A feast of local one act plays, and some visiting productions, will tread the Centre Stage Playhouse boards in early August.
And Curtis sisters Lydia (15) and Teagan (17) will be both facing off each other in the directing stakes, as well as collaborating in one of the pieces.
The annual Theatrefest competition, formerly known as the One Act Play Festival, has been run by Theatre New Zealand for over 80 years.
From local festivals all over the country from Dargaville to Timaru, a select number of plays move forward to four regional festivals – Upper North, Lower North, Upper South, Lower South before a few make the national final.
First time director Lydia Curtis, who has some experience acting, said she had always wanted to try her hand at directing.
Lydia will present Kenny Neve-Bain and Enya Palmer, both Taupō-nui-a-Tia College students, and stars of the college’s recent production of Mamma Mia, in ‘Blood Guilt’ for Centre Stage.
“I think it's a good starting point,” said Lydia of her directing debut. “Just having a small one act play, not a whole production.”
Without wanting to give too much away she summarised the action as a socially awkward teenage guy who has just moved to a new school trying to befriend the socially awkward girl.
“At first, it seems like they don't really have anything in common, but they might have a little bit more in common than they think. It takes quite a drastic turn. It's very angsty. I quite like it.”
How drastic things turn is possibly indicated by the play’s title.
Meanwhile Lydia’s older sister Teagan is directing one of two Tauhara College productions ‘I know this for sure’, with Lydia appearing alongside Rosie Johnson, Amber Newell and Kaylen Botha.
The play, set in a school dormitory at the start of the Christmas holidays, follows a girl coping with mental struggles who is visited by a “hippie ghost” who manages to help her.
The other Tauhara play, ‘We Three’, directed by Jessica Riley (15), featuring Holly Constable, Zoe Somerville and Sofia Baker involves two women arriving for a rendezvous but the third person they are expecting doesn't appear. Instead, a girl they don't know arrives, but she knows them. All is finally revealed.
Centre Stage president, and mother of Lydia and Teagan, Toni Sullivan said this year’s Theatrefest at Centre Stage on Saturday, August 9 would be the fourth consecutive year of hosting at the Matai Street Playhouse.
She was excited for the new youth directors making their debut.
Competition is tough though, with 57 plays presented nationwide last year, and 2025 likely to top that number.
At least one play from Hamilton will be joining the three Taupō entries, so audiences should be treated to a minimum of four plays of different genres and subject matters, ranging in duration from 10 minutes to over half an hour, said Sullivan.
There will be a break between each play, with tea, coffee and biscuits available and the bar open and Centre Stage's new Improv team F.U.S.H - Fairly Unstable Stage Hoggers, will perform while awards are being decided prior to prize giving.
Tickets are $20 and audiences should note that the current 6pm start time could change if more plays enter by the July 20 close off date.
Those selected from the Taupō competition progress to the Upper North regional in Rotorua on August 23 and 24 with the National Showcase, featuring the top four or five plays nationwide, at Hamilton’s Riverlea Theatre on September 20-21.
