Friends of The Court Theatre

• Discounted seat prices.
• Eligibility to join our volunteer ushering teams - so popular we have a waiting list.
• Invitations to special events with cast, crew and staff.
• Our quarterly Court Cues e-newsletter for all the behind the scenes details and stories about the theatre’s writers, directors, stars and staff.

• Adult Single $40
• Adult Double $55
• Senior (65+ yrs) Single $30
• Senior (65+ yrs) Double $45
• Youth (<25 yrs) Single $25

19/05/22

Dear Friends,

The Court is back and we are all thrilled! The Girl on the Train opens on the 21st of this month and life at The Court is beginning to feel normal again.

Over Easter I was lucky enough to spend a fortnight in Australia with family; this included meeting two new babies and seeing our son from Hong Kong, after a separation of two and a half years. We had a lot to celebrate, as you can imagine. I think normal life may have resumed for me too.

We held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 9 May with the election of the committee members and two new Board Trustees. My nine-year term as a Friends’ representative on the Board comes to an end in May, as does David McBrearty’s. We pass on this mantle to two new Friends’ Trustees, Andrea Bankier and Jenny May. Andrea is a consultant with Sheffield, so has had involvement and knowledge of The Court for a long time. Jenny has had been a Friend of the Theatre for 20 years and comes with huge governance experience including the Ravenscar Trust, The Arts Centre, The Christchurch Cathedral and a history of service with Te Papa, Creative New Zealand and The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, to name but a few. I wish them both all the very best.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Board, working with so many interesting projects and situations: a change of CEO and management team; the beginning of the long, drawn-out process of creating the new theatre; the destructive Covid era; the 50th Anniversary and many other dilemmas, achievements and celebrations. It has been a privilege to have represented the Friends over this time and I thank you for your confidence in me.

We say goodbye to two members of our Friends Committee, Wendy Carryer and John McSweeney. Wendy has been part of the team for 23 years, most of which she has spent competently running The Court Coffee Bar. She also served as an usher for a number of years. We will really miss this hard-working member of the team who has given so much.

John has served on the Friends Committee for 21 years, with five years as the Chair. He served on the Trust Board for 10 years and the Foundation Board for seven years, has been an usher for 25, overseen the ushers for many years and, last but not least, has made his famous pikelets for every Opening Night Supper. This has been seen by the Trust Board as ‘exceptional voluntary service’ to the Theatre and they have seen fit to present him with The Court’s highest honour award - John has been made a Fellow of The Court Theatre. He joins John Harrison and Felicity Price as previous recipients of this award. The award was presented at the AGM; congratulations to you, John. We are so immensely proud and grateful for all you have done for the Theatre.

At the same time as these farewells, we welcome on to the committee Raewyn Raynel.

I look forward to seeing you in and around the theatre again and send you good wishes for the winter ahead.

Ngā mihi,

Annie

The best thing my husband and I did this year is join The Friends of the Court, and we are very proud of this and wanted you to know.

As Chief Executive of The Court Theatre, I see almost all of the comings and goings in our beloved Shed, as well as the outreach programmes we take into the community, and we are so very grateful to The Friends of the Court for all that they (we) do to ensure the smooth running of this professional and exceptionally busy theatre company.

We see The Friends of the Court who usher our audiences to their seats, care for our patrons, and ensure that there is a celebratory glass of bubbles after the opening night show. We see the lovely plates of supper, and so many friendly faces who make all who attend very welcome indeed.

What I also get to see behind the scenes is an incredibly hard working committee who are master organisers who attend to every little membership detail, communications, raffle ticket sales, and event promotion. They support The Court Theatre and our people in every way.

I encourage you to join The Friends of the Court as we have – you will be part of something that creates enduring friendships and is so much fun. We are ready to welcome you.

Barbara George
Chief Executive / Tumu Whakarae
The Court Theatre

The Court Cues is The Friends of the Court's regular newsletter, sent to members via email every two months. You can view The Friends of the Court blog, with all newsletter stories here, or read our previous issues below:

• May 2022
• March 2022
• November 2021
• August 2021
• April 2021
• February 2021