Hosted by Ingrid Horrocks, join us as students from Creative Nonfiction and Life Writing classes share the best of their work. Startlingly original, inventive and poignant – these are the tastiest cuts from the 2014 Massey Wellington creative writing student work smorgasbord.
Wednesday 15 October
12:30 – 1:30pm
5D14 – Theatre Lab
Coffee and biscuits provided.
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This audaciously inventive and interactive show, titled ‘For your Future Guidance’, was nominated for Most Original at NZ Fringe, and runner-up for Fringe of Fringe in Auckland.
Reviewers have said it shows Binge’s “commitment to creating daring, unpredictable performances that challenge conventional distinctions between ‘real’ and ‘staged’ performance”. Binge Culture Collective have been described as “one of the country’s most exciting, direct and original theatre companies”. Don’t miss it.
Wednesday 8 October, 12:30-1:30 in the Theatre Lab 5D14.
Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.
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Next Wednesday at Wellington, Barbarian Productions, home of theatre that is fierce, funny and counter-cultural, bring you their grim take on corporate change. Get involved, as an outreach team of Grim Reapers are sent by their home company to conduct surveys with you about their public image and the services they provide. We dare you not to laugh!
This project was originally staged at the 2014 New Zealand International Arts Festival – now free for your viewing pleasure right here on Massey Wellington campus.
Ben Fagan, performance poet, is funny, thoughtful, moving, and he has honed his art in fierce slam competitions where he’s taken out multiple prizes and awards. He will be performing at Arts on Wednesday on September 10 in Wellington.
Here’s what others have to say about him: “Ben Fagan is that rare kind of poet who combines well-developed linguistic agility with intelligence, thoughtfulness, and a mile-wide streak of humour – both light and dark, as needed. His performances are laugh-out-loud entertaining and deeply thought-provoking, and I’m always delighted to see his name on an open mic list.” (Laurice Gilbert, President, The New Zealand Poetry Society). “His conversational tone and understated performance style place him somewhere between a prophet and an everyday Kiwi bloke – a dangerously charming combination.” (Ali Jacs, New Zealand National Poetry Slam Champion 2012) High praise indeed – so check out Ben Fagan for something completely different to everything you thought you knew about poetry!
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Clockwise from top: Creative leaders Jo Randerson and Deirdre Tarrant joined organisational leader Lana Simmons-Donaldson to share leadership insights at this year’s Wellington ACE program.
The Wellington ‘creative campus’ ACE (Achieving Career Excellence) women students’ leadership program had a special twist this year by collaborating with Arts on Wednesday to bring creative women entrepreneurs from the arts sector to the speaker line-up.
Dame Deirdre Tarrant (Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit) kicked the program off with an incredibly frank and entertaining talk about her life and work as a dancer, choreographer, business owner and mentor.
The following week featured a visit from Jo Randerson, artistic director of Barbarian Theatre and award-winning New Zealand playwright. Jo talked about building a successful arts company from the ground up and generating new project opportunities through crowdfunding.
The third speaker was Massey University’s own communication leader, Lana Simmons-Donaldson, who is Massey’s Account Manager – Māori, Pasifika and New Migrants. She shared moving personal insights into leadership and perseverance, and particularly issues for Māori women leaders.
Originally developed by Professor Sarah Leberman at Manawatu, and delivered at Wellington by Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley (College of Humanities & Social Sciences) and Anna Brown (College of Creative Arts), ACE is a five-week programme for specially selected final-year women students. It explores issues for women in the workforce, such as assertiveness and gender-pay equity, and gives women students some insights into and positive strategies for handling gender-related challenges they might encounter.
“We tune the program carefully every year in response to participant feedback,” Dr Tilley said. “Last year our business students were very well catered for with fantastic organisation-based speakers, so this year we wanted to add something responsive to the needs expressed by creative arts and humanities students about work models that are not necessarily organisation-based.”
Dr Tilley said the focus for graduating students was often on employability, but it was important, particularly in the creative industries, to also foster what she called “employerability”, that is, the ability to generate projects and companies that employ others.
“Our speakers were so inspiring – they have taken risks, made sacrifices, and contributed to our culture and society in completely novel ways. Creative entrepreneurship has a set of challenges all its own, and it was great to balance that this year with the traditional organisation focus.”
The ACE program also includes exercises and activities on life-planning, assertiveness, work/life balance and managing workplace situations. Students are selected for the second-semester program based on both academic and extracurricular leadership, and receive a letter of invitation at the end of first semester. This year, the speaker portions of the program were also open to members of the public and the Wellington campus community. “These speakers are so great, we didn’t want to keep them all to ourselves,” Dr Tilley said.
