Bay Harbour: February 22, 2017

Wednesday February 22 2017
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 19
Theatre/Arts
New style of show business
• By Georgia O’Connor-Harding
SOPHIE PETERSEN and
Keeneth Love have spotted a gap
in the city’s arts’ market to create
smaller – but “game-changing”
– theatre.
Willing to take a risk, the two
artists have set up their own
theatre company in a bid to bring
more diversity to the industry.
Having just graduated from
the National Academy of Singing
and Dramatic Art, the artists
want to prove that smaller scale
productions are financially viable
in Christchurch.
“We feel the city is the right
place . . . we just want to find a
space where we can not only create
work that is unique, but also
create work for actors as well,”
Love, 27, said.
The pair have set up So Keen
Productions to bring theatre
to the city in a sustainable way
through small-cast productions.
They both wanted to set up
their own company, and the
idea for the new enterprise was
formed at the end of last year
when the two realised they had
the same mindset.
“We spoke the same language
almost all the time and then,
NEW EDGE: Keeneth Love and Sophie Petersen are the faces behind a new theatre company
aiming to bring more diversity to the city.
PHOTO: CHELSEA SHEEHAN-GAIGER ​
over the new year, we suddenly
realised there was no point in
us doing different things,” Love
said.
Petersen, 21, who lives in
Sumner, said for a start the
company will stage musical
theatre and plays, run education
programmes for primary-aged
children and workshops for
aspiring performers.
But the pair want to keep their
programme broad and may
branch out into different mediums
such as film.
“We are trying to stay away
from the mainstream shows that
would generally be shown at bigger
theatre companies,” Petersen
said.
While she loved productions
from the city’s larger companies,
such as Showbiz Christchurch
and The Court Theatre, she
hopes their organisation will
bring a “new kind of edge” to
theatre.
And already they have announced
one of their first shows
for the year, which is set to be an
intimate play staged at whisky
and cocktail lounge, The Last
Word, on New Regent St.
First Love by American
playwright Charles Mee is a twoperson
play exploring the themes
of love, obsession, violence and
relationships.
“It is immersive in the sense
you are in the room with them,
you are experiencing their
relationship . . . it is a lot more
intimate than a lot of theatre I
think Christchurch is used to,”
Petersen said.
The duo have teamed up with
NASDA head of acting Soseh
Yekanians who has previously
said musical theatre in the city
is conservative, out of date and
unadventurous.
As well as directing First Love,
Yekanians will run a workshop
with So Keen Productions on
audition techniques and acting
for the camera.
•The pair expect to
announce more upcoming
shows at the end of March.
For more information, go to
https://sokeenproductions.
org/
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