By Sally Blundell of Frank Film
The lights go down, the audience quietens, three actors step out on to the wooden stage of The Piano in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
"Ladies and gentlemen…. May I present, the Matariki All Stars…"
Te Haerenga Ki Matariki - Journey to Matariki, written and performed by Christchurch's Inclusive Performance Academy, is a lively hour-long performance of plot, song - including renditions of 'Moon River' and 'When You Wish Upon a Star' - cartwheels, jokes and a "Matariki festival bus" made from a souped up wheelchair.
As the lights come up, the cast bows deeply, the audience cheers and applauds.
"Every single show I'm terrified that it's going to be a disaster," says academy founder Fiona McKenzie.
"But every show it all works out - of course it works out, with a cast like this and an audience who is so supportive."
McKenzie, a successful TV scriptwriter, director and journalist, established the Inclusive Performance Academy four years ago, just weeks before the first Covid lockdown.
Her daughter Claudia, now 25, was born profoundly disabled, and while she has been on the waiting list for supported living for close to five years, she remains under the full-time care of McKenzie and partner Steve Sutcliffe.
"Having a child like Claudia, we couldn't go bike riding, we couldn't go skiing, we couldn't have those other family things," says McKenzie.
Te Haerenga Ki Matariki - Journey to Matariki being performed. Photo: SUPPLIED
But with McKenzie's experience, and the developing interest in film by Claudia's younger brother Jasper Sutcliffe - now a film director and actor in his own right - they could, says McKenzie, "point a camera at each other and make something funny".
As their daughter grew up, McKenzie realised there was a whole cohort of young people living with a disability with little to do during the day but who had an abiding passion for performance.
"There's plenty of wheeling out to be an audience, but there's not quite so much opportunity to be the ones putting on a show," she says.
From her former home in Geraldine, McKenzie began organising local productions performed by - not about - people with disabilities.
Now based in Christchurch, the Inclusive Performance Academy introduces participants to story-writing, acting and choreography, culminating in twice yearly plays, and this year a film, driven by the experience of the founder, the enthusiasm of the actors and the support of families.
On the evening of Te Haerenga Ki Matariki - Journey to Matariki, family members, rugged up against the bitter June night, share hugs and laughter.
"Once your kids have left school you tend to be a little bit more isolated as a family," says McKenzie.
"You don't get a lot of opportunities to catch up with other families that often, so it is quite nice to see all the chatter in the foyer."
"He loves the academy", enthuses the parent of one of the actors.
"He says, 'I'll make you proud Mum'," says another. "I go, 'You always make me proud'."
Backstage, the actors are fizzing with glittering costumes, nerves and anticipation.
"It's really quite exciting that we are going to be performing in front of our families," says cast member Mark.
The performance is an obvious success but there is no time for a second curtain call.
By the time the applause has died down, members of the cast and crew have piled into McKenzie's Rav 4 and are heading to the Hoyts cinema for the screening of their short film Birdy Nom Nom, the academy's first entry into the 48Hour film competition, made under the direction of McKenzie and son Jasper, and one of the finalists in the regional Best Director category.
While Claudia was unable to take part in the stage performance, after being rushed to hospital for emergency surgery a few days earlier, she does feature in the film as a friendly, if slightly suspicious, neighbour.
Birdy Nom Nom missed out on the top award but the actors did reach the venue in time to see themselves on the big screen.
"That was worth coming for," says McKenzie. "That was really fun."
