Playmarket
Playmarket is a not-for-profit organisation providing script advisory services, representation for playwrights in New Zealand and access to New Zealand plays. Playmarket was founded in 1973 to encourage the professional production of New Zealand plays. The organisation represents many of New Zealand's theatrical writers. Playmarket is also a script development service and a publisher of plays. History Playmarket was founded by Robert Lord, Nonnita Rees, Judy Russell and Ian Fraser, initially as a script reading service. During the first eighteen months of the organisation, Playmarket licensed a total of 15 productions. They were founded in 1973 and registered as a non-profit making incorporated society in 1975. Past directors include Mark Amery. Murray Lynch was appointed in 2010 and is the current director. Lynch was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to theatre in the New Zealand 2021 New Year Honours. In 2013 Playmarket issued over 400 performa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gary Henderson (playwright)
Gary Henderson (born 1955) is a New Zealand playwright, director and teacher. Henderson's work has been produced both nationally and internationally with his play ''Skin Tight'' having travelled to Edinburgh, New York City and Canada. Whilst at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival it won the Fringe First Award. In 2013 Henderson received a $20,000 Playmarket Award, acknowledging his contribution to New Zealand theatre. Plays * ''Shepherd'' ( The Court Theatre 2015) * ''My Bed My Universe'' (Massive Company, 2014) * ''Stealing Games'' (Capital E 2009) * ''Sun Shower'' (in Mother Whaea Tama Son) (Musgrove Studio 2009) * ''The Good One'' (in Mother Whaea Tama Son) (Musgrove Studio 2009) * ''Lines of Fire'' * ''Peninsula'' (Court Theatre 2005) * ''Home Land'' (commissioned by the Fortune Theatre, 2004), about an ageing Otago farmer who has to leave his farm due to failing health. * ''Without Trace'' * ''An Unseasonable Fall of Snow'' (Downstage Theatre, 1998) * ''Mo and Jess Kill Su ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jean Betts
Jean Betts is a New Zealand playwright, actor and director. Background Jean Betts emigrated with her parents (both founders of Unity Theatre, London), to Christchurch, New Zealand. She obtained a degree at University of Canterbury in English Literature and New Zealand and Pacific History. Betts graduated from Toi Whakaari: the New Zealand Drama School in 1970, the inaugural year when its founder, Nola Millar, was principal. Her classmates were Elizabeth Coulter, Jennifer Ludlam, Denise Maunder, Joanna Miekle, John Otto, William (Bill) Petley, Darien Takle and Bevan Wilson. Career She has written many plays including Revenge of the Amazons, Ophelia Thinks Harder, The Collective and The Misandrist. The Collective is a dramatisation of the story of Brecht's theatre collective based on the book "Brecht & Co" by John Fuegi. She worked for many years as actor and director at Gateway, BATS, Downstage Theatre and Circa Theatre. She was involved with the development of professiona ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bruce Mason Playwriting Award
The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award is an annual award that recognises the work of an outstanding emerging New Zealand playwright. The winner is decided by the votes of a panel of leading New Zealand artistic directors and script advisors. The award is named after New Zealand's playwright Bruce Mason CBE (1921–1982). Mason's best known plays are ''The End of the Golden Weather'' and the ''Pohutukawa Tree.'' The award was established by Independent Newspapers in 1983, the year after Mason's death, with assistance from Playmarket, for an amount of $2,000. It is currently a $10,000 award managed by Playmarket and has been funded over the years by the FAME Trust (Fund for Acting and Musical Endeavours), Downstage Theatre Society, Bruce Mason Trust and Rachel and David Underwood. Bruce Mason Playwriting Award recipients * 1983 Fiona Farrell * 1984 Simon O'Connor * 1985 Stephanie Johnson * 1986 Rosie Scott * 1987 Sarah Delahunty * 1988 Stuart Hoar * 1989 James Beaumont * 1990 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dave Armstrong (playwright)
Dave Armstrong (born 1961) is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter, trumpet player and columnist for '' The Dominion Post''. His work has featured on stage, radio and television. His television writer credits include ''Spin Doctors'', ''Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby'', ''Great War Stories'', and script editor for bro'Town. Armstrong states: Just about everything I have learnt about literary and dramatic structure has a parallel in classical music composition. Good dialogue has a rhythm, so if you have a musical ear you can hear it when it works. ''Niu Sila'' In 2004 Dave Armstrong and Oscar Kightley co-wrote the play ''Niu Sila'', about the friendship between a Samoan and a Palagi boy in 1960s New Zealand. It premiered at Downstage Theatre, and went on to win the 2004 Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Best New New Zealand Play. In 2006 Armstrong and Oscar Kightley received the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Award for Patronage, for ''Niu Sila'' which they co-wrote. In her New ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Lord (playwright)
Robert Lord (18 July 1945 – 7 January 1992) was the first New Zealand professional playwright, and one of the first New Zealand playwrights to have plays produced abroad since Merton Hodge in the 1930s (following Bruce Mason and James K. Baxter). Biography Born in Rotorua in 1945, to parents Richard and Bebe Lord. He has an older brother. His father's job took the family around the country and they lived in various cities in New Zealand while he was growing up including Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Invercargill. Lord attended schools in Auckland, Hamilton and Southland Boys' High School in Invercargill. Lord was educated at three tertiary institutions. First the University of Otago, then Victoria University of Wellington (1965–68) and after that he gained his teaching qualification at Wellington Teachers College. In 1969, he won the Katherine Mansfield Young Writers Award. At this time in New Zealand professional theatre in New Zealand was just begin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Downstage Theatre
