), Tararua College (Pahiatua) and Wairarapa Theatre Company (Masterton) and returning member, Christ’s College (Christchurch) with production team My Chemical Showmance.
We look forward to seeing their work around the Regions , much of it in local TheatreFests.

Poster Competition

Have you got some great poster designs? Email copies of A4 posters from up to two of your productions over the past 12 months. They will be assessed by a leading designer and winners announced at the AGM September 14th. The entry form is on the TNZ website https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvniRjIZllNoMio6yq1DCP9IOatGNTT349YLq0WvaRwRRmOg/viewform Deadline 31st August

Reminder too that nominations for the David Brockett Award and for the Meritorious Service Award are also due by 31st August. See entry forms on TNZ website

Annual General Meeting 14 September at Memorial Theatre, Wellington

Notice is given that the 54th Annual General Meeting of Theatre New Zealand will be held at the Memorial Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka at 10am Saturday 14th September 2024.

Nominations are called for the position of Secretary.

All other positions in the terms of the new constitution will continue as in 2023/24.

The Nomination form for Secretary can be found on the website under Resources/Documents/ Theatre New Zealand Documents/ Nomination for Officers 2024

ShowCase 14th September at Memorial Theatre Victoria University.

Who is gong to be on show in Wellington? Up to six of the very best productions will be chosen by Regional Adjudicators to go to Wellington for just the one night.  Tickets will be available shortly, keep and eye on the Facebook page or website for details. 

Summer School 2025

Around the Regions since the last Hāpai

Exciting progress has been made with individual branding of each of the seven Regions. Refer to image beneath the President’s Message for your particular one and press like on your Region’s Facebook page to follow all the news.

Warkworth Theatre Group Calendar Girls by Tim Firth in April/May
Fundraising for a cancer project is integral to producing this play and the team asked local gin producers, Batch10, to make a sunflower gin. A donation of $10 from each bottle sold was marked for the hospice and on the final night, it was announced that over $10,000 had been raised.

Te Puke Repertory Society Shakespeare in Shorts, Bites of the Bard. June
Six women played 4 – 5 roles each dressed in blacks adding a prop or garment for the excerpts. At curtain call they appeared in boxer shorts emblazoned with Shakespeare’s image nestled mongst Pasifica flowers.

Taming of the Shrew: Katherine ( Colleen Pye) biting Petruchio (Nicole Petuha)

Rotorua Little Theatre And Then There were None Agatha Christie in May
Father and daughter acting duo Ian and Jessica Stabler play the roles of Justice Wargrave and Vera Claythorne. Each are hiding secrets but who will crack first?.

Evolution Theatre Company Twelve Angry Jurors adapted by Sherman Sergal in June
Conflict at end of first act "You don't actually mean you're going to kill me, do you?"

Kevin Haggard, Dave Henderson, Myles Ashworth

New Plymouth Repertory collaborated with Francis Douglas Memorial College and other colleges for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour DreamCoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Students acted and crewed the sell out season.

Joseph (Ben Bartlet) and Pharoah (Isaac Cameron) discuss the Pharaoh's dream.

The revolving backdrop was painted by the Art Department and was double sided with the desert on the back. A pulley system devised by set builder, John Coombe, worked the revolve section by section.

Havelock Community Theatre Newbies by Julia Daniel July
"Can I interest you in ... a tie?"
Local jokester Wayne (Ian Cameron) offers a selection of ties to his mate Stan ahead of a big night out. "Oh, a fine choice, sir. Those spots will look simply sublime with your checked shirt”

Riccarton Players Sleeping Beauty by Stewart Robertson July
Young Rose (Ashlyn Morrison) with the Cook, Mrs Flanagan (Charlotte Penman), planning the birthday treats in the kitchen for the 13th birthday party in Sleeping Beauty.

