Latest news with #RemarkableTheatre
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Take a chance auditioning
Production manager Susan Moore, left, Remarkable Theatre past president Melanie Grindell and director Ryan Brennan studying the script for Take a Chance on Me. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Auditions for Queenstown's Remarkable Theatre's 2025 play, set in the unpredictable world of dating, are on this weekend. Described as "a laugh-out-loud comedy", Take a Chance on Me, by noted veteran Kiwi playwright Roger Hall, will run over eight performances during September at the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall. It follows six hopeful singles navigating the highs and lows of modern romance — primary school teacher Fleur, homemaker Lorraine, lawyer Eleanor, plumber Brian, pharmacist Tim and banker Dan who's just been made redundant. Also being cast are two main ensemble roles, male and female, who each play over a dozen characters. According to the audition pack most characters will be involved in scenes with elements of intimacy, but not nudity. This year's director's Ryan Brennan, who's had over a decade's experience in Hollywood as an assistant director for multi-camera sitcoms — he was in the adult ensemble of Showbiz Queenstown's musical School of Rock in 2022. Auditions, each around 15 minutes, take place at Te Atamira on Saturday between 10am and 6pm, with callbacks, if needed, on Sunday between 2 and 5pm. For further information or to book a time, visit
Otago Daily Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Actors' efforts help clinch win
Pint-Sized Plays 2025 winning playwright Andrew Jarocki (centre) is joined on stage by (from left) director Carla Creighton and actors Bridget Taylor, Nathan Lindsay and Emily KIM BOWDEN A trio of Cromwell amateur actors has helped a Queenstown playwright take top spot in Remarkable Theatre's Pint-Sized Plays competition. Emily Derham, Bridget Taylor and Nathan Lindsay starred in 200 Below Zero, a short play written by Andrew Jarocki. An audience favourite across two showings at the Bannockburn Hall last weekend, the sci-fi dark comedy, directed by first-time director Carla Creighton, follows a couple considering cryogenic freezing in a crazy, not-too-distant future. Mr Lindsay said a "twist" at its end helped make the play a hit — as did some key costuming. Mr Lindsay and Ms Taylor, as the nervous couple about to be frozen, earned laughs wearing boiler suits and donning stainless steel colanders, while Ms Derham played a scientist with surprise wicked intentions for the pair. The actors had five weeks to perfect the play, and Mr Lindsay said rehearsals had felt like "friends hanging out having fun". Pint-Sized Plays is a script-writing competition where playwrights from all around the world can submit up to three plays each. The mini masterpieces are written to be performed live in pubs and other small venues, audiences voting to determine a winner.
Otago Daily Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Plays sure to raise a laugh
Caitlin Rivers, left, and Jane Robertson preparing to appear in next week's Pint-Sized Plays. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER A short attention span is all you need for some of the best theatrical entertainment you'll see. Playwriting comp Pint-Sized Plays — plays lasting 10 to 15 minutes max — returns to Queenstown next week with shows on Thursday and Friday at Frankton's The Matrix Lounge, from 7pm, followed by two shows in Bannockburn the following day. Organised by Queenstown's Remarkable Theatre, it attracts plays from around the world. Each also has to have no more than three actors, and minimal props. Local actors will perform five of the plays, with the other three featuring Cromwell talent. Once again, comedy's very prevalent — seven of the plays are comedies, with two of them dark comedies. "Everyone likes a good laugh," production manager Sophie Kennedy says. Two are intriguingly entitled 200 Below Zero and Happy Husband Hunting. Each show's winning play is decidedby audience vote with votesaggregated to find the overall winner. Tickets $30 plus booking fees from Humanitix.
