Mum's Choir
22 June – 14 July, 2007
David McKenzie
A veteran performer of 40 years, David began his professional career in England and returned to New Zealand in 1971 where he has consistently worked at most of the country's theatres. A foundation member of Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North in 1974, he was pleased to be back for the premiere production of Mum's Choir in 2004 for the theatre's 30th anniversary. David has subsequently appeared in productions of this play in Christchurch in 2005 and in Wellington in 2006. Looking forward to meeting the O'Reilly family again, this is David's first appearance at the Fortune Theatre. His credits include various radio plays, films, commercials and television appearances.
Richard Hanna
RADA trained Richard Hanna returns to the Fortune stage after 19 years. Richard first appeared at the Fortune in 1981 in Crossroads, a play written for the Fortune's youth group by Rawiri Paratene and directed by Lisa Warrington. Richard again appeared in the 1983 production of Noel Coward's Private Lives and A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt followed by Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1988. In 2005 Richard returned to NZ after a 12 year OE in which time he lived and studied in Paris, London, Wales and Scotland. Richard also plays the celtic harp and is currently recording an album of his songs. He lives in Auckland.
Clare Adams
Clare has been involved in Dunedin theatre in many different forms for the last eighteen years. Her last appearance at the Fortune was in My Heart is Bathed in Blood. She has also been in Alarms and Excursions and Homeland. Clare is a trustee for Talking House and has also worked with WOW!, Panache, Engine Room and Te Tutua Trust with their highly successful Jerusalem Jerusalem, which travelled to the Edinburgh Festival, Belfast and Cheltenham.
Clare has a music degree from Otago University and has studied physical theatre at Ecole Philippe Gaulier in London.
A qualified drama & music teacher, currently Clare teaches drama at the University of Otago College of Education and she also teaches in the University's Theatre Studies Department. Clare has been involved with several singing groups in Dunedin, and currently sings in the Southern Consort of Voices.
Clare is the youngest of 5 children from an Irish- Catholic family and has 4 children of her own.
Julie Edwards
Julie is a 1989 graduate of the New Zealand Drama School. She has since worked professionally as an actor/director throughout NZ with over 40 productions for the Fortune Theatre. Julie was the co-ordinator/tutor for Theatre at the Otago Institute of Television, Theatre and Radio at Aoraki Polytechnic for 3 years and has directed youth theatres throughout NZ. Fortune Theatre audiences will remember her from her most recent appearances here as Rosencrantz in Hamlet, Mrs. Braddock in The Graduate, Frankie in Taking Off and Maureen in the 2006 production of Waiting for Gateaux.
Joy Smith
Joy has been associated with theatre for over fifty years in teaching speech and drama, acting and directing. She worked closely with the Fortune Theatre for many years since its inception,taking roles in many productions. Her favourites include Country Wife and Blithe Spirit in the Atheneum Theatre;Long Day's Journey Into Night; Diary of Anne Frank; Middle-Age Spread; Deathtrap; The Foreigner; Pygmalion; Gulls and Gossamer in the present theatre. A highlight was being the first actor to step on to the "new" Fortune stage, in the converted Methodist Church, as Elizabeth in Middle-Age Spread.
After an absence of several years from this stage, Joy is looking forward with some trepidation, but much anticipation, to the role of Aunty Nola in Mum's Choir. She has been singing with the Dunedin City Choir for the last seventeen years, served on the committee and is currently Chairperson. Classical choral and orchestral works are an abiding passion!
Matu Ngaropo
Matu Ngaropo -Tuhoe, Te Rarawa, Ngati Kahungunu, Danish, Scottish. A proud new-comer to the Fortune Theatre, Matu is an actor, voice artist and musician who believes in theatre as a medium to challenge the self and encourage social change. Since graduating from NZ Drama School in 2003, Matu has worked extensively in theatre and on TV. Theatre credits include Maui: One Man against the Gods (North Island tour) Sweet Charity, Cymbeline, Stark Night Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet and the title role in Othello for both Centrepoint Theatre and the VUW Summer Shakespeare Season. Matu was also the first New Zealand intern at the Globe Theatre in London in 1999. Television credits include Kiwifruit, Tu te Puehu, Taonga and Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. Born and bred in Wellington, Matu is privileged and excited to be in a city with an equally massive heart and coffee culture.
To my whanau, all my love.
Marama Grant
Marama graduated from NASDA with a Bachelor of Performing Arts. During her time there she enjoyed roles in The Guild Sisters, The World Goes Round and Marat/Sade. Other highlights include the 2006 Coca Cola Christmas in the Park, the 2006 and 2007 ASB Starry Nights with Showbiz Christchurch and a production of The Birds with mixed ability theatre company, A Different Light. Most recently Marama has performed with the Court Theatre in the children's show The Three Little Pigs and the sellout season of Guys and Dolls. Marama is thrilled to be with the Fortune Theatre for this production of Mum's Choir.
