Auckland Theatre Company presents

LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW by The PlayGround Collective

EDUCATION PACK

Sponsors Auckland Theatre Company receives principal and core funding from

Contents CREDITS 4 SYNOPSIS 6 MAKING 'HONEST FICTION'

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SITE SPECIFIC PROMENADE (FORM)

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STORY 18 CHARACTERS & THEMES

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PROMOTING THE SHOW

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RESOURCES AND USEFUL LINKS

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ABOUT THE PLAYGROUND COLLECTIVE ABOUT ATC EDUCATION CURRICULUM LINKS

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Subsidised school matinees are made possible by a grant from

ATC Education also thanks the ATC Patrons and the ATC Supporting Acts for their ongoing generosity. The 2013 Education Packs are made possible by a grant from

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Venue:

THE BASEMENT, Lower Greys Avenue, Auckland.

Season Dates:

26 July – 10 August

Running Time: 110 minutes, without an interval Suitability:

Recommended for year levels 11 +

Advisory:

Contains violence, sexual material and drug and alcohol references. Content may offend.



As this is a moving journey event regrettably some locations may not be suitable for flat-floor access patrons. Please dress appropriately for the weather conditions. If raining, please bring an umbrella.

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LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW by The PlayGround Collective

PRODUCTION Whetu Silver — Project Manager Andrew Malmo — Production Manager Jamie Johnstone — Stage Manager

CAST

CREATIVE

Gayle Jackson — Wardrobe Supervisor

Emily Campbell — Stacey

Eleanor Bishop — Director

Fiona Ryan — Production Assistant / Props Master

Jessica Choy — Jennifer

Robin Kerr — Director

Sam Brooks — Scribe

James Collyer — David

Eli Kent — Playwright

Tanya Muagututi’a — Front of House Coordinator

Leilani Dave-Ekepati — Wyetta

Lynne Cardy — Producer

Beth Absalom, Laura Hutton, Alice Kirker — Stage Management Team

Joanna Dibley — Katie

Jessika Verryt — Set & Costume Design

2Construct — Set Construction

Giverny Forbes — Lily

Nik Janiurek — Lighting Design

Sally Basten, Maika Nguyen,

Andrew Gunn — Joseph

Gareth Hobbs — Sound Design

Lillian Blake — Custome Construction

Lucas Haugh — Lewis Benjamin Henson — Hayden Kengo Hosaka — Kenji Holly Hudson — Courtney Emily Johnson — Morgan Albertine Jonas — Violette Lole Kata — Dox Melody Knapp — Ashley Isaac Nonu — Uce Erin O’Flaherty — Lydia Iana Pauga — Willow Lajja Prajapati — Jasmine Shavon Robson — Zariah

INDUSTRY MENTORS Chelsea Adams — Stage Management Paul Nicoll — Technical & Production Manager

MEDIA Jessica Sou, Elspeth Carroll Elena Doyle — Documentary Resource Director

Rebecca Smith — Louise

Robin Kerr — Writer

Matt Smith — Jono

Lynne Cardy — Editor

Samantha Tippet — Eden

Michael Smith — Production Images

Sarah Trass — Maxine

Robin Kerr — Floor Plan

Dylan Underwood — Bryan (with a Y)

Claire Flynn — Graphic Designer

Albert Walker — Danny

THE BASEMENT

Caleb Wells — Freddie

The Basement acknowledges the

Jake McGregor — Understudy

generous support of Creative New

Isaac Nonu and Lole Kata and Music by Gareth Hobbs

Josh Malmo, Zosia Lis, Shaun Dooley, Emily Wilson, Megan Whalen — Production crew / operators Tahlia-Rae Mavaega, Lewis Francis, Grace Fina’i, Kim Robins, Jo Olsen, and Indigo Paul — Front of House Team Nicole Simons — Fire Warden

and Rosie Haime — Media Team

EDUCATION PACK

Featuring original songs by

Ariana Shipman, Zach Howells,

Amo Ieriko, Moses Uhila, Jason Manumua, Elspeth Carroll, Brittany Cook

Aman Singh — Ajay

Ana Ung — Sierra

Gin Wang & Maddie Stevens — Set Team

LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW, by The PlayGround Collective and presented by Auckland Theatre Company, opened on July 26 at The Basement Theatre.

