As you know, Experience Wellington made the difficult decision to close the National Theatre for Children at the end of last year. I can now provide an update on our progress.
National Theatre for Children has a proud 25-year legacy of creating quality shows for tamariki and we are doing the best we can to make sure that these much-loved shows can be seen again. To enable this, we are releasing all of our royalties, rights and interest in the scripts. Murray Lynch from Playmarket will now look after the scripts and represent the creatives involved, if they choose. We are very grateful to Murray for his partnership in this process and his time. We have informed all the creatives on our contact list and work will soon begin to transfer script files to Playmarket. If you have any questions about this, please contact myself or Murray.
Peter Wilson’s legacy has been at the forefront of our decisions and we have been in conversation with his wife Cath regarding the historic puppets in our collection. We want to thank Cath and Jacqui Coats for their generous time. We have returned some of our oldest puppets from Peter's shows to Cath, as they hold special memories of his creative work in children's theatre. To honour Peter's legacy, we have donated the remaining puppets to Kerryn Palmer of PAYPA to use in her capacity as Senior Lecturer Victoria University, advocate for children's theatre and teach the next generation of puppeteers. We hope these characters will return to the stage to entertain audiences once again.
A collection of items including props, drapes and gels have been donated to The Green Green Room so they can be accessed by the Wellington theatre community and have a new life on stage. We have also donated a dance floor to long-time creative partner Java Dance. As Wheako Pōneke Experience Wellington is a charity, a decision was made to sell technical assets not associated with specific shows to further support us to deliver creative, cultural experiences in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara.
We have been working hard to archive decades of material relating to the National Theatre for Children, ensuring that the history of is captured and saved for future generations. In time, we will publish a timeline of the National Theatre to Children on the Capital E website, so that the rich history of the National Theatre for Children can be celebrated and remembered.
Consolidating many years of history is not a small job and it is the end of an era. We have approached this work with consideration, care and appreciation for the mahi of the team who created, built, toured and performed to young audiences across the country. We thank you for your patience as we navigate the multiple aspects of winding down the National Theatre for Children. Mostly, we thank you for the years of support for the National Theatre for Children. We are proud to have delivered more than 40 different shows to countless children over the our history and we couldn't have achieved this without the support of the creative community in Wellington.
Capital E continues to deliver creative, playful experiences that build creative, connected and confident tamariki and rangatahi and we are now working towards moving into Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui Wellington’s new central library in 2026.
Delyse Diack
Ringatohu Kāhuarau | Director Capital E Transition