Award-Winning Play 'Prima Facie' Is Coming To Town With Arts On Tour NZ

PRIMA FACIE

Written by Suzie Miller

Directed by Michael Hurst

Starring Cassandra Woodhouse

SOMEWHERE. SOMETIME. SOMEHOW

SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE.

The play: Tessa Ensler loves her job. She's worked her way up from a working-class background to being a top criminal defense barrister at the top of her game - prosecuting, cross-examining and winning in the courtroom with her quick wit and intelligence. Fighting to defend those pleading not guilty - including securing freedom for men accused of rape and sexual assault.

Innocent until proven guilty is, after all, the bedrock of human rights.

An unexpected event forces Tessa to confront the very system she has spent her life believing and working within - a system where the lines of patriarchal power and burden of proof are not set up to accommodate the lived experience of sexual assault survivors.

Acclaimed Oliver and Tony award-winning play, Suzie Miller's Prima Facie is an unforgettable story and one-woman tour de force that has the power to question the structure of the legal system and takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience conflict within the system as we know it.

Directed by NZ acting royalty Michael Hurst and performed by Cassandra Woodhouse, NZ Theatre Company is honoured to bring Prima Facie to the New Zealand stage and continue the call to action that this story is demanding worldwide.

About Cassandra: based in Auckland, Cassandra is a mother, actress, model and Integrated Nutrition Health Coach. She is passionate about living a full, authentic, healthy, positive and conscious life. She undertook her pursuit of wellness after years of struggling with depression, anxiety, panic attacks, weight gain and low self-esteem. The birth of her daughter ignited a desire to travel, to learn and to question the norm; not only with her own health but the health of her new baby.

While continuing to work in front of the camera, she also enjoys travelling the globe to find what resonates with her as a mother and as a woman on the quest for wellness and self-discovery.

Cassandra has also learnt the crucial role our environment plays in our well-being and calls NZ a tough place to dream big with such an underbelly of tall poppy syndrome and high rates of depression and suicide. Cassandra is determined to be a part of changing the narrative both in her day-to-day life and in the stories, she chooses to produce and perform.

Cassandra is inspired to share the insights she has had and continues to discover.

TOUR ITINERARY

Coromandel

Wednesday 4 March 7:30 pm

Hauraki House Theatre $30

Book: Coromandel Town Information Centre

Matamata

Thursday 5 March 7:30 pm

Matamata Little Theatre $25.00

Book: www.mds.org.nz

Rotorua

Friday 6 March 7pm

The Shambles Theatre, 8 Amohau Street $35

Book: 0210 255 1892 (Door sales, cash only)

billyruffian747@gmail.com

Pohangina

Sunday 8 March 7 pm

Pohangina Hall

$25 pohanginavalley.nz/tickets or phone 06 3294 725

Picton

Tuesday 10 March 7.30pm

Picton Little Theatre

Book: Eventfinda.co.nz and Summit Real Estate Picton

Kaikoura

Wednesday 11 March 7pm

The Mayfair Arts & Culture Centre $30

Book: www.themayfair.org.nz

Christchurch

Thursday 12 March 7.30pm

Great Hall, Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre

$25 Book: https://www.artscentre.org.nz/whats-on/

Ashburton

Friday 13 March 7:00 pm

Ashburton Event Centre

$25, Group 4+ $20 Door sale $30

Book: www.asheventcentre.co.nz or Venue Box Office

Oamaru

Sunday 15 March 7:30 pm

Oamaru Opera House

$25 + Fees Admission

Book: www.oamaruoperahouse.co.nz

Arrowtown

Tuesday 17 March 7pm

Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall

$25 Book: Humanitix

Cromwell

Wednesday 18 March 7.30pm

Bannockburn Hall

Cromwell

Book: www.artscentral.co.nz

Te Anau

Thursday 19 March 7.30pm

Fiordland Community Events Centre

$25 presales / $30 door sales

Book: Eventfinda

Hawea

Friday 20 March 7.30pm

Lake Hawea Community Centre

$30 adults and $10 school students. Over 14 only.

Book: www.lhcc.co.nz

Hokitika

Sunday 22 March

Old Lodge Theatre 7pm

$30.00

Book: humanitix.com & door sales

Granity

Tuesday 24 March 7pm

The Lyric Theatre

Presales $25 + bf / Door sales $35

Book: Presales tickets ($25 + bf) from NBS Theatre Westport or thelyric.nz/tickets

Onekaka

Wednesday 25 March 8pm

The Mussel Inn $25 presales/$30 door

Mapua

Thursday 26 March 6:00 pm

The Playhouse Theatre $30

Book: 7am.io and direct with venue

Hastings

Sunday 29 March

Toitoi Opera House 6.30pm

Adult $40, Concession $35

Book: Eventfinda.co.nz

ARTS ON TOUR NZ (AOTNZ) organises tours of outstanding New Zealand performers to rural and smaller centres in New Zealand. The trust receives funding from Creative New Zealand as well as support from Central Lakes Trust, Community Trust South, Otago Community Trust, Aotearoa Gaming Trust, Pub Charity and Community Trust Mid and South Canterbury. AOTNZ liaises with local arts councils, repertory theatres and community groups to bring the best of musical and theatrical talent to country districts. The AOTNZ programme is environmentally sustainable – artists travel to their audiences rather than the reverse. www.aotnz.co.nz

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