Save the date now for your next Wellington Arts on Wednesday culture-fix – and be the first to see brand new devised multi-media/performance works by Massey Wellington theatre students.
The Student Theatre Showcase at Wellington Arts on Wednesday on May 28 will feature a modern drama mosaic entitled ‘Women and War’ (with a linked series of pivotal scenes from the great modern dramatists Ibsen and Brecht, directed and performed by 139.303 Modern Drama students), plus three brand new, innovative short multimedia/performance works devised by students in 139.223 Creative Processes.
In their devised works, the Creative Processes students use theatre, film and creative writing to explore ideas about individuality and creativity. Their works engage with both Classical and Enlightenment ideas about ‘genius’ and ‘the muse’, subverting and challenging myths of the ‘tortured artist’ while simultaneously acknowledging the students’ own struggles to find an artistic ‘voice’. The result is a series of personal and compelling narratives about artistic processes, and the place of art and creativity in 21st Century Aotearoa/New Zealand Society.
Where: The Theatre Lab, Room 5D14, Massey University Wellington campus
When: Wednesday May 28, 12.30 to 1.30
What:
Artwork credit: By Virginia Wickham, Creative Processes student, as part of her ‘Me Box’ assignment work.
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New Zealand audiences will get a rare chance to see the internationally acclaimed theatrical production, Socrates Now, as it concludes its world tour here in April.
This 80-minute, one-man show, presented by Emmy Award winner, Yannis Simonides, puts the audience in a ringside seat at the trial of Socrates in 399BC.
Socrates, the Greek founder of Western Philosophy and so-called “bad ass of Athens”, was sentenced to death because his insightful questioning embarrassed influential Athenians and was claimed to corrupt youth. Hailed by the European Parliament, and the Universities of Harvard, Cornell and Columbia, critics have described the production as “riveting, superhuman, humorous, brilliant and fascinating.”
Following this free performance for Arts on Wednesday, hosted by the School of English and Media Studies, Massey University, the audience will get a unique opportunity to engage with Simonides in a Q&A session – discussing issues like virtue, justice, politics, civic duty, life and death.
New Zealand producer, Vicky Yiannoutsos, says the story is as relevant to New Zealand today as it was to Greek society thousands of years ago. “This show has an almost magical ability to make us question life, love, death, all the issues that make us the people we are. Afterwards, you find yourself asking: `What would Socrates say?’ It is truly transformational. ” Principle sponsor, Network Communication Managing Director, Antonios Papaspiropoulos, says the play throws a much needed spotlight on the issues we face every day. “The curveballs of life, be they social, economic, environmental or cultural, can only be bettered through effective communication. This play showcases how we can all make positive change through constructive dialogue and powerful thought.”
This is the final stop in a show that has toured 15 countries with a staggering 300 performances. Simonides has served as Professor of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department and is founder of the Greek Theatre in New York and the innovative performing arts lab, Mythic Media. He is a recipient of the United States National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council of Arts.
9th April, 12.30pm Black Sheep Theatre, University Ave, Massey University, Manawatu campus.
Members of the Wellington Improvisation troupe including from left Darryn Woods, Belle Harrison, Christine Brooks, Ryan Hartigan and Peter Dorn
Theatre and comedy act the Wellington Improvisation Troupe headline a free lunchtime show at Massey University’s Wellington campus on April 9 aimed at not just gaining some audience laughs but demonstrating the art of quick thinking too. Members of the public are welcome to see the one-off performance invented on the spot from audience suggestions.
The show, in Massey Wellington’s Theatre Laboratory, is part of the Arts on Wednesday series hosted by the School of English and Media Studies, which brings free performances and artists onto campus on Wednesday lunchtimes.
Organiser, Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley, says Massey’s Bachelor of Communication students are also gaining skills from seeing such theatrical techniques acted out on stage.
“Decisiveness and nimble thinking are particularly crucial skills in today’s fast-moving media and business worlds, which is why our Bachelor of Communication students are learning theatrical improvisation alongside more traditional business communication skills.”
“We are delighted that Wellington Improvisation Troupe has agreed to give a live demonstration of where the students’ work on spontaneity, storytelling and public performance can take them.
“WIT is a world-class improvisation group, and as well as being a lot of fun, their shows embody the kind of rapid problem-solving skills that business leaders are telling us they want in graduates – the ability to think on their feet,” she says.
The series aims to expose students to a diverse range of arts and artists to spark their creativity.
“Students often genuinely can’t afford to see a lot of shows. We know the value of seeing and hearing a wide range of artists to the development of their aesthetic understanding, so Massey works with both established and emerging artists to bring short free shows onto campus whenever we can,” Dr Tilley says.
“The public are also most welcome to join us for all Arts on Wednesday shows.”