More than 100 people who attended the Lake Wanaka Centre function heard festival arts director Philip Tremewan discuss two plays which have been commissioned to debut at the fifth Festival of Colour next April.
Theatre director and actor Paul McLaughlin, of Auckland, a University of Otago arts graduate, also spoke about his work Hotel, which will feature at the festival next year.
It would be performed in front of 20 patrons at a time in a hotel room at Wanaka's Edgewater Resort during the festival, he said.
At its launch at the Wellington Fringe Festival, Hotel won more awards then any play before, including Best Theatre Show.
Mr Tremewan announced the festival had commissioned a new work by playwright Graeme Tetley.
Tetley's play A Grateful Nation will be directed by Sara Brodie and produced by Hawea theatrical company Flat Out Productions, which staged the popular Witches of Wanaka during the last Festival of Colour.
Brodie could not be at last night's function as she is directing the Steven Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd, which opened in Christchurch last night.
The scheduling clash meant she was unable to make the Festival's patron event in Wanaka last night, but is expected to arrive today to begin auditioning for male roles for A Grateful Nation.
The new play is set in New Zealand during the 1950s, based on a government-commissioned report into Lower Hutt "teenage immorality".
The second Festival of Colour-commissioned work, Rita and Douglas, focuses on the personal relationship which developed between painter Rita Angus - who spent part of her time painting Upper Clutha landscapes - and Waitaki Boys High School-educated composer Douglas Lilburn.
The musical work, which will feature New Zealand pianist Michael Houston as Lilburn, was based on a "one-sided" correspondence with Angus, Mr Tremewan said.
The dates for next year's Festival of Colour are April 12-17.
