Young and Hungry Arts Trust (1994 - 2022) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

based youth theatre initiative. They have held festivals of plays, commissioned playwrights, toured New Zealand and helped along the careers of many New Zealand actors, writers, designers and directors. The first event was a festival held in 1994 at

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 Zeala ...

Background

In 1994 Conrad Newport produced the first ''The Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre'' at BATS Theatre''.'' It was one-act plays with a cast and crew of young people ranging from 16 – 25 years old with a professional environment led by processional directors. It continued to be an annual festival at BATS with three commissioned plays by emerging playwrights until it expanded to Auckland at the Basement Theatre with three shows a year from 2012 and 2015. An Ambassadors programme with

Auckland Theatre Company Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) is a professional theatre company in Auckland. It was founded in 1992 and since 2016 has been based in ASB Waterfront Theatre in the Wynyard Quarter in central Auckland. History Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) wa ...

was added to support engagement with youth for longer than the rehearsal period and season. The focus has always been to support learning about theatre for young people through application.

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 p ...

published a volume in 2010, ''Three Plays - Young & Hungry'' with plays: ''queen b,'' by

Pip Hall Philippa Hall (born 1971) is a New Zealand stage, screen and radio script writer and actor. Biography Background Pip Hall is the daughter of writer Roger Hall and grew up mostly in Dunedin, New Zealand. She graduated in theatre studies an ...

; ''Exchange'' by Lauren Jackson; and ''Urban Hymns'' by Mīria George. It closed in October 2022 with the board stating "difficulties of seeking funding project-to-project, the limited ability to provide long-term assured employment, and as a result, a limited capacity to invest in long-term planning."

Productions

Some notable productions presented at the annual festivals include in ''RPM'' (2008), written by Dave Armstrong, directed by Leo Gene Peters, in 2009 three plays, ''Oyster'' by

Vivienne Plumb Vivienne Christiana Gracia Plumb (born 4 April 1955) is New Zealand poet, playwright, fiction writer, and editor. Biography Plumb is of both New Zealand and Australian heritage. Born in Sydney, Australia, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree i ...

, directed by Rachel More, ''Sit On It'', by Georgina Titheridge, directed by Lyndee-Jane Rutherford and ''Urban Hymns'' by Mīria George, directed by Fiona Truelove and ''The 21st Narcissus'' (2015) by Sam Brooks. In 2011 the Auckland Theatre Company Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre at the Basement Theatre featured a play by

Jo Randerson Joanna Ruth Randerson (born 1973) is a New Zealand writer, director and performer. She is the founder and artistic director of Barbarian Productions, a Wellington-based theatre production company. Biography Randerson was born in Auckland, New Ze ...

, Gary Henderson and

Tom Sainsbury Thomas Sainsbury (born 1982) is a New Zealand actor, writer, filmmaker, comedian, TV presenter and podcaster. Sainsbury began his acting and writing career in theatre. He became well known in New Zealand from 2017 for his short form comedy vide ...

, and young people learned about design and production mentored by

Elizabeth Whiting Elizabeth Whiting is a stage costume designer from New Zealand. Career Whiting trained under designer Eve Schlup at Auckland's Theatre Corporate. Her first costume designs were for Limbs Dance Company (late 1970s to mid-1980s) and she has cos ...

(costume), Simon Coleman (set), Brad Gledhill (lighting) and Fern Christie (stage management). Past playwrights commissioned include

Jackie Van Beek Jackie van Beek (born 10 May 1976) is a New Zealand film and television director, writer and actress. Early life Van Beek was born and raised in Wellington and attended Onslow College. She studied contemporary dance at the Wellington Performi ...

, Victor Rodger,

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 Li ...

Danny Mulheron Danny Mulheron is a New Zealand actor, writer, and director who has worked in theatre, television and film. Mulheron graduated from Toi Whakaari, Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 1983 with a Diploma in Acting. In 2012, he directed ''Fr ...

, Arthur Meek,

Hone Kouka Hone Vivian Kouka is a New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays, which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp T ...

Helen Varley Jamieson Helen Varley Jamieson is a digital media artist, playwright, performer, director and producer from New Zealand. She "is engaged in an ongoing exploration of the collision between theatre and the internet." Since 1997 she has been working on the i ...

, Pip Hall and

Briar Grace-Smith Briar Grace-Smith is a screenwriter, director, actor, and short story writer from New Zealand. She has worked as an actor and writer with the Maori theatre cooperative Te Ohu Whakaari and Maori theatre company He Ara Hou. Early plays ''Don't Ca ...

. In 2015 Young and Hungry started touring to secondary schools with a play made from extracts of New Zealand plays. The 2021 tour was called ''Whaddarya?'' and includes parts of plays by Stephen Sinclair,

Renée Renée (without the accent in non-French speaking countries) is a French/Latin feminine given name. Renée is the female form of René, with the extra –e making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French form of t ...

, Craig Thane,

Greg McGee Greg McGee is a New Zealand writer and playwright, who also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Alix Bosco. Biography McGee was born in 1950 in the South Island town of Oamaru. In his early 20s McGee played rugby as a Junior All Black and b ...

, Sam Brooks, and

Albert Belz Albert Alexander Amahou Belz (born 1973) is a New Zealand actor, writer and lecturer. Belz was born in Whakatāne. He is Māori, of Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Pokai descent. He lived in Auckland from the age of 12, then in Hamilton and ...

. This concept was previously produced by EnsembleImpact who partnered with Young and Hungry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young and Hungry Arts Trust Theatre in New Zealand