Young & Hungry Goes National!

Media Release for Immediate Use: 26.01.09
YOUNG & HUNGRY FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS

The Young and Hungry Festival announces a partnership with Auckland Theatre Company for 2009 season.

New Zealand’s longest running youth theatre festival goes national.

Young and Hungry is proud to announce a new strategic partnership with Auckland Theatre Company (ATC), New Zealand’s leading theatre company. In July 2009 the annual Young and Hungry Festival of New Works, by arrangement with Playmarket, will be presented in Wellington and Auckland.

Every year Young and Hungry commissions three brand new New Zealand plays through its very own Playwrights Initiative. Thanks to this exciting new partnership with ATC our writers have been given a unique opportunity - the chance to see their work premiered in two centres and produced by two different creative teams simultaneously. Three plays, two cities, over 100 young and hungry theatre-makers.

The Young & Hungry Festival of New Works was set up in Wellington in 1994 as a means to provide young people with the opportunity to work on professional quality scripts written specifically for youth. Each year hundreds of 15-25 year olds audition for cast and crew and over 60 successful auditionees are mentored by professionals through all aspects of what it takes to mount a theatre production, from acting to design to marketing to backstage crewing.

The unique aspect of the Young and Hungry system is the mentoring programme, where industry professionals actively support and develop young people and provide them with a broad range of skills and practical experience to enable a new generation of theatre-makers to create and participate in telling our stories onstage.

Our Alumni bear testament to this: Taika Waititi (Two Cars, One Night, Eagle Vs Shark), Loren Horsley (Eagle vs Shark, Kombi Nation), Brett McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), Michelle Ang (Neighbours), Vanessa Stacey (Out of the Blue, The Tribe).

We are pleased to announce our plays for 2009. . .

OYSTER By Vivienne Plumb (THE CAPE, THE WIFE WHO SPOKE JAPANESE IN HER SLEEP) Dolores Romero sings gospel like an angel; her friend, Velma, is into cruelty-free pork; Gaia wants to save the world but Napolean wants to travel far away from it; Marek wishes to understand why the visions have stopped and Chevy thinks he can explain everything. We all have our moments of epiphany. 'Oyster' embraces that and explores how we discover who we are, and where the heck we belong in this big wide world.

URBAN HYMNS by Miria George (AND WHAT REMAINS). A poetic exploration of friendship and loyalty. Beauty and passion comes up against jealousy and the quest for power. A theatrical realization of the time when our choices start to define us. The delicate period where the potential of youth meets the reality of the world, and black and white turns to grey.

SIT ON IT by Georgina Titheridge (WINNER NEW ZEALAND YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS competition)
Set entirely in the powder room of a trashy nightclub on ‘ladies night’ when the place is packed full of teenagers, SIT ON IT is flush with witty dialogue and awash with authentic characters. This hilarious peek into a very private world will gross out the boys and delight the girls.

Young and Hungry Festival of New Works July 10 - 25 2009
Wellington: BATS Theatre
Auckland: BASEMENT Theatre

ENDS

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