ABOUT US

Aubyn Live Theatre is a charitable organisation that provides the opportunity for people from the community to experience live theatre in all its facets. We stage up to 5 productions a year catering to all ages and lifestyles touching up to 3500 people annually either through participating in the production or as audiences.

Operating for over 50 years, Aubyn Live (formally known as Hastings Operatic Society) is well known for its musicals and children’s productions which are presented at an affordable cost for our audiences.

Aubyn Live presents two children’s productions each year. The focus and intent of these productions is to encourage children of all ages, ethnicity and ability to come together and work as a team to sing, dance and act for audience members across all ages. All cast members are provided with opportunities to have their moment in the spotlight and to overcome a lack of confidence and self-belief through positive affirmations from a supportive cast and production team.

Not all our stars are front of stage and we have young people learning about sound and lighting, becoming part of the back stage crew and learning how to find and make props. All our cast members and their families also have the opportunity to join in on days making scenery and props for the shows. This creates a wonderful sense of contribution and ownership to the whole production. The end of each show culminates with an acknowledgement of all performers and off stage heroes and a shared meal with the families of the cast, crew and production personnel. It is a mighty celebration that often ends in tears as young performers are dragged unwillingly home by their parents as they talk about the next production.

The theatre encourages family members to contribute to the show by working on stage, backstage and front of house. We have family groups in every show we put on. Families grow closer and learn more about each others’ strengths as they sing, dance and laugh together. Being part of a positive community group is important for our well being and teaches resilience and mindfulness as well as theatre craft in acting, singing, dancing and backstage skills.

Aubyn Live is a true community theatre which exists for everyone to ‘have a go’ in a range of roles in our theatre productions. Our teen and adult shows encourage members across all ethnic, cultural and ability groups to participate in a range of musical productions and plays. We actively encourage first time performers who are again supported by their fellow cast members, directors, choreographers and musical directors. While we offer new opportunities for our younger members, we also offer important opportunities for our older members who continue both on and off stage well into retirement age and who use theatre as a way to keep their minds, bodies and voices active.

We are an important component of a healthy and active community.

We are Hastings.

Our History

Aubyn Live Theatre Incorporated (known as “Aubyn Live”) is a theatrical group based in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, providing the opportunity for the community to experience participating in, or being audience for, live theatre.

In the last ten years Aubyn Live has staged four or five productions a year catering to all ages and lifestyles. Aubyn Live reaches approximately 3,500 people each year, either as participants in its productions or as audiences which enjoy them.

The current incorporated society and registered charity started life over 100 years ago as the Hastings Amateur Operatic Society. Several contemporary musical shows were staged by the Society between 1915 to 1922 to great acclaim in the Hastings Municipal Theatre (now the Hawke’s Bay Opera House). These shows included San Toy, Our Miss Gibbs, The Girl in the Taxi and Marama (a New Zealand “Comic Opera” written by H. S. B. Ribbands with music by Archie Don, both local men). Marama toured several centres around New Zealand in 1921.

The company then appeared to have ceased productions until Marama was revived to mark New Zealand’s Centennial Year in 1940 and to raise money for the War Patriotic Fund. The company then went into recess. Under a new name, the Hastings Light Opera Company, musical theatre was revived in 1961. Between then and 1975 at least 19 shows were produced, including several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and many contemporary shows (including Brigadoon, Kiss Me Kate, The Desert Song, Oliver!, White Horse Inn, and The Merry Widow) as well as several children’s shows and pantomimes.

In 1977, under yet another new name, the Hastings Operatic Society (Inc) presented its first production: A Christmas Musical and the one act opera Amahl and the Night Visitors (with the Hastings Methodist Church), by Menotti. Over the next 35 years the Hastings Operatic Society produced over 115 musicals, concerts and children’s shows. Among its largest productions (staged in the Hastings Municipal Theatre) were The Sound of Music (two productions), Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, The Merry Widow, My Fair Lady, Annie, Pink Champagne, The Gondoliers and another production of Marama. Between 1982 and 1989 two, and sometimes three, productions a year were also presented in the first Aubyn Theatre property on the southern side of St Aubyn Street West. This property was used both as a rehearsal space and a performance venue. In 1990 the company moved to another larger facility in 815 St Aubyn Street West to develop the second Aubyn Theatre on its current site.

The Society changed its name in 2012 to “Aubyn Live Theatre.” Since 2012 the Society has produced 42 shows (an average of almost four per year) catering to all ages and lifestyles, and reaching approximately 3,500 people each year as either participants in the productions or as audiences which enjoy them.

Most shows have seasons running over a week; some are plays or musicals, some Sunday concerts. However, Aubyn Live is currently best known for its musicals (often involving teenagers) and children’s productions. At least 21 of the productions since 2012 have been children’s shows, involving school children in all facets of theatre, and they are designed for school holiday audiences. Many people in Hastings now look forward to these productions which provide opportunities for children and their families to enjoy being involved in theatre and provide caregivers with excellent shows to entertain them and the children in their care during the school holidays.

The focus and intent of these children’s productions is to encourage children of all ages, ethnicity and ability to come together and work as a team to sing, dance and act for audience members. All cast members are provided with opportunities to have their moment in the spotlight and to overcome any lack of confidence and self-belief through positive affirmations from a supportive cast and production team.

Theatre is not all about being “on stage” or “in the spotlight,” and the Society therefore encourages young people to learn about sound and lighting by becoming part of the back-stage crew, and by learning how to find and make props. Cast members and their families also have the opportunity to join in on days making scenery and props for the shows. This creates a wonderful sense of contribution to, and ownership of, the whole production. The culmination of each show is the acknowledgement of all performers and off-stage heroes and a shared meal with the families of the cast, crew and production personnel. This is a great celebration that often ends in tears as young performers are dragged, unwillingly, home by their parents as they talk about the next production.

The Society encourages family members to contribute to shows by working on stage, backstage and front of house. Families grow closer and learn more about each other’s strengths as they sing, dance, work and laugh together. The Society believes that being part of a positive community group is important for well-being and teaches resilience and mindfulness as well as theatre craft of acting, singing, dancing and backstage skills.

-Eileen VonD