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Press, 8 March 1989, Page 24

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Actors at Ferrymead Colonial tum-of-the-century townspeople will greet visitors to Ferrymead’s Moorhouse township from Easter. The Promotions Manager of Ferrymead Historic Park, Heather McMillan, says about 15 volunteers have expressed interest in acting the roles of key village figures, such as a vicar, his wife, a policeman and a town busybody. These people are being trained by Greg Olson, who has had experience with a similar project at an historic park in Nelson. Visitors to the park on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays can expect to see people dressed in costumes from the period 1900 to 1920, engaged in activities and conversations appropriate to their role. The idea is to give life and authenticity to the township. Composer in residence The Music Federation’s first composer-in-residence is to be Noel Sanders. Sanders, aged 40, will take up the nine-month appointment in June. He will be based in Wellington. At present lecturing at Sydney’s University of Technology, Sanders holds Masters degrees from both Auckland and Harvard Universities. In 1986 he was Visiting Fellow at Victoria University. During his residency he will be expected to complete three works, one of which, a string quartet, will be offered to the New Zealand String Quartet for performance. s Nine candidates applied for the position, which is open only to New Zealanders and funded by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. Sons of sky and earth A comtemporary play about Maori legends will be performed by Puawai, in association with the Polynesian Performing Arts Trust. The production, directed by Robert Gilbert, uses drama, dance, mime and mask. It draws together many different aspects of Puawai: it will be performed by trainees in the Puawai drama course, with costumes made by the Puawai theatre costume design module. Original music was composed by George Kahi and Jerry Toto especially for the production, and engineered in the Mahi O Ringa Studio. Ricki Rangi Maori Arts Studio will provide various carvings for the production. The script was written by Lex Matheson and it is about the original creation of the world and the stories of Maui. “Sons of Sky and Earth” will open in the Rolleston Theatre on March 11 and run at 8.30 p.m. each night, except Mondays, until March 23. Award to composers Two Canterbury composers were honoured by the Composers Association of New Zealand at their annual meeting in Christchurch last week-end. The citation for service to New Zealand music went to Philip Norman, a music reviewer for “The Press” who compiled the “Bibliography of New Zealand Composers.” Among his recent works are the music for the stage version of “Footrot Flats” and “Love on a Shelf’ with A. K. Grant. Norman is a graduate of Canterbury University. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on Douglas Lilburn. The award for achievement went to Eric Biddington, also a graduate of Canterbury, who last year had works premiered by three Wellington orchestras, an overture performed by the Christchurch Orchestral Society, a concert of new work presented at the Arts Centre, and a concert of chamber music given in Hutt Valley. Cushion theatre Larger-then-life giants will be among the braggarts bringing favourite children’s stories to life in the Canterbury Children’s Theatre production at The Malthouse on March 11 and 12. The programme, called “Cushion Theatre,” has been designed for younger children, with Brer Rabbit, Finn McCool and Dr Seuss’s Gertrude McFuzz boasting their way in and out of difficulties. The performances at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., last about an hour, with an opportunity for face painting to set the scene. The director is June Harvest, and the cast includes Ronn Kjestrup, Melinda Hatherley, Tony Couch, lan Beswick and Tricia Minns. Theatresports “Theatresports” are back. Under the three-year sponsorship from the United Group, the theatrical knock-out contest started its 1989 season in the Court One auditorium last Sunday. Each Sunday evening at 6 p.m. teams made up of players from social and professional groups, or friends daring enough to “have a go", will face the judges. Several teams play a series of games lasting one, two or three minutes, in which they must improvise a situation according to the rules of a chosen game. Not until the MC opens the mystery envelope do the audience or the players know where the situation will take place. Local personalities are the judges — risking the scorn of the audience should they disapprove of the marks awarded. Thanks to the sponsorship, “UNITED THEATRESPORTS” is now being played in the provincial towns of Nelson, Blenheim and Timaru, under the guidance of Bryan Aitken, Principal Tutor for this Theatresports region. Christchurch secondary schools will this year have their own inter-school series, separate from that being played at the Court. Music lobby The next meeting of the Christchurch Music Lobby is at the Cinerama Youth Centre on March 7 at 7.30 p.m. At its inaugural meeting last month the lobby decided to provide band workshops, to look at the promotion of local music, to support a venue, and to assist bands with funding applications. All persons interested and involved in music are invited to join the group. Play-writing contest Scripts are now being called for the 1989 AGC Young Playwrights’ Festival, being held in Wellington in September. Submissions are eligible from writers aged between 12 and 20. Selected scripts will be workshopped during a weekend in July and performed at the 10-day festival under the guidance of professional directors. The first young playwrights’ festival, also sponsored by A.G.C. was held in 1987. It involved nine writers from around the country and 50 young performers. The 1987 festival resulted in one playwright being invited to Interplay ’BB, an international young playwrights' festival held in Sydney, while another’s full length play was accepted for last year’s New Zealand Playwrights’ Workshop. It is intended to hold the festival every two years. Further information is available form Donna Lynd, promotions manager at Downstage Theatre, telephone (04)851-259.