Downstage Theatre

Downstage Theatre
Hannah Playhouse
General information
Location 12 Cambridge Terrace, Te Aro, Wellington
Current tenants Downstage Theatre
Completed 1973
Design and construction
Architect James Beard

The Downstage Theatre is a theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, and the country's longest running professional theatre, established in 1964.[1] The founders at the inaugural meeting in the Wellington Public Library on 15 May 1964 were actors Peter Bland, Tim Elliott and Martyn Sanderson, with restauranteur Harry Seresin for the business arrangements.[2] Sanderson believed in a small professional company in Wellington performing challenging works in an intimate venue.

The first locally-written production, in 1966, was Father's Day a dark social comedy by Peter Bland starring Pat Evison as the eccentric mother with two pregnant daughters.

The theatre is based at the Hannah Playhouse which seats approximately 250 people in the main auditorium, and is situated in Courtenay Place in central Wellington. The present building opened in 1973, and replaced earlier premises upstairs on the same site. Downstage temporarily occupied the Star Boating Club during construction.

External links

References

  1. ^ "Downstage a Wellington fixture". Dominion Post. 7 January 2010. http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/the-wellingtonian/3209787/Downstage-a-Wellington-fixture. 
  2. ^ obituary of Tim Elliott in Dominion Post of 14 May 2011, page A28

Coordinates: 41°17′37″S 174°47′01″E / 41.2937°S 174.7836°E / -41.2937; 174.7836