 Local TheatreFest Entries

Regional TheatreFest

Upper North Island Regional TheatreFest, 24 August, Riverlea Theatre, Hamilton – Adjudicator Steven Arnold

Lower North Island Regional TheatreFest, 24 August, Majestic Theatre, Masterton – Adjudicators Jillian Carpenter & Ruth Sarratt

Upper South Island Regional TheatreFest, 17 August, Merivale Lane Theatre, Rangi Ruru School for Girls, Christchurch – Adjudicators Annette Thomson and David Chambers

Lower South Island Regional TheatreFest, 24 August, The Playhouse, South Canterbury Drama League, Timaru – Adjudicators Mārama Grant & David Chambers

SGCNZ & PANZ

Congratulations to TNZ Members recognised at the SGCNZ University of Otago Sheila Winn Shakespeare Festival in June

Cashmere High School (Chch) Best Understanding of Sound and Silence Award Hamlet

Garin College, Nelson, Most Original Choice of Play Award Anthony and Cleopatra
- Outstanding Student Directed Ensemble Work Award Romeo and Juliet
- NSSP Selector Award The Arapaki Award (An Acknowledgement of the Weaving of Te Reo Māori into Shakespeare Text) As You Like It

Kuranui College, Greytown, Wairarapa Most Cooperative School Organisers' Award

Napier Girls’ High School Best Technician Award Mikyla Jelliman, Macbeth

St Margaret’s College, Christchurch, Outstanding Costume Design Award (Student-Directed) Ratcliffe A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wairarapa College, Masterton, Best Understanding of the Play Award Henry VI Part 1
- Outstanding Stage Combat Award Romeo & Juliet

and

Most Innovative Interpretation Award (Student Directed) donated by Theatre NZ
Titus Andronicus Northland Youth Theatre

PANZ One Act Playwriting Competition 2024

Adjudicator: Allison Horsley

RULES:

1. Only members of PANZ may enter the competition. Membership is open to any person who lives in New Zealand or is a New Zealander. To join: https://newzealandplaywrights.wordpress.com/join-us/
2. There is no additional entry fee for the competition.
3. A member may submit one One-Act Play (20 to 40 minutes running time)
4. The name of the author(s) and/or their contact details must not appear anywhere on the script.
5. The play must not have been performed in front of a paying audience before the play was submitted.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Entries open 1 September 2024 and close 30 September 2024.
Send entries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the script as an attachment.

PRIZES:

1st prize: $200
2nd prize: $100
All entries will receive brief feedback.
We hope to arrange a production of the winning plays in partnership with TNZ

Competition Registrar: Brian Johnston.

On the Boards

On the Boards August, September, October 2024

 To be included in this list send information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

 Playmarket Scripts

RECOMMENDED SCRIPTS

SOLO PLAYS:

Eloise in the Middle by Emily Duncan (1f)
Eloise is a seven-year-old girl who is small for her age but has a lot of love for her parents. Her parents, Karen and Dennis, are divorced and live in different cities in New Zealand. Eloise is invited to visit her father on her own for the first time. This includes travelling by plane as an unaccompanied minor and meeting her dad’s new girlfriend. While the trip does not go as everyone had hoped, and Eloise has to be careful about how she manages her parents, she is assured that they both her love her very much.

Eloise in the Middle, Dunedin, 2018 📸

Bruised by Richard Huber (0-3f, 1-3m)
Written in a style reminiscent of Dylan Thomas and Wallace Shawn, this is a poetic, visceral exploration of humanity in a Dunedin bar at 11:28 on a Friday night.

Island Mafia by Vela Manusaute (1m)
Did you know that 46 burglaries take place every hour in New Zealand? Did you know that one in every 72 homes in Aotearoa is broken into each year? Tougher sentences for crimes associated with home invasion. Why not? “Crime is a serious business..” Toloa is a career criminal, unrepentant recidivist, con, felon, delinquent - your worst effing nightmare. Shocking and hilarious.

