When Sun and Moon Collide.....

You came in winter, remember? You felt safe because the cold reminded you of Denmark. The sky was as red and yellow as a fertilised yolk and you gave it an encore. Clapping, dancing and holding each other close. You felt free didn¹t you? But no one¹s free here. We¹re all prisoners, locked in by those mountains. Even the sky¹s an enemy. If you try and escape, the stars fall outta the sky like bombs.

People go crazy when they don¹t know what¹s chasing them...

PRESS RELEASE

When Sun and Moon Collide A new play from Briar Grace-Smith BATS Theatre, October 12 - 28, 8.30pm

When Sun and Moon Collide is directed by Roy Ward (Flowers from my Mother¹s Garden) and features a heavy line-up of New Zealand actors: Rachel House (Woman Far Walking) Andrew Foster (The Girl Who Died), Loren Horsley (The Misandrist) and John Katipa (Haruru Mai). Tracey Monastra is the set designer, Sebastian Morgan-Lynch is the composer and Jen Lal is the lighting designer.

When Sun and Moon Collide is one of the plays in the Shebang Festival

It¹s Briar¹s first play since Haruru Mai, which appeared in this year¹s International Festival of the Arts.

Briar was recently made a Laureate of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand

Her play Purapurawhetu has been invited to attend the International Women Playwrights Festival in Athens, Greece. Briar departed for Greece on Saturday.

A short description:

Under a vast sky and between two mountains, Isaac runs his tearooms. Down the road, Café Astounding has taken away his patrons, and now Isaac only has one customer: Francie, the girl who runs everywhere and who won¹t eat a thing. Issac¹s clientelle is about to double though, as Declan arrives back in town after doing five years for a crime ŒJason¹ commited. On the Mutuwhenua (night of the dead moon) Declan is inhabited by Jason and unable to control his own actions.

It is in this deserted setting that the main action of the play takes place and stories from the past and present begin to unfold. Somebody knows what happened to the Ice People - the two Danish backpackers who disappeared a year ago - and as the Mutuwhenua approaches, you get the feeling that anything could happen.

When Sun and Moon Collide was inspired by the many trips Briar made to Palmerston North in her writers residency at Massey University. It is a contemporary play that traverses the rural, epic, mystical and mysterious.

Biographies

Briar Grace-Smith, writer Briar Grace-Smith descends from Nga Puhi and Ngati Wai iwi. She writes for stage and screen and also writes short fiction. Her plays Purapurawhetu and Nga Pou Wahine have both won Chapman Tripp theatre awards. Haruru Mai premiered at the New Zealand International Arts Festival 2000. Briar was the recipient of the 1995 Bruce Mason Award and was the 1998 Writer in Residence at Massey University. This year she was one of the recipients of the Arts Foundation Laureate awards.

Roy Ward, director Roy directed Kate and Miranda Harcourt's Flowers From My Mother's Garden for the 1998 International Festival of the Arts and its subsequent national tour and Stuart McKenzie's True at Bats and Downstage Theatres. He has also brought to life three Young and Hungry productions: War of Art by Danny Mulheron, Cow by Jo Randerson, most recently, Confessions of an Adolescent Stormtrooper by Bevin Linkhorn. Roy also works as a writer and script editor for television¹s Shortland Street and Jacksons Wharf.

Loren Horsley, actor Loren is currently playing in another Shebang Festival play, The Misandrist. Loren has made appearances in Xena: Warrior Princess and Young Hercules and she plays a lead role in Kombination: an upcoming no-budget feature film by Grant Lahood.

Andrew Foster, actor Best known as an director and designer with Trouble, Andrew makes a return to the stage as an actor in this production. He most recently appeared as an actor in Trouble¹s reprise of their 1996 showThe Girl Who Died.

Rachel House, actor Rachel is a graduate of Toi Whakaari/New Zealand Drama School and has worked most recently in the Witi Ihimaera¹s Woman Far Walking for the International Festival of the Arts. Rachel has also toured with Hone Kouka¹s Waiora and Briar Grace-Smith¹s Nga Pou Wahine

John Katipa, actor John is a graduate of Toi Whakaari/New Zealand Drama School. He appeared most recently in Haruru Mai in the International Festival of the Arts. He has also performed in Gold by Theatre at Large and features in a television role in Staunch, by Toa Fraser

Please contact me for further information on the numbers below. Cheers

Mel Johnston Publicist, Producer 04 473 7758 025 440 242

BATS theatre 1 kent terrace, wellington, new zealand bookings phone: 04 802 4175 office phone: 04 802 4176 fax: 04 802 4010 email: bats@actrix.co.nz www.bats.co.nz

© Scoop Media