Meet The Team - Liz Kirkman

 Liz and I go way back, well almost as way back as I've been an actor in Wellington. But it feels like longer. We have played sisters once before, the very first time we met actually, at a workshop. Liz was awesome then but just wait until you see her in Life. After.

Actress - Liz Kirkman

Liz Kirkman graduated with Honours in Theatre from VUW in 2002 and has been solidly performing and teaching since. For the last three years she has been tutoring Movement, Shakespeare and Acting for Camera on the UCOL Diploma in Performing Arts. You might remember her from such shows as, Educating Rita, the touring 2 person, 50 minute versions of King Lear, Macbeth and Othello, A Bright Room Called Day (Bats) and as Kathryn Beattie in newly released NZ feature film, Eternity.

Liz says, 'Life.After attracted me for many reasons. Getting the chance to work with Anita - who I've loved working with in screen acting classes - was a great coup, but I also couldn't help but be affected by Adam's striking poster image. It was a great visual container for the work to grow inside. I was excited about working on something distinctly female and exploring that relationship, in contrast to the work being created in a male dominated industry. This has been an enlightening process exploring the universal issues of grief and loss, which interest me not only personally and as a performer, but in my other occupation as a Craniosacral Therapist.'

Check out some of Liz's screen work here:

 

What can I say, Liz? I AM SO EXCITED! 

Meet The Team - Alan Curreri

I first met Al Curreri when we worked on a show together towards the end of last year. I was the front of house person and Al had designed a wonderful set on an absolute shoestring budget - the perfect fit for Life. After.

Set Designer - Alan Curreri

Alan Curreri is a set designer, sculptor and scenic painter, originally from Dunedin. Alan lived and worked in San Francisco for many years and his work there included designing sets for many local theatres producing new, experimental and avant-garde works. Alan has also done a considerable amount of work in movies as a scenic painter, was a model and props builder, worked in print advertising, television commercials and in the trade show business. Since his return to New Zealand in 2011 he has worked for Weta Workshop’s paint department and designed sets for Wellington theatre productions.

Thank you for setting us up, Al! 

Meet The Team - Tane Upjohn-Beatson

So here's the deal, a real scoop in fact: Life. After. scored - 'scuse the pun - the incredibly talented and hot-in-demand Tane Upjohn-Beatson as our sound designer/composer. Just check out some of his previous work!

Sound Designer/Composer - Tane Upjohn-Beatson

Tane is a Wellington based composer and sound designer working in theater and film. He also performs regularly as a live accompanist for improvised theater. He has worked on over forty NZ plays and films, receiving Chapman Tripp nominations for the Constance Scott Kircaldie Outstanding Composer of Music Award in both 2009 (A Most Outrageous Humbug) and 2010 (Katydid), and the Park Road Post Production Sound Designer Of The Year Award in 2011 (The Engine Room), and a Chapman Tripp win of the Critics Choice Award for improvised musical 'Vance Fontaine: Command Performance' in 2012.

Tane says, 'Life.After is gearing up to be an exciting and innovative show. I was initially attracted to the script's gestural and surreal nature, immediately conjuring a soundscape in my head of barely heard voices, distant bells, and lullabies on the wind. At times poignant, menacing and playful and all with a heavy handed dose of lynch-esque magic realism, I'm really looking forward to scoring and sound designing this piece of theatre!'

Thank you, Tane, for coming on board! I can't wait to hear what the show sounds like! 

So much work, so much love

Life. After. is going great! Just under a month to go and we're working hard. There is still so much work to do but we're definitely getting there. I am so excited and nervous and freaking out but also feeling incredibly supported but all the awesome people working on the play, our venue, family and friends, and all our sponsors who actually are willing to give their hard-earned moneys just so we can put on a show. It's been a pretty awesome start to the year and I am feeling most of all grateful.

And would you just look at those GORGEOUS, totally spot on posters Adam Cansino designed for us!

Tomorrow, we're performing some of what we have worked on so far for our team of designers. We hope we will inspire as much as Adam's posters have and can't wait to see what our guys will come up with in terms of sound, light and set.

Just under a month to go... What a ride!

Meet The Team - Charlotte Elizabeth Larsen

Life. After. is being produced by Pembury Productions. Pembury is where Charlotte went to school and Charlotte is our producer. She also happens to be very lovely and clever, and the first person to take a chance on my play.

Producer - Charlotte Elizabeth Larsen

Charlotte is an actor/producer. She is Wellington born, UK bred, has a BA in Film and Theatre from Victoria University, Wellington, and has trained at Stella Adler Academy of Acting, Los Angeles. 

Charlotte has produced films (most recently Great Expectations starring Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham-Carter and the upcoming Lost Angels), theatre (A Stye of The Eye, The Elephant Man) and Wellington's very own wickedly-entertaining web-based chat show FixTV. She resides in Los Angeles and Wellington. 

Charlotte loves Anita's play and really loves seeing new talent grow - it's a perfect combination!

Thank you, Charlotte for believing in me and for working your magic!

Meet The Team - Uther Dean

Life. After. has a whole bunch of very awesome people on board and multi-talented, too! Like Uther Dean who I first met in 2008 when he was a clown and I was a queen. 

Lighting Design and Operation - Uther Dean

Uther Dean does lots of things like light shows, direct shows, and occasional dips into journalism but more often than not when someone is paying him to do something it's writing. He has a Masters in Screenwriting from the prestigious International Institute of Modern Letters. In 2011, he led Salient magazine to a Best Publication award win at the Aotearoa Student Press Association Awards. He's also one of the founders of acclaimed theatre company my accomplice. He tweets as @utherlives and thinks you look lovely today.

Uther's involved with Life. After. because he believes that nothing is more vital to the growth of theatre in New Zealand than the cultivation and support of exciting new playwrights. Anita is one of those exciting playwrights and Uther couldn't be more rapt to be involved in guiding this fresh new slice of work to the stage.

Uther actually said that. I swear. Just look at my face, I am blushing!

Thank you for coming on board, Uther and for your lovely words. You light my world!