Download Call for expressions of interest to direct the 2017 EnsembleImpact

Call for expressions of interest to direct the
2017 EnsembleImpact National Schools Tour
Young and Hungry Arts Trust is looking for a director for the 2017 season of the EnsembleImpact
National Schools Tour. Rehearsals begin mid-April 2017 in Wellington with the tour taking place
May / June 2017.
You are a professional with a toolkit of naturalistic and non-naturalistic theatre skills, devising and
ensemble work. You are in love with New Zealand theatre and excited about creating a work aimed
at the needs of Drama and English students around the country. You have experience with
interactive theatre work, creating work for youth, physical theatre or you may have a strong sense of
personal brand or style which you carry with you into any directing situation.
Who we are: Young and Hungry Arts Trust (Y&H) is a Wellington theatre charity dedicated to
mentoring young people to create, participate in and appreciate New Zealand Theatre. Established
in 1997, we run four programmes; two Wellington based (Festival of New Theatre, Ambassadors’
Programme) and two national (Playwrights’ Initiative, EnsembleImpact). Y&H took over KC Kelly’s
EnsembleImpact tour in 2016, retaining KC as advisor and dramaturg. We are recurrently funded by
Creative NZ and supported by the Wellington City Council and various trusts.
More about Young and Hungry Arts Trust. More about EnsembleImpact.
The work: EnsembleImpact tours annually to senior high school students, universities and (mainly
youth) community groups. The work is a 45-minute collection of 7-9 extracts (plus 5 min QnA) from
NZ plays centred around a theme. The tour is largely aimed at Drama and English students. It is
performed by four professional young actors in traverse in drama studios and halls, to between 30180 students at a time. It’s a ‘no tech’ tour with minimal set / costumes (the actors have half an
hour to unload, set up and warm up). Some drama teachers use the tour to inspire their students in
their NCEA devising projects so bringing extracts to life with the professional and creative use of
body, prop, voice, costume, and/ or scene transition is now an expectation of the tour.
The 2017 tour is OUTLIERS and centres around the theme of in-groups and out-groups and what it is
like to be, or not be, an outsider. Extracts may involve punks, nerds, goths, queer, geeks, criminals,
jocks… anyone that may be written as an outlier voice in a ‘normalising’ world. Extracts will include
a range of NZ playwrights and cultural voices and the director will work closely with the dramaturg in
late 2016 to feedback on the chosen extracts and the dramaturgical arc of the work.
You will have an advantage if you:
-
have experience directing non-proscenium work
have experience directing or creating work for young people
can demonstrate a working understanding of the diversity of New Zealand cultural voices
including kaupapa Māori
respond creatively to the underlying theme of OUTLIERS
Remuneration: $5000 plus flights (to auditions and to Wellington if the appointed director is nonresident). Note that a non-resident director will need to source their own accommodation in
Wellington for the rehearsal period.
Availability: The director would need to be resident in Wellington for up to four weeks (Easter/ midApril to early May), available to feedback (remotely is fine) into the dramaturgy during October December 2016, and available for two sets of auditions, in Auckland and Wellington, in February
2017.
How to apply: Expressions of interest are due by Monday 19 September. We aim to appoint a
director by early October and may conduct interviews by skype or in person late September.
Please email Clare Kerrison at [email protected] with your CV and a short cover
letter (one page maximum) highlighting why and how you would be a good fit as director for the
style and theme of this tour. Please include any restrictions to availability in your application.
Please feel free to email Clare at [email protected] or call 04 385 8227 for further
information.