Smoke Labours Productions

Kia ora y’all!

The last piece of public-facing work I’ll be doing this year is a playreading of a new show I’ve written, with the goal being a big ol’ premiere in 2026.

The details are below, would love to see a bunch of you here. I’ve been working on this one across 2024 and 2025, and think it’s (humbly) one of the best things I’ve ever written.

HOW TO WIN AT LOVE AND ART
Silo Hall, December 14, 7:30pm

Starring Vincent Andrew-Scammell, Max Crean, Bronwyn Ensor and Angus Stevens.

This romantic drama follows four theatre artists as they fall in and out of love with each other while rehearsing a show. When you put your soul on the line, what comes first: love or art? Does the show actually have to go on?

A Rich Man opened last night at The Old Folks Ass!

Tickets are selling fast for the rest of the week, so get booking via the link in our bio.

Production stills by the incredible .

Introducing our writer and director Sam Brooks.

His plays include Burn Her, Lads on the Island, Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys and most recently the critically acclaimed production of From Another Woman at Basement Theatre earlier this year. As a journalist, he wrote for The Spinoff for a number of years, and has recently had bylines with Metro Magazine, Ensemble and Sunday.

Book tickets for A Rich Man in our bio! Opening night is sold out, but tickets are still left for other nights.

The two brilliant actors rounding out the cast of A Rich Man are

Alice Pearce (Twelfth Night) as Alicia
and
Sheena Irving (The Brokenwood Mysteries) as Rose

A Rich Man opens NEXT WEEK at The Old Folks Ass, running between August 5 and August 9.

Book tickets at Eventfinda, or the link in our bio.

Today, we’re introducing the fantastic actors playing the four young men awaiting their fate in the manor in A Rich Man.

They are:
Dan Cockerill (You’re Out)
Max Crean (n00b)
Mark Chayanat Whittet (from our previous production, The Perfect Image)
Sean Rivera (Scenes from a Climate Era, and also from The Perfect Image).

A Rich Man opens NEXT WEEK at The Old Folks Ass, running between August 5 and August 9.

Book tickets at Eventfinda, or the link in our bio.

The scripts for Firing the Canon are all printed and ready to read!

We’re on at Basement Theatre all week!

The second play being read in Firing the Canon is Smashed by Tawhi Thomas on July 9!

This dark comedy follows a spunky crew of teens work, groove, laugh and fight their way into the future in a punchy series of short theatrical vignettes with a theme of kids under pressure.

The cast is:
Kasi Valu as AJ
Poe Tiare Taroro as Grace
Shervonne Grierson as Alice
Finley Hughes as Jimmy
Louise Jiang as Levi
Dylan Thuraisingham as Keene
Tāne Poutu as Jason
Brit O’Rourke as Twitch
Holly Stephens as Mel
Ben Hudson as Chris
Dan Cockerill as Luke

Directed by Mark Chayanat Whittet

This series is produced by Smoke Labours Productions.

All playreadings in the Firing the Canon series are free, presented by arrangement with Playmarket NZ and proudly supported by the Auckland Council and the City Centre Targeted Rate.

Tickets can be reserved at the link in bio.

The third play being read in Firing the Canon Rēwena by Whiti Hereaka, directed by Cian Parker on Thursday July 10.

Maggie, the proprietress at the local gastro pub, The Thymus of the Lambs, is holding a class in Rewena making on the night of the final of popular reality TV series A Baker’s Dozen. Rumour has it that the local boy finalist, Neill, was taught to cook by Maggie in this very kitchen; but Maggie’s not one to gossip.

Whiti Hereaka is an award-winning playwright and novelist, winning the most prestigious award for playwriting in New Zealand (the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award) and for fiction (the Ockham Prize for Fiction for Kurangaituku). Rēwena premiered at Centrepoint Theatre in 2013 to rave reviews.

This series is produced by Smoke Labours Productions.

All playreadings in the Firing the Canon series are free, presented by arrangement with Playmarket NZ and proudly supported by Auckland Council and the City Centre Targeted Rate.

The second play being read in Firing the Canon is Smashed by Tāwhi Thomas, directed by Mark Chayanat Whittet, on Wednesday July 9.

This dark comedy follows a spunky crew of teens work, groove, laugh and fight their way into the future in a punchy series of short theatrical vignettes with a theme of kids under pressure.

Tāwhi Thomas is best known for plays Have Car Will Travel and Hui, and this marks this play’s Basement Theatre debut.

This series is produced by Smoke Labours Productions.

All playreadings in the Firing the Canon series are free, presented by arrangement with Playmarket NZ and proudly supported by Auckland Council and the City Centre Targeted Rate.

If you happen to be in Wellington, you should book tickets for Lads on the Island, also written by Sam Brooks, and it runs until March 2.

Lads on the Island – Circa Theatre Ariel and Prospero are just a couple of lads. A couple of lads who really love each other (but not like that). A couple of lads bound to one another – on an island of their own enchanting. Stubborn Prospero is going through a break-up, so Ariel is left to pick up the pieces. They muster up the ess...

We opened The Perfect Image last night! It's on until February 24 at LOT23 Studio, and you can grab tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-perfect-image-tickets-764228426797

Photography: Jinki Cambronero