Downstage Theatre was a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that ran from 1964 to 2013. For many years it occupied the purpose-built Hannah Playhouse building. Former directors include Sunny Amey, Mervyn Thompson, and Colin McColl. History The Downstage Theatre Company was established in 1964 as a professional theatre company. The founders at the inaugural meeting in the Wellington Public Library on 15 May 1964 were actors Peter Bland, Tim Eliott and Martyn Sanderson, and restaurateur Harry Seresin. Sanderson believed in a small professional company in Wellington performing challenging works in an intimate venue. Seresin owned the ''Walkabout'' coffee bar on the corner of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace in Wellington, and the upper floor of the ''Walkabout'' is where the first Downstage Theatre productions were performed. In 1968 the company took over the whole upper story of the Walkabout coffee bar building with a remodeling that was designed by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Geary
David Geary (born 1963) is a Māori writer from New Zealand who is known for his plays ''The Learners Stand, Lovelocks Dream Run'' and ''Pack of Girls.'' For television he has written for New Zealand series Shortland Street and Jackson's Wharf. Early years Born in Feilding, New Zealand, Geary is Māori and affiliates to the iwi Nga Mahanga and Taranaki. He grew up in Rangiwahia in the Manawatū region, his mother was a teacher. Geary went to Palmerston North Boys' High School, after that he went to university in Wellington (Victoria University of Wellington) and began a law degree although changed to arts. In 1987 Geary graduated from the acting diploma at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in Wellington. While a student Geary submitted ''Kandy Cigarettes'' to the 1988 New Zealand Playwrights’ Workshop under the pseudonym of Kurt Davidson. This was then turned into revue sketches titled ''Gothic But Staunch'' and ''Dry, White and Friendly''. Career In 1991 the full- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bruce Mason
Bruce Edward George Mason (28 September 1921 – 31 December 1982) was a significant playwright in New Zealand who wrote 34 plays and influenced the cultural landscape of the country through his contribution to theatre. In 1980, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award, one of the most important playwrighting accolades in New Zealand, is named in his honour. Mason was also an actor, critic, and fiction writer. Mason's most well known play is ''The End of the Golden Weather'', a classic work in New Zealand theatre, which he performed solo more than 500 times in many New Zealand towns. It was made into a feature film directed by Ian Mune in 1991. Another significant play is ''The Pohutukawa Tree'' written during the 1950s and 1960s. ''The Pohutukawa Tree'' was Mason's first major success and explored Māori and Pākehā themes, a common thread in most of his works. Theatre was an avenue for Mason to highlight social a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adam NZ Play Award
The Adam NZ Play Award is an annual award in New Zealand given to new plays. There are a range of categories and submitted plays are read blind by a panel of industry professionals. History The award started in 2008 and was initially called the Playmarket New New Zealand Play Award. The Adam Foundation support the awards with a total of $8,000 in prizes. The Adam Foundation was established by Denis and Verna Adam in 1976 initially for art and then for other creative endeavours. Denis Adam died in October 2018. There is also an Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing. In 2019, Mitch Tawhi Thomas became the first playwright to win an Adam NZ Play award twice, the first for ''Hui'' in 2012 and then for ''Pakaru'' (in 2019). The winners are announced at a ceremony each year. Eligibility and conditions The panel accepts up to three new plays but only be submitted to the competition once. There are no style or length limits. The plays must not have had a professional prod ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michelanne Forster
Michelanne Forster (born 26 April 1953) is a New Zealand playwright and scriptwriter who was born in California, USA. Her writing career began in the 1980s at Television New Zealand where she worked on the popular pre-school program '' Play School''. Her plays have been performed both nationally and internationally and are often based on historical accounts. In 2011 Forster was the writer-in-residence at the Michael King Writer's Centre. Education Forster graduated from the University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ... with a Bachelor of Arts and also holds a Diploma in Teaching from the Auckland Secondary Teachers College. In 2014 she completed her honours in Drama through the University of Auckland. Plays *Always My Sister *Don't Mention Casablanca * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roger Hall (playwright)
Sir Roger Leighton Hall (born 17 January 1939) is one of New Zealand's most successful playwrights, arguably best known for comedies that carry a vein of social criticism and feelings of pathos. Biography Early years Hall was born in Woodford, Essex, England, and educated at London's University College School from 1952 until 1955, when he embarked on a career in insurance. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1957 and continued to work in insurance, also performing in amateur theatre in the city of Wellington. He continued to act while attending Wellington Teachers’ College and Victoria University of Wellington; fellow actor John Clarke praised his impression of then Prime Minister Keith Holyoake as the template for all others. Hall began writing plays for children while teaching, which included a spell at Berhampore School, Wellington. He became a naturalised New Zealander in 1980. Career Hall began writing for television in the 1960s – over the next four decades his televi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ken Duncum
Ken Duncum is a New Zealand playwright and screenwriter. His plays ''Cherish'' and ''Trick of the Light'' won best new New Zealand play at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in 2003 and 2004. His script for television drama series ''Cover Story'' won Best Script for Drama at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards and Best Writer - Comedy for ''Willy Nilly'' in 2002. Profile, Playmarket New Zealand Playwrights' Agency. Retrieved 9 November 2009 Duncum's plays have toured New Zealand as well as internationally. He was awarded the for 2010. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |