"Without a doubt, the past two years have been the most difficult in my career," he said.
The Dunedin-based actor, director and producer in musical theatre and corporate entertainment has had several large-scale projects with Taieri Musical and Musical Theatre Dunedin cancelled or postponed, including Mama Mia Arena, Les Miserables, and just last week We Will Rock You.
The corporate events space, where his DKCM Ltd production company does 80% of its work, had also been affected by the pandemic.
"There have been so many projects, both large and small, that have been planned and work has started, only to drop them," Kamo said.
"It has been challenging, heartbreaking and confronting in the sense of questioning my place in the industry.
"It has also been hard to see close colleagues for many years bailing from the performing arts."
Prior to the pandemic, musical theatre was enjoying "a golden era" in Dunedin, with a great pool of performers, and strong audience support, Kamo said.
He was optimistic that those days would return, but it would take time for audiences and performers to build up confidence to return to theatres.
"When you are creating work all the time, you get into a groove, but after a long break, you can start second-guessing yourself.
"It will come back, but there is a lot of work to do to get back to where we were."
The Red traffic light setting and the initial lack of support for the arts had felt even more disruptive than other phases of the pandemic, but at last there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel, Kamo said.
"I’m an optimist at heart, so I am continuing to work on projects that I’m really keen to get out there."
These included teaming up with Dunedin restaurateur Andre Shi to present The Hundy Concert Series of mini concerts, during April and May.