Zealand, Auckland Council through Arts Alive, ASB Community Trust, Pub Charity and the Wallace Arts Trust. For all information visit our website basementtheatre.co.nz

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Synopsis A month ago a student of Coutt’s College died at a house party. Joseph Thompson was a fun loving guy who’d been drinking with his mates. As the party got a bit wild, Joey was egged on by the group to jump off the roof into the pool. Everyone cheered when he leapt into the air. But he fell short, cracking his skull on the pools edge. After a few hours in hospital, with his sister Louise by his side, Joseph died. With the story all over the newspapers, Joseph was labelled another example of teenage excess, another victim of underage binge drinking. The principal of Coutt’s College feared it might affect the school’s reputation if there were any further incidents. So to stop the scandal in its tracks the afterball was cancelled. A frustrated group of Joseph’s friends went ahead anyway and organised an illegal party to go ahead after the ball. It’s invite only and has a wicked theme that everyone’s excited about: ‘The End of the World’ Everyone’s come dressed up – Joseph’s mates have come as the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, his former girlfriend has come as a Mayan, there are some Angels and Devils, a guy in a Godzilla outfit, and even someone in dressed as a nuclear bomb. A hip hop act is going to play, and there’s a countdown to the end when the party is going to explode! But some people are a little on edge. As the booze gets knocked back, cracks start to show. Simmering under the surface - many of the students are still mourning the loss of their dead friend. His memory is ever present; hanging over them, weighing them down. Some feel grief, others feel guilt. How should they honour him? Everyone feels torn – on the one hand Joseph was an amazing guy who lived life to the fullest. On the other hand, it was that attitude that led him to his death. Should they remember him for his tragic fall, or should they celebrate the spirit of the guy who dared to jump?

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Making 'HONEST FICTION' Background LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW is made by The PlayGround Collective in association with Auckland Theatre Company’s Youth Company The Next Big Thing. After a spate of recent alcohol related teen deaths, in Auckland there was a widespread ban on high school afterballs. Though this aimed to prevent further incidents, it didn’t make the problem go away. With approximately one young person dying every week from excessive consumption of alcohol in New Zealand, Auckland Theatre Company recognised the importance of this subject. They invited the Wellington based theatre company The PlayGround Collective to set out with them to create a work that gave people an insight into the lives of young people, and their relationship to alcohol.

“We knew we had to deal with a death. We weren’t interested in showing how it happened, so we chose to look at the aftermath. How one death hurts many other people How it can deeply shape someone at that age. Yet how even after deaths, people’s attitude to what killed these

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young people doesn’t seem to have changed.” - Robin Kerr (Director)

Process The PlayGround Collective wanted to create a show that was equally a celebration of youth, as it was an examination of the drinking culture that leads to casualties. With codirectors Eleanor Bishop and Robin Kerr working alongside acclaimed playwright Eli Kent, the show was devised through a series of workshops and showings, before a cast of 30 was brought together and a script was developed. The PlayGround Collective uses a process of devising towards the creation of a script. Firm believers in the power of story, the makers of the show empowered their actors to come up with the material that would eventually make its way on stage.

from peoples personal experiences and integrating them all together. Improvisations and short scenes were created from the stories, themes, and ideas that had been shared amongst the group. These performances were presented to Eli, who then took that material away and began to craft elements of it into a script. From there pieces of the play were put together, characters and events started to emerge, and slowly but surely a story began to take shape. Through this process a show was developed that reflects the identities of those who are making it. Almost every part of the show has grown from a real life story from someone in the company. By blending it all together the show has become an honest fiction. A made-up story that feels authentic.

Research The PlayGround Collective conducted research on the affects of alcohol on young people in Auckland specifically. This included guided visits to several secondary schools where the company interviewed teachers, principals and students. Seeking out personal stories, the company heard how alcohol had contributed to student deaths and the subsequent affects these tragic events had on schools and their students, including the cancellation or restrictions on balls and after-balls. Working alongside The Health Promotion Agency, the company all went through an eye opening seminar together, learning about alcohol and its affects and reflecting on their own use of alcohol.

The process of creation started with plenty of discussion (and lots of words scrawled on large pieces of paper). On the first day each of the cast performed a pepeha, a presentation of who they are to the rest of the group. Speaking about themselves, their concerns and beliefs, the company began to tell each other their stories. From there began a process of weaving; working

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Site Specific Promenade (form) The show uses a variety of forms to tell the story. LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW is site-specific which means that the building itself is part of the performance. As you sit at the bar one of the characters might come up and sit next to you and buy a drink. Or you might find yourself in the toilet while one of the characters throws up in the sink. The audience move about on their feet, roving through the building from one room to the next watching performances in real environments. The performance winds through every area of the Basement theatre; around the carpark, up its fire escapes, down staircases and into its bathrooms. Using the devices of promenade theatre, characters lead the audience from one place to the next to watch each of the show's scenes in a new environment.

