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Dunedin theatre co-operative Wow! Productions is celebrating reaching an impressive milestone — 30 years of theatre-making.
Founded in 1996 by a group of independent-minded theatre professionals, keen to see more diverse theatre in the city, Wow! Productions Trust has lived up to its early ideals across 30 years and dozens of shows.
Founding members and current board members Lisa Warrington, chairwoman Cindy Diver and Hilary Halba are part of the team working towards the 30th anniversary celebrations, to be held on November 1, at the newly opened McNaughton Performing Arts Studio in Andersons Bay.
Ms Halba said it was good to look back over the past 30 years and appreciate all that Wow! Productions had achieved.
“Our focus on diverse theatre, found spaces, and creating work for theatre professionals has been quite successful over the years,” she said.
The plays presented by Wow! Productions have included many written by New Zealand playwrights,such as Gary Henderson, Duncan Sarkies, Fiona Samuel, and latterly Cindy Diver herself with Wahine Mātātoa.
Significant works by overseas writers have included Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa and Martin McDonagh’s Beauty Queen of Leenane.
Wow! Productions has also forged partnerships with dancers and choreographers, designers, other theatre collectives, and visual artists.
Ms Warrington said presenting New Zealand plays and works of substance, which challenged people to think, were important to the Wow! Productions team.
“We believe that professionally-produced theatre, of a high calibre, is important — regardless of where we are staging it.”
Working outside traditional theatre spaces had presented its challenges over the years, including dealing with special effects, but was well worth it.
Ms Halba said the collective had presented a number of “passion projects” over the years, such as early shows Dancing at Lughnasa (1996) and Arcadia (1998), Ken Duncum’s An Unseasonable Fall of Snow (2000) and Cherish (2004), Gary Henderson’s Lines of Fire (2006), and Dunedin 150th anniversary show Farley’s Arcade (2015), to critical and public acclaim.
More recently, productions such as the local shows Resilience — a lockdown theatre response (2021) and Diver’s Wahine Mātātoa (2025) had continued Wow! Productions ethos of sharing important stories.
Far from resting on its laurels, Wow! Productions is looking to the future and is working on a new play by Wellington-based playwright Amy Wright, titled Eating the Mona Lisa.
A darkly comic satire on wealth and capitalism, the play follows the story of a wealthy individual who has bought the Mona Lisa with the intention of eating it.
Set to be staged in 2027, at Allen Hall Theatre, the play will be directed by Gregory Cooper and have a cast of professional local actors comprising Matt Wilson, Rosella Hart, Harrier Moir, Alex Martyn, Nicole Jenkins, Kelly Hocking, and Sara Georgie.
Ms Diver, who will produce the play, said it was exciting to be presenting a world premiere of a new play in Dunedin.
“It is great that we can still achieve this type of work at a time when things have gotten harder and harder for the arts,” she said.
The Wow! Productions team also acknowledged the achievements and ongoing efforts of fellow local theatre companies, including Birds of a Feather, afterburner, Hic Sunt Dracones, Dunedin Summer Shakespeare, Interact, Lunchtime Theatre at Allen Hall, and others.
- Invitations to the 30th anniversary celebration have been sent out across the theatre community. Anyone who may have been missed and would like to attend is welcome to email wow@theatreworks.co.nz.