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