the performer and the partygoer is blurry. You can try to stand back and watch but you might find yourself pulled into the action. By inviting the audience to participate, the experience is made all the more real. At times in the show the audience are invited to dance with, talk to, and maybe even kiss some of the characters. Sometimes the show will go from being startlingly real, to suddenly quite poetic and theatrical. The audience will meet Joseph, the guy who died. He’ll do his best to explain that he’s not a ghost, just a memory in the minds of his friends. Through the night he’ll show you three people closest to him – his girlfriend, sister, and best mate. As the party starts to get messy you’ll come to see how they're dealing with his loss, and how it has challenged the way that they live their lives.

The show is hyper realistic, think of it like attending a party. The line between

LOGISTICS The promenade nature of LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW makes for a massive stage management challenge. One of the ways the creative team approached the logistics of the show was to draw detailed floor plans of the exterior and interior locations. Using the drawings as a map was a useful tool in understanding the journey of the show. You can see one of these drawings on the next page. A backstage crew of nine is required to run the show on time – four stage managers and five operators. A front of house team of seven (including a fire warden) is required to keep the audience safe and happy.

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STORY When the audience arrive to get their tickets they are greeted on the door by the afterball committee: a clique of girls who have organised tonight’s event and who have all come dressed as Mayans. They meet and greet you, search your bags for booze, and if you don’t have an outfit that matches the theme, well maybe they’ll give you one! Each of the characters in the show arrives at the afterball through the main entrance. At 8pm the doors to the theatre are opened and the act begins. 2Percent are a Hip-hop crew from south Auckland. They get the party amped up with several songs, a dance circle and a freestyle rap battle. The party is kicking off to a fine start, until somebody collapses on the dancefloor. When he starts convulsing and frothing at the mouth people start to panic. Just as someone is about to call 111, the guy, who seconds before seemed to be having a drug overdose, jumps up and announces that it was all just a joke. Nobody finds it funny, in fact many people are offended. It was only a month ago that a friend of their's lost his life at a party. This brings back bad memories, so the guy and his mates are kicked out. 2Percent refuse to play again and everyone leaves the room.

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‘Wow... who died?’ A stranger in the crowd says to the person he is standing next too. ‘I DID!’ Joseph introduces himself to the audience, or it should be said, the memory of Joseph introduces himself. Joseph died a month ago at his friend Willow's party. He tried to jump from the roof into the pool, but fell short and cracked his skull on the pool's edge. He’s been summoned up in his friend’s minds, and is taking this opportunity to check in to see if his friends are honouring his memory. Tonight he will be focusing on three people in particular; his girlfriend, his sister and his best friend. At this point Joseph divides the audience into three groups, and each group breaks away to see one of three scenes; EXILE, JUDGEMENT, and DESTRUCTION. Each of these scenes is focused on one of the three characters closest to Joseph. EXILE follows his girlfriend Stacey, JUDGEMENT follows his sister Louise, and DESTRUCTION follows his best friend Danny. The audience watches each scene in a different space in the building before being handed over to the next, rotating around until they have seen all three.

death in different ways. One takes a positive lesson from his death, one has been broken by it, and one is teetering on the edge. As the show comes to a close, 2Percent are persuaded to play and the party kicks back into gear. It seems that Joseph is getting what he wanted. People have forgotten how he died, and by keeping the party going, are living by his philosophy. But then a member of the party steps up onstage and takes the microphone. After some awkward bits of housekeeping the words ‘So... Joey died’ tumble out of her mouth. Sweating under the lights, Courtney acknowledges that all of them are grieving, something that has gone unsaid. But as she makes sense of it in the moment she finds herself memorialising him, celebrating the

way he lived his life and how that should inspire them. Louise, Joseph’s sister, is offended and leaves. Danny is totally supportive and gives the loudest cheers, and Stacey is left unsure, watching the mess unfold around her. Together the room raises a glass ‘To Joseph!’ A final countdown begins, in ten seconds time the party must end, and echoes of the chant ‘jump, jump, jump’ from the party a month earlier can be heard. Joseph is seen to climb the stage, as if he is on Willow's roof looking down onto the pool below. Hearing this crowd of people cheering for him he runs, jumps and falls to his death.

