A young generation of theatre makers opens the 2011 theatrical calendar of Downstage Theatre with DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN and THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY.

Long Cloud Youth Theatre is calling for auditionees for its summer school intake. The company is looking for ambitious, talented and motivated 16-25 year olds who want to embark on a five week rollercoaster ride of making theatre together. The participants… will get intensive training in voice, movement and acting, as well as working towards a professional stage production at Downstage Theatre, one of New Zealand’s leading theatres.

Full time rehearsals and training start from 10th January 2011.
The season runs from 4-12 February 2011. The training fee for the program is $200.

The summer school accepts a maximum of 30 students. To sign up for an audition, please send name, contact details, age and a short description of theatre/drama background to longcloudyouththeatre@gmail.com. This application must be received by Mon 22 November 2010. The audition will be held on Sat 4th Dec 2010 (10am-4pm) at Whitireia Performing Arts Centre (36 Vivian St).

This five-week summer school gives young artists the chance to create theatre alongside the cream of New Zealand’s theatre talent. Long Cloud Youth Theatre, Downstage Theatre and Whitireia Performing Arts Company collaborate to create a platform for young theatre practitioners aged 16-25 years to stage a theatre production according to a professional standard.

Lead by award winning directors Sophie Roberts and Willem Wassenaar, this theatre boot camp will result in a two week performance season of DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN by Michelanne Forster and THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, a stage adaptation from the famous novel by Oscar Wilde.

DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN, directed by Sophie Roberts, tells the story of a provincial New Zealand city being turned upside down by a murder. On June 22, 1954 in a secluded part of Victoria Park in Christchurch, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker battered Pauline’s mother to death. DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN by Michelanne Forster examines the passionate friendship between the two girls and the events leading up to the murder. This fascinating play tells the same story as Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh did in their acclaimed NZ film, "Heavenly Creatures" (1994).

The second showcase is a theatre adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s darkest work and only novel THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. It follows Dorian Gray, a young man who falls so in love with his portrait that he wishes it should age instead of himself. This it does, and as Dorian slips further into the abyss of personal and social tragedy, his friend and mentor Lord Henry Wotton watches on. Directed by Willem Wassenaar.