Love Makes the Bed It Lies In

ABOUT THE TEAM

The writer and co-director of this project is Faith Ward (she/her), a 20-year-old writer, actor, director, and now playwright from Tāmaki Makaurau, finishing her studies at South Seas Film & Television School. A music video that she's directed for local Kiwi artist Jan Hellriegel, Sportsman of the Year, has received considerable success in film festival circuits both locally and abroad including the NZ Web Fest and came third in the Australian Short plus Sweet Film Festival. Other works of hers include camp hagsploitation film Box Office Poison, spy noir Red Like the English Rose, and is currently working on post-production for religious thriller God's Favourites Fall Hardest. Drawing inspiration from kitchen sink dramas and modernist dramatists and novelists such as Harold Pinter and D.H Lawrence, Faith is delighted to bring her first theatrical work to the stage.

Also co-directing this project is Rory Janssen (he/him/they). Rory's practice involves drawing from both aspects of scripted and devised work. His latest written and directorial efforts include Swallow the Fly (as part of the Auckland Fringe Festival, 2022), Only Insecure Pussies write Shit on Toilet Walls (Coal Bunker Studio, 2019), and David Harrower's Blackbird for HLT (2019). He has studied Drama at industry leading institutions such as Toi Whakaari, Acting for Screen at South Seas Film and Television School, Performing, Screen Arts at Unitec Institute of Technology and holds a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Psychology and Drama from The University of Auckland. Both on and off stage, Rory has been involved in various shows across Tāmaki Makaurau. He has set-up and run drama groups for people with disabilities, and directed and performed in festivals such as InterACT, Going West and Auckland Fringe. As a director, he always looks forward to creating genuine and compelling pieces of theatre and working with actors to craft moving and truthful performances, bringing out the best in every aspect of a production.

The producer for this project is Mikaela Stroud (they/them), friend of Faith Ward and budding writer, director, actor and composer studying in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland. With the debut workshop of their original musical “On Replay”, Stroud is looking to build and expand their skills in the world of theatre and is excited to be producing and working on bringing Ward’s passion project to life. They met Ward during a workshop at Auckland Unitec and have crossed paths and worked on projects together many times since, now having both worked on eachothers original scripts.

The acting coach and executive producer for this project is Ryan Douglas (he/him). Stepping in as Acting Coach and Executive Producer for ‘Love Makes the Bed It Lies in’, Ryan Douglas is no stranger to the arts. As an actor (represented by The Robert Bruce Agency), voice actor, musician, composer, director, acting/vocal coach and entrepreneur, Ryan is excited to be apart of this project and cannot wait to see what LMTBILI brings to the stage.

This project is presented by Mum's Sugar Club theatre collective, that specialises in dark comedic absurdity. After a successful season at Basement Theatre during their Winter 2023 season with the debut play Is This All That You Had In Mind?, we are now in Q Loft’s Summer season with our succeeding show, Scale the Face, and are growing our theatrical catalog at a rapid pace. Dedicated to supporting the growth of young local artists, we like to hunt down the fresh, the unique & the otherwise unheard! We have a strong focus on uplifting and supporting LGBTQIA+ & POC youth - making the creation of theatre accessible to those who may have never considered it an option. We want to see what others don’t - in fact, we exclusively want to see that. This isn’t your grandma’s theatre, however - based on absurdism and in-your-face theatre, our pieces are raw, funny and strange!'

Campaign artwork by Thomas Fink-Jensen.

OUR CAST

HAROLD, the protagonist will be played by Yuvraj Patel (he/him), a 23 year-old recently graduated science teacher, teaching at Sacred Heart College. Yuvraj has absolutely loved drama and acting since high school and has continued ever since! Recently he has been a big part of AUT Performing Arts, playing roles in their respective shows such as The Multiversity, Killers With Benefits and Peter Pan 4 Grown Ups! Alongside acting he was also involved in the presidential team at AUTPA which is something he's truly honoured about. Something Yuvraj loves about acting is that allows you to step into a completely different world and you get to leave everything (including your problems and life stresses) at the door and transform into a completely different person.

ALAN, Harold's lover will be played by Nat Churches (they/he). Coming into their own having studied acting at Unitec / Te Pūkenga, Nat has worked on a number of projects both on stage and on screen over the past few years, ranging from David Mamet to Oscar Wilde, all across Tāmaki Makaurau, and is represented by The Robert Bruce Agency. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, they are always looking for ways to engage with both queerness and the arts, and with a work like this, let us just say the queerness would certainly be hard to avoid.

MAGGIE, Alan's ex lover will be played by Stephanie O'Connor (she/they). Also represented by The Robert Bruce Agency, Stephanie is a non-binary actor and writer, residing in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her life brought her to Aotearoa in 2020 and since then has published children's books, acted in theatre plays, and is working on the upcoming Rainbow Games in 2024. Stephanie studied acting and English literature in the UK, and continues to expand her knowledge with multiple workshops in this country. She is delighted to be bringing the role of Maggie to life and hopes you'll enjoy the show as much as she does. 

MRS. BURGESS, Harold's estranged mother will be played by Bekkie Lou (she/her). Bekkie is an Actor from Tāmaki Makaurau. She studied On Screen Acting at South Seas Film School in 2020. In earlier years she trained with Philip Holder at the Warehouse Workshop Screen Acting Studio. Since returning home, Bekkie has been in a number of short films, and performed in a theatre show which was directed by David Fane. Bekkie loves diving into complicated characters and has a passion for psychology and people, such as when she played the character of a love interest in the short film The Line, Directed by Everett Marston. The Line circulated film festivals and even led her to receive a Best Actress nomination in the Paris Short Films Festival.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP

The funds raised here would help us with:

• Hiring rehearsal spaces for our wonderful cast.
• Hiring The Factory Theatre to make putting on this show possible.
• To cover the marketing expenses to ensure this show gets advertised to a high standard, and to the right audience.
• Sourcing the right costumes/props/set to ensure we pull off the production design to fit our artistic vision.

Boosted is an all-or-nothing campaign, so any little bit would help and be sincerely appreciated!!

Director's Statement

Love Makes the Bed It Lies In puts a queer Kiwi spin on the "kitchen sink" genre. Writing this play has been quite an interesting journey for me, as I wrote it during a period in my life filled with creative dissatisfaction and self-reflection, which caused me to sprinkle in little bits of my own flaws, and those in my life to create relatable, yet incredibly flawed and unapologetically human characters (based on your own values, it's up to you who you sympathise with!).

Never did I think I'd get given such an amazing opportunity to bring it to life for The Factory Theatre's Auckland Pride season soon after completing it. This project is proof that throwing yourself in the deep end and taking risks as an artist only opens more doors, as I never thought I'd end up writing a stageplay- yet I couldn't be more thankful for giving it a go, and getting to work alongside three dear friends-turned-creative-partners of mine, and an exceptionally talented cast with a vast range of skills in their toolboxes.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!!

 -Faith, Rory, Mikaela, and Ryan

Love Makes the Bed It Lies In Production Team.