KEY POINTS:
One late-summer morning, actor-writer Colin Moy sat down to pen what he hoped would be a compelling episode of The Point, a new soap for TV One. Then the phone rang. Moy was told to stop writing. The Point, which was meant to fill One's 5.30pm slot, was
history.
"There was a team of writers and we had story-lined around 75 episodes and had about 65 finished scripts and, I swear to God, they were fantastic," he says. "I was gutted. There are characters I still think about and I have to remind myself they are not real and it's all over."
But clouds are said to have silver linings. Late last year, Moy was offered the role of top cop Bill in a Silo production of New Yorker Kenneth Lonergan's play Lobby Hero.
Lonergan, who writes for theatre and film, was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York and wrote and directed the feature film You Can Count on Me.
Moy says the chance to be in the Lonergan play was too good to reject, but he nearly did. "I read the play and went, wow, I want this role but I just didn't think I had the time. I was working on The Point and we had a new baby due right when rehearsals were supposed to start so I figured there was no way I could fit it in.
"I couldn't bring myself to turn it down so I kept everyone hanging on. Then, quite literally, the show was over and I was free."
Lobby Hero is set in New York where a murder investigation begins after a group of young men are accused of killing a nurse.
It features four characters: Jeff (Kip Chapman), a wise-cracking slacker working as a security guard; William (Jarod Rawiri), who is Jeff's boss and the brother of one of the accused; rookie cop Dawn (Fleur Saville) who is on the cusp of an assault charge; and Bill (Moy), a uniformed cop about to be made a detective.
Although not directly involved in the murder, they get dragged into the investigation and find their separate fates placed accidentally into each other's hands.
Director Caroline Bell-Booth describes Lobby Hero as "a serious comedy" with a traditional morality tale at its heart.
"It's about loyalty and duty but at no stage is the truth of what happened revealed," says Bell-Booth, who directed Lonergan's This is Our Youth at the Silo in 2005.
"Nothing is straightforward in this story because life isn't like that. I have read this play through dozens of times now and I'm still finding nuances and pondering the moral dilemmas."
Bell-Booth has an extensive theatre-directing background but has spent 18 months working on Shortland Street.
She says one of the joys of returning to theatre, albeit temporarily, was picking her own cast.
She was troubled about who to cast as Bill.
"I was watching In My Father's Den [Moy played Andrew, brother of Paul, played by Matthew Macfadyen] and thought, 'Why not Colin? He'd be perfect' - and he is. He brings an immense sensitivity to the part which, like all the others, is complex."
Bell-Booth describes the character as "a complete and utter bastard" but Moy is quick to argue a different side to Bill's personality, saying he is loyal, dedicated and determined but dangerous when crossed.
Surprisingly it is the first time Moy, who won a best supporting actor award for his role in In My Father's Den, has played a police officer. At more than 1.8m tall, with piercing blue eyes, he seems a natural for such a role.
It is also the first time that Shortland Street starlet Fleur Saville has played a police officer. In fact, it is the first time Saville, 22, has acted in a full-length dramatic production.
Bell-Booth, who works with Saville on Shortland Street, thought the young actor needed a new challenge.
Saville is relishing the opportunity and welcomes the support of more experienced cast members Moy, Chapman and Rawiri.
"I know everyone says it but I couldn't have asked for a more supportive cast. They have been amazing."
Moy, in turn, praises his young co-star's willingness to take risks.
"It's so exciting to watch someone growing and learning. It takes me back to when I was at that stage in my career - when you suddenly make a breakthrough and get what you have being asked to do."
While Moy continues to act, he is taking his work in new directions with playwriting. Working on Lobby Hero has been inspirational.
"There is so much going on and the more you look into the play, the richer it becomes. If I could write half as well as this guy ... "
* Lobby Hero at Silo, June 22-July 21
