EQUITY GREENROOM.

August 3, St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont Street, Ponsonby, Auckand. 6pm. Political Parties present their positions on the performing arts, and other issues. Denise Roche, Catherine Delahunty, Darien Fenton, Laila Harre, Annette Sykes and others.

The New Zealand Actors Benevolent Fund is a non-for profit charity established in 2013 to provide assistance to professional performers, both young and old, who, due to injury, illness or disability are unable to work, either temporarily or in some cases for the rest of their lives.

The Fund – administered by the Fundraising Committee and Board – provides both financial and practical assistance to those in need. Medical expenses may be directly met by the Fund, pharmaceutical bills settled, or essential items purchased. In some cases, there may also be provision available for the care of children or family dependants of those performers in need.

A bond of confidentiality exists within the Fund. The identities of recipients are never disclosed, but many are, or have been, household names who have devoted their lives to the entertainment of others. The Fund's patrons are Sam Neill and Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

Shen Te is a "tart with a heart", compassionate and generous, even towards people who exploit her virtues. Three Gods on a fact-finding mission reward the only good person they can find,the prostitute Shen Te, with the means to start a little business. But that's when her troubles begin as everyone takes advantage of her good nature. To survive she creates a male alter ego, the ruthless and exploitative Shui Ta. However, Shen Te struggles to keep her world together switching between these two identities. Can her good soul endure the pressures of hardship when self-interest, deceit, corruption and opportunism are more readily rewarded?  German-born playwright Bertolt Brecht is one of the twentieth century's most respected and influential theatrical forces.

Equity Board members Robyn Malcolm and Cameron Rhodes star.

Auckland Theatre Company at Q Theatre. Earlybird bookings now available: Here

Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live there withher mother Miriam - a well-intentioned blabbermouth who's convinced that the house is haunted. Kylie dismisses Miriam's superstitions as nothing more than a distraction from a life occupied by boiled vegetables & small-town gossip. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she's inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who's less than happy about the new living arrangement. Equity members Morgana O'Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Cameron Rhodes, Ian Mune, David Van Horn, Bruce Hopkins, Ryan Lampp and Mick Innes. New Zealand International Film Festival. Coming Soon!

http://www.nziff.co.nz/2014

RED-CARPET PREMIERE OF BOLD NEW KIWI FILM - 8:15pm JULY 28, AUCKLAND & WELLINGTON FILM FESTIVAL CINEMAS

Hot off the back of sell-out festival screenings and critical acclaim,Max Currie's NZ debut Everything We Loved opens on July 28 with a simultaneous premiere in Wellington and Auckland cinemas. 

Starring Equity  members Sia Trokenheim and Brett Stewart, it is about a travelling magician's greatest and most dangerous illusion - a little boy. The Hollywood Reporter heaped praise on all three actors, saying "...it is the actors that do almost all of the heavy lifting here, conjuring up a world of pain that allows them to do things no sane person would ever think of doing."

WATCH THE TRAILER

Equity members Rima Te Wiata, Lauren Gibson, Nathan Mudge, Jon Pheloung, Barbara Power, Jordan Selwyn and Priyanka Xi star in the NZ Premiere of Jumpy, on at the Fortune Theatre from 5 July - 2 August. A 50 year old mother and wife who once protested at Greenham now focuses on struggling to control her increasingly promiscuous teenage daughter and keeping the passion in her marriage alive. To make matters worse, she finds herself coming into conflict with the hostile mother of her daughter’s boyfriend and she must also fend off the unwelcome advances of her new adversary’s husband. Directed by Shane Bosher. 

GET TICKETS HERE