“The Wonderful Miss Ward” by Andrea Quinlan
Directed by Andrea Quinlan and Phil Dean

Monologue: If you visit the Carnie Hill Goldfields historic park you may meet dancer Arabella Ward. Is she an actor in the living history theatre or is she someone who has a much deeper link to the area's history?

Cast: 
Kyra Loomans

“Portraits” by Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt
Directed by Susan Cameron

Drama: Portraits tells of the rape and murder of a teenage girl in a small community. The play casts light on the family on both sides of the crime. This is the next play in the Verbatim series.

Cast: 
Darren Sundborn
Josiah Morgan
Libby Wilson
Sam McKinnon

“The Fraud” by Neil Troost
Directed by Libby Wilson

Comedy: An antique dealer keen to own the find of his career at all cost, or preferably no cost. An elderly woman abandoned by her family and eager for company. A statuette that’s been in her family for years.

Cast:
Sally Wilcox
Lucas Walmisley

“Deadly Closure” by Richard C Harris
Directed by Genna Kate Ryan and Garry Thomas
​
Thriller: On being accused of possession of a class A drug Tina is afraid that the news could exacerbate her father’s critical illness. So, when she is blackmailed she turns to a recent new friend for help. Together they hatch a scheme to get Tina off the hook and find closure. A closure that turns very deadly indeed.

Cast:
Marcella Herrera
Charlotte Dodd
Scott Morrow

"Leaves Of Glass" (By Philip Ridley / Dir. Garry Thomas)

Cast confirmed:
Steven - George Sharman
Barry - Josiah Morgan
Debbie - Nikki Bleyendaal
Liz - Marilyn Ollett

A sharp, complex play about two brothers and the grim hold that their memories have on them. Barry is an artist who works for his older brother Stephen; Stephen is a successful business man with a beautiful wife and house, but absolutely no interest in his wife’s pregnancy. A series of flashback monologues describe the brothers’ father and his suicide, and slowly uncover the depths of their grief and trauma. The characters of the play are haunted by the ghosts of lies that the family has told to keep going and by the pain they have not been able to bury.

Cast confirmed
Kari - Stella Cheersmith
Deedra - Vicky Hunwick
Monette - Marcella Herrera
Libby Ruth - Amanda Shields
Charlie - Helen Fahy
Sedalia - Sally Willcox

Elmwood Players are excited to present the NZ Premiere of “Always A Bridesmaid” this April. Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, collectively known as Jones Hope Wooten, enjoy the reputation of being three of the most popular and widely-produced playwrights in the United States. They specialize in writing laugh-out-loud comedies and creating vivid strong roles for women. Between them, they've written classic television, hit movies, Off Broadway comedy and plays such as “Dearly Beloved”, “The Red Velvet Cake War” and “Always A Bridesmaid”.

By Bronwyn Elsmore
Directors: Libby Wilson and Shanice Adair

Cast for this Elmwood Players’ Kidz Theatre production:

• Reader #1 … Christy Ballantyne
• Reader #2 … Rachel Warren
• Goldilocks … Genna Kate Ryan
• Father Bear and Prince … Scott Morrow
• Mama Bear and Queen … Melanie Mellor
• Baby Bear … Jennifer Pugh
• The Wolf and Old Lady … Kat Forrester

On stage January 2018.

​By Tim Hambleton
Dir: Phil Dean

In the waiting room of Heaven, Angela is filling in for St Peter. She is responsible for selecting those who enter, and unfortunately she has made a few mistakes lately.

A group of eclectic characters gather there and vie for entry through the Pearly Gates whilst also trying to outwit God’s nasty CEO.
Cast...

Angela ... Sheree Hawker
Simone ... Jodine Hardwicke
Charles ... Steve Millar
Trevor ... Marty Ashby
Dorothy ... Clare Hamilton
Natasha ... Grace Prodanov

"The Thrill Of Love"

by Amanda Whittington

Dir: Garry Thomas

On Stage June 8-10 & 14-17

Background
In July 1955, a blonde bombshell, Ruth Ellis, was the last woman was hanged in Britain. She was 28. As a working class night-club hostess in a club where there was more than drink on offer, Ruth Ellis had dreams about her future. She also had two children. Her passionate and tragic affair with an upper-class racing driver, David Blakely, ended in murder.

