Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.
Katherine Wilson Sheppard was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1868. There she became an active member of various religious and social organisations, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand. In 1887 she was appointed the WCTU NZ's National Superintendent for Franchise and Legislation, a position she used to advance the cause of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
Waihi is a town in Hauraki District in the North Island of New Zealand, especially notable for its history as a gold mine town.
The Waihi miners' strike was a major strike action in 1912 by gold miners in the New Zealand town of Waihi. It is widely regarded as the most significant industrial action in the history of New Zealand's labour movement. It resulted in one striker being killed, one of only two deaths in industrial actions in New Zealand.
Henry Edmund Holland was an Australian-born newspaper owner, politician and unionist who relocated to New Zealand. He was the second leader of the New Zealand Labour Party.
Fred Terry was an English actor and theatrical manager. After establishing his reputation in London and in the provinces for a decade, he joined the company of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree where he remained for four years, meeting his future wife, Julia Neilson. With Neilson, he played in London and on tour for 27 further years, becoming famous in sword and cape roles, such as the title role in The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Kiss Me Kate is a 1953 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of the 1948 Broadway musical of the same name.
William Edward Parry was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist.
Fredrick George Evans was an Australian industrial worker who rose to prominence for his role and death in the Waihi miners' strike. To date he is one of the only two people to die in an industrial dispute in New Zealand's history.
Catherine Huggins, known in history as Mrs W. H. Foley was a British actress, singer, director and manager. Mrs W. H. Foley is best known for her major contribution to early theatrical entertainment in New Zealand between 1855 and 1867.
Pride is a 2014 British historical comedy-drama film written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus. Based on a true story, it depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign.
Zoe Cramond is a New Zealand actress. After graduating from Unitec Institute of Technology, Cramond appeared in various theatre productions and television commercials. She made appearances in Outrageous Fortune and Shortland Street, before deciding to give up her acting career to study graphic design. She returned to acting after being cast in the television film Panic at Rock Island and Go Girls.
Lorae Ann Parry is a New Zealand playwright and actor.
Stuart Hoar is a New Zealand playwright, teacher, novelist, radio dramatist and librettist.
Jean Betts is a New Zealand playwright, actor and director.
Hens' Teeth Women's Comedy Company is a woman-only comedy troupe based in Wellington, New Zealand founded in 1988.
Kate JasonSmith is a New Zealand actor, film producer, playwright, filmmaker, photographer, and businesswoman. Based in Wellington, she has studied and worked elsewhere, including Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. A feminist, as a theatre and film practitioner, she has been most recognised throughout her career for her role in establishing and producing Hens' Teeth, a platform for dozens of Kiwi female actors, musicians, and comedians that became a staple of the New Zealand theatre and comedy scene between 1988 and 1996. Her short film, Xmas for Lou (1992), won the Best Drama – Television award in the New Zealand Film and Television Awards of 1994. From 2018 on, the one-woman show I'll Tell You This for Nothing: My Mother the War Hero has received national and international praise for both the play, which she wrote, and her performance. JasonSmith is a member of the New Zealand Society of Authors/Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa.
The Adam NZ Play Award is an annual award in New Zealand given to new plays. There are a range of categories and submitted plays are read blind by a panel of industry professionals.
That Bloody Woman is a 2015 punk-rock musical written by Luke Di Somma and Gregory Cooper. It is based on the life of Kate Sheppard and charts the suffragism struggle in New Zealand and its opposition by Richard Seddon. The musical was commissioned by Christchurch Arts Festival and premiered there in August 2015. It played in Auckland and Christchurch in 2016, and toured New Plymouth, Wellington and Dunedin in 2017. An original cast recording was made and released in 2016. That Bloody Woman is set to hit the Christchurch stage once again as Showbiz Christchurch prepare for their opening night on 5 July, featuring an all-female creative team and rock band.
Catherine Patricia Downes is a New Zealand theatre director, actor, dramaturg and playwright. Of Māori descent, she affiliates to Ngāi Tahu. Downes wrote a one-woman play The Case of Katherine Mansfield, which she has performed more than 1000 times in six countries over twenty years. She has been the artistic director of the Court Theatre in Christchurch and the director of Downstage Theatre in Wellington. She lives on Waiheke Island and works as a freelance actor, director and playwright.
