Young and Hungry 09 – Auckland
Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland
10/07/2009 - 25/07/2009
Production Details
YOUNG AND HUNGRY FEAST ON AUCKLAND THEATRE
Auckland Theatre Company in association with the Young and Hungry Arts Trust presents
THE YOUNG AND HUNGRY FESTIVAL OF NEW THEATRE
It’s been 15 years in the making but finally The Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre has arrived in Auckland for a two week season at The Basement from July 10.
The Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre showcases the best up and coming young talent in a triple-bill of 50 minute plays which will be staged in Auckland and Wellington simultaneously. Mentored by top theatre professionals, the cast and crews are made up entirely of 15-25 year olds who have the passion and the potential to make great NZ theatre.
"It is also extremely exciting to see the Young and Hungry system adopted by the prestigious Auckland Theatre Company for the first time in 2009 and we look forward to seeing a new generation of Auckland Theatre makers taking the stage in July," says Simon Vincent, the producer for Young and Hungry in Wellington.
"Auckland Theatre Company is delighted to present the first ever Young and Hungry Festival in Auckland. Theatre by young people for young people and supported by the best the industry has to offer is an exciting addition to the Auckland theatre scene. The plays are fresh and exciting, the actors are having a ball and we hope the audience will eat it up." Says Lynne Cardy, ATC Creative Development Manager.
Young and Hungry has helped to launch the careers of some great New Zealand performers. Past participants include Taika Waititi (Two Cars, One Night), Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords) and Michelle Ang (The Tribe, Outrageous Fortune).
This year’s exciting programme includes three plays which have been commissioned especially for the festival by New Zealand playwrights Vivienne Plumb, Georgina Titheridge and Miria George. They have all produced work which reflects NZ youth culture.
Oyster is a quirky, funny and ultimately moving story. 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. They all want to know who they are, and where they belong in this big wide world.
Sit On It is a comedy for chicks, dicks and anyone who has ever wondered why girls spend so much time in the bathroom. The play 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.
Urban Hymns is a story of survival and greed, art and music, drugs and crime. Money talks in Joseph’s neighbourhood and the market place rules. But when he can no longer make the cut Joseph turns to Tobias and together they make the first worst decision of their lives.
Young and Hungry arose out of a need to provide young people with the opportunity to gain hands on experience of theatre within a professional structure. Since then it has transformed into an independent production company focused on advancing youth interest in all areas of theatre practice and education.
The Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre
July 10 – July 25
The Basement, Lower Greys Ave.
The Festival is a triple-bill of 50 minute plays. (No shows Sundays and Mondays).
Shows are not suitable for children; contain drug references and offensive language.
Oyster – 6.30pm
Sit On It – 8.00pm
Urban Hymns– 9.30pm
Tickets
Adult: 1 play – $20 ; 3 plays – $45 (booking fees may apply)
Concession: 1 play – $15 ; 3 plays – $36 (booking fees may apply)
For bookings call (09) 309 3395
Young and Hungry 2009 - Auckland
OYSTER
Moana Johnson: ALABAMA
Rebecca Kennedy: VELMA
Kyra Hale: MANDY
Ryan Carter: NAPOLEAN
Megan Roser: GAIA
Tama Jarman: MAREK
Valentino Maliko: CHEVY
Losa Iakopo: LELANI
Lorena Toevai: DOLORES
Chye-Ling Huang: ASST DIRECTOR
Henrietta Bollinger: Stage Manager
Susanna Collinson: Set Designer
Sally Bollinger: Costume designer
SIT ON IT
Eppie Bowler: VANESSA
Ella Becroft: WENDY
Christina Cortesi: MILL
Geraldine Jaynes: MONICA
Stefan Jammes: DAN
Omer Gilroy: TAMMY
Kelly Gilbride: BELL
Nicole Thomson: FRANCIS/ASST DIRECTOR
Jordan Mooney: MIKE
Harriet Urlich: CARLA
Aimee Simpson: BILL
Sophia Scragg: JENNY
Robyn Paterson: JEN
Chelsea Smith: Stage Manager
Agustina Cosacov: Set Designer
Charlotte Chapman: Costume designer
URBAN HYMNS
Mosese Uhila: TOBIAS
John Kang: LUCIUS
Tiraroa Isherwood: BLUE
Diako Amin: DAS
Ally Xue: LELA
Lauie Sila: JEROME
Jordan Selwyn: ISAIAH
Charley Samau: ISAIAH
Nathan Wharerau: JOSEPH
Ashlee Ackland: Co-Assistant Director/Co-Stage Manager
Ashton Henty: Co-Assistant Director/Co- Stage Manager/ Co-Publicist
Stephanie Barnet-Mcintosh: Set Designer
Clare Hoey: Costume Designer
Rachel Harvey: Co-Publicist
Lynne Cardy: Producer
Andrew Malmo: Production Manager
Charlotte Corne: Young & Hungry Auckland Co-ordinator
Andrew Malmo: Production Manager
Bradley Gledhill: Lighting & Sound Design Mentor
Michelle Lafferty: Publicity Mentor
Simon Coleman: Set Design Mentor
Elizabeth Whiting: Costume Design Mentor
Frith Walker: Stage Management Mentor
Zane Fleming: Back-Up Stage Manager for all 3 Shows/ Video technician
Jamie Blackburn: Lighting & Sound Operator/ Video technician
Fiona Ryan: Lighting & Sound Technician
Rochelle Houghton: Technical Design Interns
Thomas McKnight: Technical Design Interns
50 mins each play
Treasured, trashed and feral
Review by Renee Liang 15th Jul 2009
Fifteen years after the Young & Hungry Festival of New Works was set up in Wellington, it has finally come to Auckland – and it is set to be a valuable addition to an already lively youth theatre scene.