1955 was also the year when Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister, when Stirling Moss won the Grand Prix, when Princess Margaret broke off her engagement to Captain Peter Townsend, and when the aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal was completed. In short, Great Britain was in transition, struggling to find a new identity and to reconcile the old with the new.

The class system however, was still very evident, and it was a time of rampant sexism. Domestic violence and sexual exploitation had, as Amanda Whittington herself says “barely been named”. There was little recognition of mental health issues. Although the play tells a story, it also explores society’s perception of women, and how this affects the justice meted out to them.

This play was originally performed at the New Vic in 2013. Amanda Whittington is the author of a number of plays, including Ladies Day, Tipping the Velvet, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Be My Baby and Amateur Girl. It requires strong ensemble playing. The film, Dance with a Stranger also tells the same story, but from a different perspective.
Cast
Ruth Ellis -Samantha Raines
Vicky Martin - Libby Wilson
Sylvia Shaw - Louisa Stewart
Doris Judd - Nikki Bleyendaal
Inspector Jack Gale - Julian Anderson

"All This Intimacy"By Rajiv Joseph

Dir: Douglas Clarke QSM

Elmwood Players,
Aikmans Road

19-29 APRIL

The situation: TY has three women pregnant simultaneously - his ex-girlfriend, JEN, his married next door neighbour, MAUREEN, and his 18 year old student, BECCA. 

ALL THIS INTIMACY  illuminates the trials, triumphs, failures of TY’s life and all hell breaks loose when the three women converge and confront ... and are there just the three……..?

Cast:​
TY : Darren Sundborn
JEN : Briana VinZant
MAUREEN : Andi Arby
BECCA : Bex Manning
FRANNY : Katie Duthie
SETH : Thad Hadaway

​“HOLES” By Tom Basden
Directed by David Mitchell

An absurd, fast-paced comedy by Tom Basden, the writer of some of Britain's most acclaimed TV comedies (Fresh Meat, Plebs). Flight BA043 has crashed on an island. Stranded, three ill-matched colleagues en route to a work conference in Australia find themselves dumped in the tropics with 16-year-old Erin, whose parents died in the crash. But there’s no time to mourn Erin’s loss when there’s sunbathing to be done and other passengers’ suitcases to loot for goodies.

‘Masterclass of a show’ - (BroadwayBaby.com).

Cast
Marie: Anna Willows
Ian: Scott Morrow
Gus: Sebastian Boyle
Erin: Drew Thomas

"Winter Tales - three one act plays"



On stage Elmwood Auditorium
10th to 13th August


It is also likely that some/all of the plays will be entered in this year's NZTF Short Play Festival, so cast must be available for this.
Full details of the three plays will be updated to this page shortly.


“The Dumb Waiter” (Harold Pinter; Dir. Sonya Cameron)
Gus and Ben are on the job, waiting and listening. Into the waiting silence rattles the dumb waiter with extraordinary demands for dishes they cannot supply - and who is operating the dumb waiter in an empty house? In a while their victim will come and they will know what to do.


“Cosmic Fruit Bowl” (Rosemary Frisino Toohey; Dir. Anna Willows)
Think living in a fishbowl is tough? Try a fruit bowl. Talk about tension! There’s Orange, the self-centred star, Apple, the guy hiding a secret, and Banana, bruised by self-doubt. Is the focus on looks? Or what’s inside? Appeal? Or a peel?
The arrival of a strange fruit from down under only ups the ante. Is Kiwi truly a fruit or---horrors!---a bird? And will she be accepted, or will one of the regulars be rejected? There’s lots more than seeds and juice in this fruit bow
“A Night Out” (Frank Vickery; Dir. Shani Annand-Baron)
Seizing the opportunity, while her parents are out, Doreen decides to invite round Eric, her boyfriend. However, the evening is doomed to failure for all concerned: Doreen tries to calm Eric's passions while Mam and Dad overcome a ruined hair-do, the losing of all-important tickets and the car's flat battery only to find that they have the wrong night.