Northern Lights Theatre Company Presents An Extraordinary Meeting

HOW CAN THOSE LESS WELL-OFF MANAGE WHEN THEY ARE PUSHED FURTHER AND FURTHER TO THE EDGE?

We need more affordable housing but urban development, and renewal, has long been controversial. There is displacement with the razing of neighborhoods, usually described as slums. If you don’t regenerate urban areas does it mean you have to destroy wilderness and farmland?

Director Alex Bonham alongside Assistant Director Erica Kroger bring together the astonishing powerhouse of actors, Ellie Lim, Hannah Rice, and Simon Gilchrist to run An Extraordinary Meeting each night where audiences will decide the future of Auckland city.

This show combines verbatim theatre, participatory theatre and the happenings of Adrienne Dowell. It is inspired by the rituals, standing orders of real local councils that allow strangers to build trust and collaborate on impossibly hard decisions. Experts alive and dead will argue how cities work – but you must ask for whom and for what.

Every night, a different show.

Every night, a different solution.

What would you do?

The National Policy Statement for Urban Design was made by the coalition government in 2020. Councils will no longer be able to prevent developers building up to six storeys in town centers or in walking distance to rapid transport hubs. They can no longer demand that developments have parking minimums. Heritage values will not protect an area from development. Councils are also obliged to release greenfield land on the edge of the city, allowing it grow both up and out. Councils around the country are grappling with what this means for their urban plans.

The Urban Growth Agenda has long been government policy of both the left and right. But how can ever-ending growth be environmentally sustainable?

‘An Extraordinary Meeting’ will be at Basement Theatre Studio for five nights only – 2nd – 6th March at 7pm. Tickets are on sale now.

An Extraordinary Meeting plays

Dates: March 2nd to March 6th at 7PM

Venue: Basement Theatre Studio
Tickets: $18 - $38

Bookings: https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2021/mar/extraordinary-meeting/ or phone iTicket 09 361 1000

About Basement Theatre

Described by Metro Magazine as ‘the beating heart of Auckland Theatre’, Basement Theatre is a home to professional and budding theatre artists, comedians, dancers and musicians alike. Renowned for its ability to push the boundaries of artistic expression, Basement Theatre is Auckland’s culture-defining powerhouse.
Basement Theatre nurtures local live artistic voices that are unique and urgent, and aims to inspire and challenge New Zealand audiences and arts organisations, and reflect our diverse identities and experiences. The programme is made up of more than 80% New Zealand content, and more than 50% world premieres.

Basement Theatre is a Charitable Trust, and puts all profits back into the community through its extensive artist development programmes, and risk-share box office model. The organisation is committed to being a part of what makes the performing arts industry, and artists, in Auckland truly sustainable.

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