The Ghosts' Soiree Development

What is it?

The GhOsts’ SOiree is an accessible, immersive performance and party. 

For ghosts, death is a level playing field. We want to create a friendly, inclusive and BANGIN event, for the audience to come, join in or not as they wish, be entertained and have as much fun as the performers. The world we present is the annual AGM and party of the Te Whanganui a Tara/ Wellington Ghost Community. It’s lonely being a ghost, unable to easily connect with the living, so an enterprising bunch of local bogies, banshees, bhoots and bugaboos have decided to bring the community together for a hui and a shindig. They are ghosts because they are stuck in painful memories, and they need us to remember the past properly in order to let go. All Ghosts and Ghost-Friendly Humans welcome.

Background

This show has been brewing for many years, since Jen, Mel Hamilton, Rosie Langabeer and a host of performers made the original Ghosts’ Soiree for the 2009 Fringe at the legendary Mighty Mighty bar in Cuba St. Over the years since then, Jen and friends have created three seasonal Halloween performance parties at her various flats, providing a terrifying/ hilarious pathway to enter the party, roving and found performances, group activities and party bands/ DJs. 

Now she wants to take the party back to the general public and use this frame to incorporate themes of history and reconciliation. 

Development Performance

This is the initial stage of the new project, and the objective is to do a trial performance party in conjunction with the Urban Dream Brokerage, in an empty retail space in downtown Wellington on October 31st (Northern Hemisphere Halloween). This will be a shortened version of the show, with the aim to debut the full show at the Loemis Festival, in June 2025. 

This project already has already acheived a thumbs up from funders, receiving a grant of $3695 from the WCC Arts and Culture Fund. This has gone on 4 actors x 20 hours of devising at $35 an hour,  some props and a stage manager/ operator for the showing. 

To devise a new show, Te Herenga Waka/Victoria University theatre department suggests around 120-150 hours of rehearsal. Getting the full funding for this at the moment has proved unachievable, but we are going to make a start and make a Scratch performance happen with 40 hours of devising/ rehearsal with your help. 

Halfway there, we need a further $4200 to pay for 18 more hours of rehearsal for the actors, a contribution towards the hundreds of hours already donated to the project by the director and production manager, and the Boosted fee. 

By partnering with the Urban Dream Brokerage, we have managed to do away with costs of hiring a venue and rehearsal venue while also bringing life back to the empty spaces of downtown Wellington. By partnering with Loemis Festival we are able to use lighting and sound equipment for the empty space and connect with an audience who has previously loved this sort of interactive, boutique, theatrical experience. 

So the money we raise is going just to the creatives for their work to make this happen.

Whooooo is it? 

Jen McArthur - director, producer, performer

Erika Grant - producer, costumes, music

Andrew Laking - production and lighting/ technical

Regan Taylor - deviser and performer

Clarissa Chandrahasen - deviser and performer

Craig Geenty- deviser and performer

Joana Joy Simmons- deviser and performer

Rosie Langabeer - stage manager and music

Jason Muir - venue provider

Leda Farrow - image design

JJ Simmons

Whanganui-born Joana Joy Redwood Simmons is a versatile performance artist excelling in comedy and dance. Recently, Joana has been making waves in stand-up comedy, earning nominations and awards across New Zealand and Australia. Her background in psychology and philosophy, combined with her multifaceted experience in the arts—including directing, choreographing, and producing—makes her a dynamic performer ready to captivate audiences in this new theatrical venture.

Regan Taylor

Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngāti Pikiao. A graduate of The Ucol Theatre School. Regan has been involved within New Zealand theatre for the past two decades as a director, actor, writer, producer and tutor. Recent theatre directing credits include: “Te Aka Tawhito” – Taki Rua Te Reo Māori Tour and “The Ragged” – Toi Whakaari Productions. Recent acting credits include:“FWB: Friends with Boundaries” 2024 co written and performed with Leona Revell and “Unreel” 2023 Te Rekau hua o te wao tapu trust Dir Jim Moriarty.

Clarissa Chandrahasen

Clarissa is an actor, writer, comedian and theatre-maker. She debuted her award-winning solo show ‘Committed’ at the NZ Fringe Festival in 2018, where she shared her story of her experience in the New Zealand mental health system. She works as a lived experience advisor in the mental health sector and as a mental health educator with trainee doctors as well as performing regularly in the stand- up comedy scene.

Craig Geenty

Craig has haunted Wellington for most of the last 25 years, occasionally appearing in plays here and around the country (especially Palmerston North) before vanishing for extended periods. He is acting in a new local play “Before We Slip Beneath the Sea” by Cassandra Tse. He earns his ghost chips spooking trainee doctors (working as a mock patient), providing corporate entertainment, and hosting the pub quiz at the Cambridge Hotel.

Jen McArthur

A trained dancer, actor and clown, Jen is a maker and performer of physical theatre from Wellington. Key career highlights to date have been touring her solo show

Echolalia to festivals in Scotland, Finland, Australia and the US, and making and touring The Lost Letter Office nationally. She is currently doing a post graduate degree in Theatre and NZ Sign Language at Te Herenga Waka/ Victoria University. Her interest is in making immersive, accessible, relevant and fun-inducing work for NZ audiences

Erika Grant

Erika is a Wellington-based multi-instrumentalist. She has played in Wellington bands “Fertility Festival” “Cookie Brooklyn and The Crumbs” and “Orchestra of Spheres”, amongst many others, and has worked with theatre groups “The Playground Collective”, “Ake Ake Theatre Company”Stephen Bain’s “The Floating Theatre”.She is currently exploring the healing and relaxation properties of sound through her gong bathing practice here in Wellington Photo by Holly Fenwick

Rosie Langabeer

Rosie is a composer, musical director and multi-instrumentalist from Auckland, NZ. Hailed by the New York Times, Langabeer’s international collaborations combine live sound with field-recordings, instruments, foley, voice and electronics to create scores for theatre, dance, installations and music ensembles. Outlets include The Audio Foundation, Pennsylvania Ballet, Chamber Music New Zealand and Carnegie Hall.