Video Documentary Project

As project director of the Theatre Video Documentary, "Amateur Theatre in New Zealand: A View from Tauranga" Ken White is holding photographs, videos, programmes, press cuttings, newsletters and other materials from and about Tauranga and other New Zealand theatres. These include selected records from local theatre people and companies such as Gateway Theatre 1972-78, Company Theatre 1978-80, Tauranga Community Arts Service, and Mount Maunganui and Te Puke theatres. There are also some records of the New Zealand Players (up to 1962), Children's Art Thetre, Downstage Theatre, New Zealand Theatre Centre, Mercury Theatre, and Globe Theatre.

The published videos feature pictorial items about the history of New Zealand theatre and interviews with over 40 theatre personalities. Associated with the videos is a much larger collection and database covering a wide range of topics relevant to New Zealand theatre such as the role of the British Drama League and NZ Drama Council, touring and economics, funding and community involvement, amateur and professional isues, Maori theatre, censorship, New Zealand plays, musical theatre, education, wartime theatre, youth theatre, etc.

This collection contains topic files and references covering activities of other amateur theatres, New Zealand Theatre Federationand the Tauranga Repertory Society (taken from their minutes). These are also many British nd NZ theatre magazines, 1954-1980, additional video material (not included in the documentary), and over 8000 pictorial and reference items, such as photographs, programmes, reviews, articles, which have been numbered and indexed.