Circa Councillors
Circa Theatre is run by the Circa Council which was formed with the Theatre in 1976. The current members of the Council are:
Jane Waddell
Co-ordinator
Jane joined the Circa Council in 1985. She graduated from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School in 1975. She has appeared in numerous productions at Downstage and Circa. Most recently she has been seen in Jack and the Beanstalk, Who Wants To Be 100?, Mammals (for which Jane and Michele Amas shared Supporting Actress of the Year Award) and Red Riding Hood. Jane has directed a number of outstanding productions for Circa including The Country, Blackbird and the multi award winning Home Land. She has also taught at Toi Whakaari, adapted and produced a large number of book readings for Radio New Zealand and played a range of characters for television and film. Member of the Programming Committee.
Neville Carson BA LLB
Treasurer
Joined the Council in 1977. Neville has worked as a lawyer in government and in private practice, as an actors agent and as a film producer on the feature film The Last Tattoo (1993). He is currently Circa Treasurer and is a Trustee of the Theatre Artists Charitable Trust (TACT). He is also a Board member of the NZ School of Dance and the associated Premises Management Trust of Te Whaea. Neville is semi-retired and a keen golfer and bridge player.
Linda Wilson MA (Hons), DIP LIB, LTCL
Secretary & Programming Committee convener
Linda joined the Council in 1985, is a member of the Programming Committee and has managed the Box Office since 1993. She is heavily involved with the day to day management of the theatre. Linda is also an experienced stage manager who toured England and Australia with Joyful & Triumphant in the 1990s and Australia in 2002-03 with Playing Burton.
Michele Amas B Perf. Arts
Council Member
Joined the Council in 2002. Graduate New Zealand Drama School. Award winning actress and writer, Michele was most recently seen at Circa in Mammals in which she jointly won Best Supporting Actress in the 2008 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards, also The American Pilot and the award winning production of Home Land 2007 for which she was nominated for actress of the year. Michele wrote and directed her first short film – Redial which was in competition at the Venice Film Festival 2002. She also directed A Room of Ones Own for Circa and Court Theatre, and Telling Stories. Television credits include: Mirror, Mirror series, Duggan telefeature and series, for which Michele was twice nominated Best Supporting Actress at the Film and Television Awards, and most recently Holly’s Heroes and Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. Michele is the 2005 Adam Foundation Prize winner for Creative Writing. Her first book of poetry was published in 2006 and nominated for a Montana Award 2007. Member of the Programming Committee.
Andrew Foster
Council Member
Director/Designer Andrew Foster has recently returned to NZ having lived in the UK for 4 years working on various Theatre projects and producing Radio Dramas for Channel 4. A co-founder of the award winning Wellington Theatre company 'Trouble', he has become known for his contribution to the development of new works. Collaborations with some of the country's most promising young writers (including Jo Randerson, Duncan Sarkies and Oscar Knightly) have become contemporary landmarks. Andrew was Head of Radio Drama at Radio New Zealand in 2004-05 and during this time was instrumental in bringing many of the new voices of NZ theatre to radio, including The Flight of the Conchords, Te Radar and The SeeYd Trilogy, which won Best Radio Drama at the 2005 NZ Radio Awards.
Peter Hambleton
Council Member
Joined the Council in 1996. Graduate - New Zealand Drama School. A well-known actor and theatre director, Peter has worked in stage, radio, television and film. His many performances at Circa include A Doll's House, I Hate Hamlet, Angels in America, Arcadia, The Herbal Bed, The Bach, Copenhagen (for which he won a Chapmann Tripp Theatre Award for Actor of the Year), Democracy, Home Land, and Who wants to be 100?. He has directed Marathon, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wait Until Dark and All the World's a Stage. Recipient of the SGCNZ Artistic Fellowship to Shakespeare's Globe 2002, and Winston Churchill Fellowship 2007. Member of the Programming Committee.
Carolyn Henwood LLB CNZM
Council Member
A founding member of the Council, Carolyn has been a lawyer and a district court judge. She has recently retired from the bench to establish her own business. Carolyn helped establish, and is now a trustee, of the Theatre Artists Charitable Trust and liaises closely with the sponsors. She is a member of the Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School board. She was awarded an NZCM in 2002 for services to theatre and youth justice.