Joseph is the common link to all three stories, appearing in each of these scenes to help these characters work through the problem they face. Each person is making sense of Joseph’s

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CHARACTERS and THEMES

Joseph Thompson A free spirited and outgoing soul, Joseph lived by his word; ‘live fast - die young.’ Now he lives on only as a memory. He does not regret the manner of his death, but desperately wants it to count for something. His mission is to make sure that his friends carry on the philosophy he lived by. Joseph was a student in his final year at Coutts College. Held back since primary school, Joe was in the same year as his younger sister Louise. They were very close, despite moving in different circles. Joe had a tight group of his own mates including his best friend Danny. Their gang was held together by a list of dares that Joe had created and bound in a book

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called ‘The Contract.’ Because of this list they were constantly getting up to radical and risky mischief with each other. The only other person able to keep pace with Joe’s antics was his girlfriend Stacey. He and ‘Crazy Stace’ shared a wild, sometimes rocky, but deeply fulfilling relationship. Joseph’s story is about how you choose to live your life. Joe chose to live everyday like it was his last; this made him a passionate daredevil and it was a philosophy that killed him. If people live as he did, will that mean they lead a rich fulfilling life, or simply a short and dangerous one? Questions are also raised about whether his death was entirely his fault, or does some of that responsibility lie with his friends? He lived in a culture of excess, where risk was encouraged and celebrated. Anyone could have stopped him from jumping off that roof, but instead they cheered him on. If he was influenced by his peers to do it, then who is responsible?

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Louise Thompson

Danny Williams

JUDGEMENT

DESTRUCTION

More uptight then her brother, Louise just wants to be normal and successful. Struggling under the pressure to conform, she is bottling up who she really is. She’s been sold a picture of a ‘perfect’ life, and she’s definitely on target to attain it. Top of her class and queen of the ball, Louise enters arm in arm with Lewis, a charming lad who is hoping to turn this date into something more.

Danny looked up to his best mate Joseph. They formed a group of four guys who always hung out together. Steeped in ritual, the group’s activity revolved around a set of dares laid out in ‘The Contract’, a bucket list of elaborate stunts that they put each other through for fun.

Louise is trying to live out the princess fantasy, as Joe says she’s ‘a Barbie doll wrapped up in her packaging’, but she is not being honest with herself. She is suppressing her affections for her best friend Ashley, an out lesbian comfortable with her own sexuality who knows that she shares something more than friendship with Louise. But Louise believes she’s straight as straight gets, and is determined to play out the night like the rest of the girls, with hopes of losing her virginity and falling in love. Louise’s story is about sexuality, about confronting your fears and controlling who you become. After realising that like her brother, she fears judgement from her peers, she finds it in herself to overcome those fears and embrace intimacy with Ashley.

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The group is more than a little off kilter since Joseph died. Freddy’s making a push to become top dog, and is taking on the remainder of The Contract as a dangerous obsession. Danny is forced to exert his power as the alpha male, and takes action to plunge the group into the unknown. Outside the party, one of the boys once again has a close call with death. Danny wills himself to break the cycle and attempts to burn The Contract and all the dares contained within it. However, when he realises

that he has nothing other than his friends, and it is only the stunts that keeps them together and gives them purpose, he relents. So the cycle continues, leaving us with the sense that ‘boys will always be boys’ and that these particular young men will continue to put their lives at risk for the sake of bravado and friendship. Danny’s story is about machismo, brotherhood and whether you can truly have fun without risk. Danny feels guilty over Joseph’s death, he also climbed up onto the roof and could have stopped him from jumping. In order to keep on going, Danny has to persuade himself that the accident was entirely Joseph’s responsibility.

Stacey Fell EXILE

‘Crazy Stace’ drinks to live and lives to drink. She was at the party when Joseph died, but blacked out before it happened. She was whisked to the hospital but wasn’t allowed in to see him before he died. Since then she’s been on a non-stop bender and tonight she’s starting to wake up from the haze and make sense of her surroundings. Needing other people to fill the heart shaped hole that Joseph has left behind, Stacey thrashes around the party. She’s having a bit of an identity crisis. She rejects her usual group, and breaks away in search of something new. When she finds herself lost and alone amongst other outcasts she comes to realise that others can’t help her, and that she needs to make her own way in the world. But does she have the strength to do it? Stacey’s story is about dependence, her dependence on Joe and her dependence on alcohol. How together they were the things that defined her, that made her who she was. Who can she be without them? Can she be without them? She has been forced to quit one, but can she quit the other? Stacey has an uneasy feeling that something more was at play in causing Joseph’s death, but can’t quite make sense of it yet through all the mess and heartbreak. 25

