Presented by the Dunedin Theatre Reviewers Collective, the event celebrated achievement across all aspects of theatre, from technical support to acting and directing, in 2022 and 2023.
Collective members Barbara Frame, Terry MacTavish, Helen Watson White, and Brenda Harwood, led the ceremony, announcing the awards across 10 categories, and presenting six special awards for Outstanding Contribution to Dunedin Theatre.
Welcoming the audience, Harwood praised the city’s "supremely talented" theatre community.
The ceremony also honoured the late Dunedin theatre doyenne Louise Petherbridge (92), who died in January, and who had been the theatre awards’ "living taonga" for more than a decade.
Her son David Petherbridge stood in for his mother during the ceremony, shaking hands and presenting the certificates to the winners.
Receiving the gift of the pounamu that had symbolised her "living taonga" status, he paid tribute to the vital importance of theatre in sustaining and enriching his mother’s life, as it had for the wider Dunedin community.
Outstanding Performance: Female role — Marama Grant for Fortune in The World’s First Lovers
Outstanding Performance : Male role — Nick Tipa for Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Outstanding Performance: Ensemble — The cast of The Pink Hammer
Outstanding Costumes — Amber Bridgman for The World’s First Lovers
Outstanding Script/Narrative/Libretto — Georgia Jamieson Emms, Anna Leese, and Kenneth Young for The Strangest of Angels
Outstanding Touring Production — Penny Ashton for Olive Copperbottom: A Dickensian Tale of Love, Gin and The Pox
Emerging Artist — Tabitha Littlejohn
Outstanding Director — Kim Morgan for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Spring Awakening
Production of the Years — Saved, Plan D Productions.
Outstanding Contribution to Dunedin Theatre
Dunedin Midwinter Carnival
Prospect Park Productions
Olveston Winter Series
The Scouts Gang Show
Dunedin Summer Shakespeare