Under by Cassandra Tse (1m)
Under explores an unnamed narrator's relationship with his wife May - an athlete and an artist who has disappeared. As he tells and retells their story he starts to learn that ‘remembering is a game for two players'. A poetic and intimate piece that honours the strength of the bonds between a loving couple.

Ghost Trees by Gary Stalker (1m)
A scientist having lost his wife to cancer finds his work on Kauri dieback symptomatic of a deeper malaise; species extinction, climate change, increasing isolation and a diminished sense of identity, play heavily with his mental stability. Unable to move forward, he is caught at the intersection of multiple realities; a strangely poetic place, outside of linear time, where matter meets spirit and research melds with conversations with the departed, and the large kauri that surround the property.

Michael James Manaia by John Broughton (1m)
This raw and powerful one-man play tells the story of Michael James Manaia - his upbringing, his service in Vietnam, and the horrific trauma caused by the two. Published

📸 Michael James Manaia, Taki Rua, 2012

PLAYS WITH MUSIC:

The Nod by Mark Casson (2 any gender)
Remy shares page turning insights and humorous stories in between pianists playing music. Remy describes interactions with different pianists, and relates many of their own and friends’ page turning successes, mishaps and adventures.
This innovative and fun show integrates a series of Remy monologues and up to five opportunities for one or more pianist/s to perform a selection of music.

The Torchlight Sentry by Mark Casson (1 any gender)
Moss shares insights and humorous stories into the ushering experience while musicians play for the audience.
Moss talks about their personal life, audience interactions and ushering successes, mishaps and adventures.
There are up to five opportunities for musical performances in between Moss’s monologues.

Shall We Gather at the River by Renée (2f, 2m) Full Length
Rusa struggles to deal with tragedy and a long-held secret. Into her grief and desire for solitude come the two people in the whole world she least wants to see. The result is both funny and touching. A play about revenge, reconciliation and love.
Set in 2010.

HISTORICAL FICTION;

The Night of the Riots by Dean Parker (2m)
Combines the section from Bruce Mason’s The End of the Golden Weather describing the time of the 1932 Auckland unemployed riots with a similar section from Jim Edwards’ Waiting for the Revolution.
As with Bruce’s account, Jim’s is a description seen through the eyes of a boy: Bruce would have been 10 or 11, Jim 13. Bruce’s description is of the reaction of a reasonably well-to-do Takapuna family to the events, and the personal effect upon him. Jim’s description comes from Newton Gully, the heart of the poor and unemployed, and is complicated by Jim’s growing awareness of his father’s failings. Bruce’s much-loved father becomes a special policeman to secure the city; Jim’s father does eighteen months jail for inciting lawlessness and taking part in a riot.

The Violet and the Huia Feather by Riwia Brown (2f, 5m)
The true story of Fanny Porter, a Māori Princess and singing sensation and Bob Nock, an impoverished new settler, who fall into a passionate love affair and plan to get married. But Colonel Porter, Fanny's domineering father doesn't think Bob is good enough. Confronted by her father, Fanny is forced to choose between a chance to train in London or marry a man who could not possibly afford her the opportunity. Fanny chooses to go.

Fallout: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by Bronwyn Elsmore (2-11f, 2-14m) One Act
Two blasts disturb the winter night and a ship lies submerged in Auckland Harbour. A ship dedicated to peace.
Thirty years later New Zealanders remember the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, and the effect this act of international terrorism had on their lives.

With a subscription to Playmarket, most manuscripts of plays are available for free download from our website. A subscription costs only $45 annually for full access to download unlimited different scripts: Subscribe here.
Published scripts must be purchased in hardcopy from our bookshop.
To request any plays and/or musicals, contact Isaac Martyn
Script Coordinator / Kairuruku Whakaari: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Copyright © Theatre New Zealand 2024

Compiled by Mark Perry
Editor Margaret Robertson

Deadline for Spring/Summer edition of Hāpai/Backchat
31 October 2024

Communications to
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