Ray Henwood BSC Hons (Chemistry)
Council Member
Founding member of the Council. One of New Zealand's leading actors, he was awarded the Chapman Tripp Award for Actor of the Year in 2001. Some of his best roles include All the World's a Stage, Playing Burton, Rutherford, Copenhagen and Waiting for Godot. Ray has also appeared in radio, TV and film (in New Zealand and Australia). He is an experienced director, most recently directing Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van for Circa. The one man show he wrote, No Good Boyo, toured extensively in Australia. Playing Burton also toured Australia in 2003.
Ross Jolly BA
Council Member
A founding member of the Council. Ross is a well-known actor in theatre, TV, radio and film. He was a TV programmer, TV director and drama director at Radio NZ for 12 years. Ross has directed over 60 productions for Circa, The Court, Centrepoint and Downstage, including award-winning shows such as ART, Waiting for Godot, Copenhagen and Shape of Things. Member of the Programming Committee.
Branwen Millar MA
Council Member
Branwen has an MA in Scriptwriting from the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her play Armslength premiered in Circa 2 in January 2008, and Swan Song was commissioned for the 2008 Young and Hungry Festival of New Works at BATS Theatre. Her first play Noisy Shadows was produced as part of the New Plays Festival in Santa Barbara, California where it was awarded the Corwin Award for Best New Play. It beat 90 contenders and was the first time the award went to a non-American. She spent part of 2008 as Writer in Residence at the Robert Lord Cottage in Dunedin and was also shortlisted for the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award.
Simon Vincent
Council Member
Simon graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2000. Since then he has performed in over 30 professional theatre productions all over the country. In 2006, Simon played Happy in Susan Wilson's award winning production of Death of a Salesman and he played the title role in The Bacchanals touring production of Hamlet directed by David Lawrence. In 2007 he played Cassio in Jonathan Hendry's Othello (for which he received a Chapman Tripp nomination for Best Supporting Actor) and Ian Kirkpatrick in Finding Murdoch directed by Geraldine Brophy, both at Downstage. In 2008, Simon wrote and produced A Renaissance Man and he made his directing debut with Handy Man by Gavin McGibbon. In 2008, Simon received the Chapman Tripp award for 'Outstanding Performance' for Metamorphosis directed by Jude Gibson. In 2009, Simon has taken on the role of producer for the Young and Hungry Youth Theatre Festival'. He has also appeared as Boxer, Pig and Rat in Year of the Rat at Circa Theatre. Simon was made a member of Circa Council in April 2009 - a role he is extremely excited about.
Susan Wilson BA, LTCL, TTC ONZM
Council Member
Founding member of the Circa Council formed in 1976 she has been Co-ordinator many times, the last being 2001-2003. Awarded an ONZM in 2001 for Services to the Theatre. A distinguished actor and director, her productions include many Chapman Tripp Award winners such as Angels in America, Joyful and Triumphant, Arcadia, and most recently Death of a Salesman for which she received Director of the Year in 2006. Rutherford and The Face Maker were produced for the International Festival of the Arts. Susan has acted in theatre, television and film. She has developed and directed four pantomimes by Roger Hall. She has also worked as a script advisor for Playmarket for nine years and as a script editor. Member of the Programming Committee.
Sleeping Members of the Council
Ruth Jeffery BA, Dip Tchg
Joined the Council in 1981. Over the years she has stage-managed a number of productions and managed front-of-house. She has a background in both the education and film industry sectors. From 2000 to 2003, she was founding Director of The Film School in Wellington. Before that, she held the position of Director of Development at the New Zealand Film Commission. Previously she taught English, French and Drama at a range of NZ secondary schools. Ruth is also a past Chair of Women in Film and Television (WIFT) Wellington chapter. She is currently a school teacher at Wellington High School.
Bruce Phillips BA
Joined the Council in 1986. A well known actor and director, he has appeared in over a 100 productions at Circa, Downstage, The Court and ATC. He is the recipient of many awards. He has directed several plays for Circa, including Hamlet and Macbeth. Bruce has also written for radio and Television. His TV credits include the long running Country GP, Worzel Gummidge Down Under, and many more. He played Grimbold in Lord Of The Rings 2 and 3, and in 2004 he filmed opposite Tom Selleck in Ike – Countdown to DDay, playing Gen. Bernard Montgomery for American television. He has been Circa Co-Ordinator three times.
Past members whose service was invaluable:
Michael Haigh
Grant Tilly
Gwen Kaiser
John Reid
Marilyn Head