Over sixty young theatre practitioners aged 15-25 are involved in acting and production roles in the two centres, mentored by some of the most respected names in NZ theatre. In Auckland, a partnership with the Auckland Theatre Company gives these fresh young artists access to some enviable resources, clearly shown in the production values for these three plays. [More]
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Young and Hungry Festival serves up tasty smorgasbord
Review by Paul Simei-Barton 13th Jul 2009
The Young & Hungry Festival is a well-established Wellington institution committed to giving young people a taste of professional live theatre and this year Aucklanders are invited to join the feast. The bill of fare, served up in partnership with Auckland Theatre Company, offers three one-hour plays.
First up is Oyster, with the subtle, elusive flavours of Vivienne Plumb’s stylish and poetic writing. The play creates an atomised, free-floating space in which fragments of everyday life are given a strange luminosity. [More]
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Youthful and voracious
Review by Joanna Davies 11th Jul 2009
Young and Hungry started in Wellington in 1994. It was launched as a hands-on mentoring programme for ambitious theatre practitioners still young enough to be id’d at their local supermarket (and some of them need fake ids). This is its first (long overdue) run in Auckland – and it’s shaping up to change the scene.
From an audience point of view the festival is great. If you’re pressed for time, see one of the three-show line-up. If not you’ll get a certain cultural satisfaction from seeing three shows in one night, and still being tucked up in bed by 11pm.
Each night sees three 50-minute plays performed; Oyster by Vivienne Plumb, Georgina Titheridge’s Sit on It, and Urban Hymns by Miria George. All are very different and suitably challenging for the enthusiastic and (from my point of view) extremely young cast members.
In Oyster (directed by Julie Nolan) nine characters work out where they fit in the world and what true happiness means to them. There’s the Christian Gospel singer who winds up in London, the three girls who bully her mercilessly at school then see their lives deteriorate afterwards, the passionate environmental and animal activists, the Trekkie, the Born-Again Christian and the angst-ridden Polish anthropology student. Over the course of a few years their paths cross.
Sit on It (dir. Ben Crowder) is set in the Ladies’ loos at a Nightclub. The characters (both male and female) come and go, interacting and covering off every type of person you’d come across while on a night on the town. It’s almost fly-on-the-wall but allows plenty of character-development scope.
The final show of the night, Urban Hymns, give Hone Tuwhare’s poetry a voice in today’s world dealing with lay-offs, the recession, loyalty to family and finding a way to be heard in a selfish world. Director Michelle Johnson enjoyed seeing how her teenage cast related to the issues raised as Joseph (Nathan Wharerau) loses his petrol attendant job and finds a way to cover his share of the household bills while hearing and seeing Tuwhare’s words everywhere.
Sit on It is the slickest, lightest and most entertaining of the lineup. It’s fast-paced, engaging and the cast’s timing and delivery is impeccable. The casts of Oyster and Urban Hymns seem to have more work cut out for them. They require more depth of character; something some cast excelled at (Lorena Toevai as Dolores and Ryan Carter’s Napolean in Oyster and Urban Hymn‘s Nathan Wharerau).
Without a doubt, everyone involved with the Festival is youthful and voracious. And it pays. The shows are slick – the lighting, multimedia aspects and sound (although too loud for actors to combat in places) are perfect for the space and tone. Go and check out one show or all three (although if you’re over 28 you’ll feel ancient.)
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