PROMOTING THE SHOW Auckland Theatre Company and The PlayGround Collective came up with relevant and interesting ways to promote LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW to a young audience, including: Working with a volunteer social media team, the cast set up Facebook pages in the names of their characters and invited their (real-life) friends to join. A specific twitter hashtag was used to track what was being said about the show and its characters. #LTNT ATC set up a website devoted to the show and social media team member Jessica Suo wrote a fake newspaper article about Joseph’s death (see next page) that was published on the website. www.liketheresnotomorrow.co.nz

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RESOURCES AND USEFUL LINKS THE HEALTH PROMOTION AGENCY WEBITE contains lots of useful advice about easing up on drinking, including the SAY YEAH, NAH initiative: http://www.hpa.org.nz http://www.hpa.org.nz/node/11000 The Alcohol Drug Helpline (ADH) youth service offers free confidential information, advice and support for anyone with a concern or query about their own or someone else’s alcohol and other drug use. The Helpline is open from 10am to 10pm seven days a week. Txt ADH to 234 and the Helpline will call you back or alternatively, call the dedicated youth Helpline number on 0800 787 984. http://www.alcohol.org.nz If you or someone you love is struggling with any of the issues raised in LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW, contact YOUTHLINE: http://www.youthline.co.nz You can find out more about THE PLAYGROUND COLLECTIVE here: https://www.facebook.com/playgroundcollective

Check out some Reviews of the show: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_ id=1501119&objectid=10904605 http://metroarts.co.nz/theatre/like-theres-no-tomorrow-review/ http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=6137

Tell us what you think! We’d love to read YOUR review of LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW. Email [email protected]

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About The PlayGround Collective The PlayGround Collective is a New Zealand theatre company dedicated to developing innovative and imaginative theatre based on good storytelling. The founders and core creatives are Eli Kent (Arts Foundation New Generation Artist, Bruce Mason Award Winner), Eleanor Bishop (Chapman Tripp Award Most Promising New Director 2009) and Robin Kerr (Master of Theatre Arts graduate from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School). Since forming in 2007, they have produced seven shows including THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK (BATS, 2007), Eli Kent’s RUBBER TURKEY (BATS and Auckland’s The Basement 2008, Most Outstanding New Playwright at the 2008 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards), A BRIEF HISTORY OF HELEN OF TROY by Mark Schultz (BATS 2009), THE INTRICATE ART OF ACTUALLY CARING by Eli Kent (NZ Fringe 2009 and national tour), BEDLAM (Toi Whakaari 2009), KATYDID by Lucy O’Brien (BATS 2010) and TINDERBOX (STAB Commission 2011). Our productions have won nine Chapman Tripp Awards, including “Most Original Production” for THE INTRICATE ART OF ACTUALLY CARING. We were voted runner up Best Theatre Company in Wellington in 2010 by the Capital Times and we were highly commended in Metro Magazine’s Best of Auckland Theatre 2010.

ABOUT ATC EDUCATION ATC Education promotes and encourages teaching and participation in theatre and acts as a resource for secondary and tertiary educators. It is a comprehensive and innovative education programme designed to nurture young theatre practitioners and future audiences. ATC Education has direct contact with secondary school students throughout the greater Auckland region with a focus on delivering an exciting and popular programme that supports the Arts education of Auckland students and which focuses on curriculum development, literacy and the Arts. Auckland Theatre Company acknowledges that the experiences enjoyed by the youth of today are reflected in the vibrancy of theatre in the future.

CURRICULUM LINKS ATC Education activities relate directly to the PK, UC and CI strands of the NZ Curriculum from levels 5 to 8. They also have direct relevance to many of the NCEA achievement standards at all three levels. All secondary school Drama students (Years 9 to 13) should be experiencing live theatre as a part of their course work, Understanding the Arts in Context. Curriculum levels 6, 7 and 8 (equivalent to years 11, 12 and 13) require the inclusion of New Zealand drama in their course of work. The NCEA external examinations at each level (Level 1 – AS90011, Level 2 – AS91219, Level 3 – AS91518) require students to write about live theatre they have seen. Students who are able to experience fully produced, professional theatre are generally advantaged in answering these questions.

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ENGAGE

JOIN THE CONVERSATION Post your own reviews and comments, check out photos of all our productions, watch exclusive interviews with actors and directors, read about what inspires the playwrights we work with and download the programme and education packs. Places to find out more about ATC and engage with us:

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@akldtheatreco

AUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY

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487 Dominion Road, Mt Eden PO Box 96002, Balmoral, Auckland 1342 Ph: 09 309 0390 Fax: 09 309 0391 Email: [email protected]