June 19, 2009

Young and Hungry celebrates its 15th Birthday with the Launch of its 2009 NATIONWIDE Festival of New Theatre.  

Young and Hungry is turning 15 and we are saying thank you to all our Alumni with a Birthday bash on the 26th of June at The Paramount Theatre.

Our future is looking bright and as we enter an exciting new phase in our development the Young and Hungry Arts Trust is taking the opportunity to say thank you to all the alumni, supporters and funders that have enabled YOUNG AND HUNGRY to become the innovative and exciting system that it is today.

2009 is an exciting year for YOUNG & HUNGRY! For the first time, thanks to an exciting new partnership with ATC, this year’s writers have been given a unique opportunity  – the chance to see their work premiered in two centres and produced by two different creative teams simultaneously.
 
At our Birthday Launch on the 26th of June at the Paramount Theatre we will be presenting a video celebrating past participants, new partners and our new vision. YOUNG & HUNGRY has been so many things for so many people, we have contacted a broad range of our alumni to hear first hand what YOUNG & HUNGRY has been for them and what they see as the value of YOUNG & HUNGRY today. Conrad Newport, Jason Whyte, Loren Horsley, Eli Kent, Branwen Millar and Heather O’Carroll, all leaders in today’s industry, are just a few of the names that will make up this celebratory voyage through YOUNG & HUNGRY. We’ve also talked to our new partners Auckland Theatre Company and Basement Theatre about what the con-current festival means for Auckland.
 
The unique aspect of the YOUNG & HUNGRY system is the mentoring programme, where industry professionals identify and develop young people and provide them with a broad range of skills and practical experience to not only participate in theatre but also to create it.
 
At our Launch we will also be unveiling our new Young and Hungry Logo and Design Material for our 2009 Festival of New Theatre. These are the fruits of another brand new partnership for 2009. YOUNG & HUNGRY has teamed up with Massey Design School and Clemenger BBDO to mentor Massey design students to design Auckland and Wellington publicity material. The students pitched to a brief provided by Young and Hungry and the successful pitch was taken through the delivery process with Clemenger BBDO. This initiative is another expression of YOUNG AND HUNGRY’S commitment to Mentoring across all aspects of Theatre generation.
 
Every year YOUNG & HUNGRY commissions and produces 3 brand new New Zealand plays through its very own Playwrights initiative. This year’s festival programme is as follows:
 
Oyster by Vivienne Plumb (The Cape, The wife who spoke Japanese in her sleep) Dolores Romero sings like an angel; Gaia wants to save the world and Napolean wants to travel far away from it; Velma is into cruelty-free pork, Lelani wants to beat her up and Chevy thinks he can explain everything. But what they all really want to know is who they are, and where they belong in this big wide world.  
 
Sit on it by Georgina Titheridge (Winner Young Playwrights competition 2007)
A comedy for chicks, dicks and anyone who has ever wondered why girls spend so much time in the bathroom, SIT ON IT is a hilarious peek into a very private world. Set entirely in the ladies toilet of a trashy nightclub and awash with witty dialogue and authentic characters – be prepared to be grossed out, affronted and laughing in the aisles!

Urban Hymns by Miria George (and what remains, He Reo Aroha). URBAN HYMNS is about the time in life when our choices start to define us. Money talks in Joseph’s neighbourhood and the market place rules. But when he can no longer make the cut Joseph turns to Tobias for an answer and together they make the first worst decision of their lives.  Survival and greed, art and music, drugs and crime – in URBAN HYMNS everyone is searching for their own particular version of freedom.

Young & Hungry
BATS Theatre, Wellington &
Basement Theatre, Auckland
10-25 JULY 2009
www.youngandhungry.org.nz  
www.bats.co.nz  
www.atc.co.nz