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Unity Theatre, Wellington
Unity Theatre was a theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, founded in 1942 that ran until around 1979. It pre-dated professional theatre in New Zealand, which started in the mid 1960s and 1970s. Different to other theatre societies in the 1940s, Unity's objective was to bring social, moral and political issues to audiences. The early committee was led from 1942 until 1949 by Robert Stead, he was a member of the Communist Party and a carpenter and he also had worked with the London Unity Theatre before he came to New Zealand in 1939. One notable member of Unity Theatre was Nola Millar, who opened up the focus of the company beyond politics. Over the years Unity Theatre had an ongoing search to have a suitable location for their plays to be staged, and presented works at many places in Wellington, including the building 1 Kent Terrace, which is now home to BATS Theatre. Many of the company members from Unity were part of forming both Downstage Theatre Downstage Thea ...
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Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metro area, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century, with initial settlement by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. The Wellington urban area, which only includes urbanised ar ...
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Unity Theatre, London
Unity Theatre was a theatre club formed in 1936, and initially based in St Judes Hall, Britannia Street, Somers Town, London NW1. In 1937, it moved to a former chapel in Goldington Street, also in Somers Town, an area which is part of the present day London Borough of Camden. Although the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975, productions continued sporadically until 1994, when the site was sold for social housing."The View from stage Left"
''New York Times'' review 28 January 1990 accessed 26 June 2007
Unity Mews is today on the site and a bronze plaque commemorates the theatre. It had links to the Theatre Guild and the

Nola Leigh Millar
Nola Leigh Millar (18 February 1913 – 20 January 1974) was a New Zealand librarian, theatre director, critic and administrator. She was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 18 February 1913. Recognition and Achievements Millar directed a New Zealand play called ''The Trap'' by Kate Ross that was entered into the British Drama League Festival by Unity Theatre in 1951, and was described as 'the best play in the festival'. Millar established New Zealand's national drama school, Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, in 1970, the official title then was the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council New Zealand Drama School. Their library is named the Nola Millar Library after her as their first director. In 1973 the Arts Council made Millar an award for her achievements in New Zealand theatre. They said "As one of the founders of Unity Theatre she was instrumental in adding to the conventions of orthodox repertory a concept of theatre with a social conscious." New Zealand playwrigh ...
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BATS Theatre
BATS Theatre is a theatre venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Initially founded as the Bats Theatre Company in 1976, then established in its current form in 1989. BATS Theatre has seen the development of many performing arts talents of New Zealand. History Bane Austin Touring Society (BATS) The BATS Theatre Company was founded in 1976 by Rodney Bane and David Austin. BATS is an acronym of "Bane Austin Touring Society". Initial plans were to tour one-act plays in Wairarapa, Manawatu and Wellington. Bane and Austin took over the current building at 1 Kent Terrace in the late 1970s and the building was renamed BATS Theatre in 1979. BATS Theatre By the 1980s, Bane and Austin had moved on to other things, BATS Theatre venue became a space that could be leased and was 're-opened as a professional theatre' in 1989 by Simon Bennett (director) and Simon Elson after months of renovations. Bennet went on to become a television director including Shortland Street and Power Rangers. Be ...
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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 ...
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Circa Theatre
Circa Theatre is a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that was established in 1976. They present a number of plays each year in their two auditoriums, and have a unique partnership and funding model with incoming shows underpinned with a cooperative principle. Background Circa Theatre was formed in 1976 by a group of actors who were reacting against what they saw as an administration-heavy professional theatre scene in New Zealand. Many of this group had come through Unity Theatre, the New Theatre and Downstage Theatre in Wellington. Circa Theatre was part of a wave of professional theatre companies in New Zealand that started with Downstage Theatre in 1964, and was followed by the Mercury Theatre, Auckland (1968), Four Seasons, Whanganui (1970), The Court Theatre, Christchurch (1971), Gateway Theatre, Tauranga (1972), Fortune, Dunedin (1973), Theatre Corporate, Auckland (1973) and Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North (1974). The founding Circa Theat ...
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The New Zealand Drama School
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pron ...
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Theatre Companies In New Zealand
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pav ...
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Organisations Based In Wellington
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from the Greek word ''organon'', which means tool or instrument, musical instrument, and organ. Types There are a variety of legal types of organizations, including corporations, governments, non-governmental organizations, political organizations, international organizations, armed forces, charities, not-for-profit corporations, partnerships, cooperatives, and educational institutions, etc. A hybrid organization is a body that operates in both the public sector and the private sector simultaneously, fulfilling public duties and developing commercial market activities. A voluntary association is an organization consisting of volunteers. Such organizations may be able to operate without legal formalities, depending on jurisdiction, includin ...
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Culture In Wellington
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor, Edward. (1871). Primitive Culture. Vol 1. New York: J.P. Putnam's Son Culture is often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location. Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group. Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change. Thus in military culture, valor is counted a typica ...
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1942 Establishments In New Zealand
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus and Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar become Roman Consuls. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 days ...
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1979 Disestablishments In New Zealand
Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ''Chiquitita'' to commemorate the event. ** The United States and the People's Republic of China establish full Sino-American relations, diplomatic relations. ** Following a deal agreed during 1978, France, French carmaker Peugeot completes a takeover of American manufacturer Chrysler's Chrysler Europe, European operations, which are based in United Kingdom, Britain's former Rootes Group factories, as well as the former Simca factories in France. * January 7 – Cambodian–Vietnamese War: The People's Army of Vietnam and Vietnamese-backed Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area ...
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