Circa Theatre. Wellington. New Zealand.
S 41° 17.415 E 174° 46.820
60G E 314137 N 5426645
Circa Theatre is one of New Zealand's 7 professional theatres. It opened in 1976 and in 1994 moved to the new location situated at Number 1 Taranaki Street, in Central Wellington, on the waterfront.
Waymark Code: WM6KEZ
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 06/14/2009
Views: 25
Circa Theatre was formed in 1976 by a group of people, mostly actors, who were dissatisfied with the current state of Wellington Theatre.
Their philosophy was centred on the idea that a co-operative group of people could mount theatre of professional standard themselves, without administration and other overhead of a permanent company, the profits of the show being paid directly to the practitioners. They took up residence in the old Ilott chambers, at 1 Harris St. The ground floor of the office building was converted into a small "black box" theatre space with an auditorium seating 100 patrons. Circa Theatre staged its first production in April 1976 and in the succeeding years gained a reputation as one of New Zealand's liveliest and most innovative theatres.
With the opportunity to create a purpose built theatre on a new site at 1 Taranaki St., Grant Tilly, one of the original Circa members, worked as theatre consultant with Ampersand Architects Ltd. An important brief for the new theatre was to maintain the intimate atmosphere of Harris St.
Apart from the historic brick Westport Chambers facade facing the Museum Plaza all new construction is timber.The kite shaped auditorium is a flexible staging space with movable seating units. The walls and floor are plywood and are intended to be screwed into and have scenery fixed to them as appropriate. Several years after the building was first opened a steel lighting grid was installed within the steel girders holding up the roof, 5.000m from the stage floor. There is approx. 2.000 metres clearance here, and technicians can reach all parts of the auditorium at this level.
The main auditorium can seat around 250. The theatre also has a smaller studio space, not unlike the old Harris St venue, seating 100, but with seats fixed in a permanent block
The new theatre opened in November 1994 with a stunning production of Tony Kushner's Angels In America, which won many awards at that year's Chapman Tripp Wellington Theatre Awards. Circa continues to operate under the co-operative system.
Auditorium Description:
Studio: 100 seat black box, approx. 9.850m by 11.400m by 3.600m high; Stage area approx. 4.900m deep by 10.000m wide; Simple pipe grid over stage; Permanent raked seating.
Main Auditorium: Eccentric "kite" shape, max length 22.464m, max width 23.730m; floor area 312.840 sq m; largest possible rectangular space = 15.878 x 13.751; plywood floors and walls ok to screw into; overhead lighting grid at 5.000m gives access over whole space with approx. 2.000m clear to ceiling; Purpose built seating blocks of different configurations give a limited standard range of differing seat layouts. (approx. 250 seats)
Theater Name: Circa Theatre.
Country: New Zealand.
Address:
1. Taranaki Street
P.O.Box 968 Wellington, New Zealand.
Wellington., North Is. New Zealand.
0
Web Site: [Web Link]
Venue: Community Theater
Type of Productions:
Circa has two performance spaces, Circa One and Circa Two and a licensed restaurant and bar, Wharfside Restaurant. Circa One is an exciting, versatile space featuring a fabulous, fresh season of comedy, drama and pantomime. Circa Two offers an intimate experience getting the audience up-close and personal.
Restored Building: yes
Stage Type: Black Box
Seating Capacity: 350
Date of Construction: Not listed
Architect/Designer: Not listed
Special Productions/Events/Festivals: Not listed
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