Kathryn Burnett

By Sicbird – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39196356

After a two-day workshop under the direction of Katie Wolfe and Ahi Karunaharan, with dramaturg Jo Smith providing overwatch, Kingswood was read by Jason Te Kare, Louise Tu’u, Joy Vaele, and Jason Wu on a warm Wednesday evening in Balmoral, Auckland.

The audience laughed in the right places, their applause was gratifying, and the Q-and-A that followed was enlightening for all present. Afterwards, it was nice to chat with individual audience members like: Auckland Theatre Company artistic director Colin McColl; Bright Star and Pasefika playwright and Playmarket respresentative Stuart Hoar; the indomitable Webmistresse (retired) and her husband; Luncheon and Officer 27 playwright Aroha Awarau; screenwriter Kathryn Burnett; and Titirangi Theatre stalwart and early supporter of the work Duncan Milne.

During the two-day workshop, these four words were used to describe "Kingswood" — and upon hearing them I felt inordinately proud. — During the two-day workshop, these four words were used to describe “Kingswood” — and upon hearing them I felt inordinately proud.

Where to from here?

I have no idea.

The past few days’ burning question has been: Would I still write this post if I hadn’t been an award recipient? Close behind it has been this Schrodinger follow-up: Would I still be an award recipient if I hadn’t decided the day before to attend the event? (Employees and families of employees of the organisers are not allowed to answer the second question.)

So, yeah, wow. Last Thursday I went along to the SWANZ awards, cheering for the competition because that was the only way I could deal with the pressure… and Goodbye My Feleni won. And the night itself, viewed in the preceding fortnight with dread and anxiety, turned out to be a very pleasant evening indeed.

I got to meet and talk with:

playwrights Dean Parker and Briar Grace-Smith*;
Unproduced Feature Film Script finalists Blair Soper and Simon McCarthy;
big- and small-screen screenwriters Nick Ward, Kathryn Burnett, and James Griffin;
producers Leanne Saunders, Tui Ruwhiu, Kath Akuhata-Brown, and Jeremy Macey;
Commish exec Chris Payne, Motel director Todd Rippon, and Scriptease‘s Jane Sherning Warren;
and fellow recipients Michael Bennett (Best Factual Script – The Confessions of Prisoner T), Daniel Joseph Borgman (New Writer Award), and Hone Kouka (NZWG Mentorship Award).

Ahh, networking. Not always as painful and dreadful as I imagine.

* I know they’re more than playwrights.

Tag: Kathryn Burnett

KINGSWOOD: post-reading

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