The Welling­ton The­atre Awards were held at Cir­ca The­atre on Sun­day night.  There were 191 shows in Welling­ton dur­ing 2015 – so much for this being a dying city. Host­ed by James Nokise (angling to rename the awards the ‘Nokise’s’), with musi­cal num­bers by Car­rie Green and Jack Buchanan it was an evening cel­e­brat­ing cre­ativ­i­ty, col­lab­o­ra­tion and com­mu­ni­ty.

Neil Gray of Chap­man Tripp was recog­nised for his patron­age and sup­port of the awards in pre­vi­ous years as was Tim Gor­don for his advo­ca­cy and lead­er­ship of the The­atre Awards. Tim advised us to look at each oth­er as ‘Resources of cre­ativ­i­ty and inspi­ra­tion. We are a com­mu­ni­ty and we’re in this togeth­er.’

Miria George and Hone Kou­ka of Tawa­ta Pro­duc­tions were award­ed the Judges Wild­card for the Matari­ki Devel­op­ment Fes­ti­val — an annu­al inter­na­tion­al indige­nous play­wrights’ fes­ti­val, pre­sent­ing new writ­ing in devel­op­ment. The Crit­ics received the Mayor’s Sig­nif­i­cant Con­tri­bu­tion to The­atre for their ‘ded­i­ca­tion and com­mit­ment to bridg­ing the gap between arts and audi­ence’.

Big win­ners on the night were All Our Sons by Witi Ihi­maera and pro­duced by Taki Rua Pro­duc­tions and Cir­ca The­atre – tak­ing home six awards for Light­ing Design (Jen­nifer Lal), Sound Design (Maa­ka McGre­gor), Orig­i­nal Pro­duc­tion, Actor (Rob Mokara­ka), Direc­tor (Nathaniel Lees) and Pro­duc­tion of the Year.

Rob talked about the cre­ative work every­one present was involved in and that their role was to ‘Express soci­ety; reflect our ances­tors; echo our­selves in the present. It takes many peo­ple to make mag­ic.’

 

WELLINGTON THEATRE AWARDS – WINNERS LIST 2015

Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to Welling­ton The­atre — Neil Gray

Most Orig­i­nal Pro­duc­tion- All Our Sons – Taki Rua Pro­duc­tions / Cir­ca The­atre

Actor of the Year- Rob Mokara­ka – All Our Sons

Direc­tor of the Year- Nathaniel Lees – All Our Sons

Pro­duc­tion of the Year- All Our Sons – Taki Rua Pro­duc­tions / Cir­ca The­atre

Light­ing Design­er of the Year- Jen Lal – All Our Sons

Sound Design­er of the Year- Maa­ka McGre­gor – All Our Sons

Out­stand­ing New New Zealand Play- Not in our Neigh­bour­hood – Tika­pa Pro­duc­tions

Actress of the Year- Kali  Kopae – Not In Our Neigh­bour­hood

Most Promis­ing Male New­com­er- Andrew Pater­son – The Angry Brigade

Most Promis­ing Female New­com­er- Car­rie Green – Con­ver­sa­tions With My Penis

Most Promis­ing New Direc­tor- Miria­ma McDow­ell – Nga Pou Wahine

Out­stand­ing New Play­wright- Helen Vivi­enne Fletch­er – How To Catch A Grim Reaper

Cos­tume Design­er of the Year- Ian Har­man — The Mys­tery of Edwin Drood

Set Design­er of the Year- Ian Har­man – Ache

Out­stand­ing Com­pos­er of Music- Phil Jones – The Kitchen at the End of the World

Sup­port­ing Actor of the Year- Jamie McCaskill – Seed

Sup­port­ing Actress of the Year- Bri­anne Kerr – Richard III

Out­stand­ing Per­for­mance- Renee Lyons – Ache

Crit­ics’ Wild­card= Miria George and Hone Kou­ka of Tawa­ta Pro­duc­tions for the Matari­ki Devel­op­ment Fes­ti­val

Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to the Welling­ton The­atre Awards - Tim Gor­don

Sig­nif­i­cant Con­tri­bu­tion to The­atre- The Crit­ics