KEY POINTS:
Room 9 of the Seabreeze Motel: faded sheets, stained teacups, shaken by the roar of trains thundering along the main trunk line. Travel around a bit and sooner or later, you will encounter a place like the Seabreeze.
Because of its uncomfortable familiarity, it has become the blank
page upon which a group of Auckland playwrights have created eight short plays.
They include stories about double-bookings, thwarted romance, success and failure, rugby tours and pregnant school-girls.
The Auckland Playwrights' Collective hopes its debut production, Motel Nights, which brings the separate stories - each one 10-15 minutes long - together on the same programme, will help its members establish reputations as writers to take note of.
Rex Armstrong, Laurence Dolan, Bronwyn Elsmore, M.E. MacDonald, Brett Simpson, Patrick Graham, Thomas Sainsbury and Sally Sutton started the collective last year after completing the 2005 Playmarket Auckland Playwrights Studio.
The studio met weekly for 12 weeks, providing budding playwrights with a forum to discuss a range of classical, modern and contemporary plays, as well as their own work. The collective was born to carry on momentum and give members - who often work in isolation - support and feedback on their projects.
But, say MacDonald and Dolan, the whole point of writing is to share stories and connect with others so they want their work to be seen.
The Stamp programme, set up by The Edge as a proving ground for emerging playwrights, production companies and performers, is giving the collective that chance.
"We could not have done it without Stamp," says MacDonald. "It is such an important forum for the development of theatre in Auckland. That it allows work to be performed in a decent venue by professional actors is validating."
Elsmore, an established author and creative writing teacher, says Stamp's commitment to the performing arts provides a much-needed Auckland home for nascent talent.
"Until now, nothing like this has existed. It is terribly exciting," she says.
The collective has been planning Motel Nights for around a year.
They agreed on a setting for their respective stories, appointed Tony Forster as director and held workshop-style auditions for the cast of four: Tom Kane, Jared Turner, Tracey McGuire and Marion Shortt.
From the outset, they wanted Motel Nights to be as professional as possible and they have all invested a little of their own money in the production.
"It is not a play in a back-water hall with some mates doing the acting," says Dolan. "We are paying the actors; we are paying the crew."
The collective hopes to draw audiences from those who attend its Read Raw evenings. These public readings for full length plays are held monthly at the Pioneer Women's Centre and usually attract around 40-50 people.
Dolan says members have been pleasantly surprised by the numbers and the quality of the feedback they provide.
It shows, too, that interest in Auckland's performing arts scene is strengthening.
ON STAGE
What: Motel Nights
Where and when: Herald Theatre, June 26-30
