Wolf Play Programme

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Cast Emma Katene Robin

Ray Shipley Ash Andrew Todd Peter

Nic Kyle Ryan

Reylene Rose Hilaga Wolf

Production Kathleen Burns Director

Hannah McDougall Set & Props Designer

Daniella Salazar Costume Designer

Giles Tanner Lighting Designer

Dan Bain Sound Designer

Tim Bain Stage Manager & Operator

Julian Southgate Puppet Design and Construction

Deacon Henry Boxing Coach

Cherie Moore Voice Coach

Acknowledgements Hillary Moulder & Kim Garrett (Production Support), Dan Bain (Hero Image), Dr. Hansol Oh (Cultural Advice), Ted Eason (Rehearsal Room Photography), Sam Dalton (Stage Photography), Rahil Uddin (Stage Videography), Sarah Rowan (Video Editing), and Annabelle McClure of My Glam Booth.

Proudly printed by Caxton.

Running Time: 90 minutes with no interval.

Wolf Play by Hansol Jung is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. Wolf Play was commissioned by Artists Repertory Theatre. Dámaso Rodriguez, Artistic Director Sarah Horton/JS May, Managing Director Portland Oregon. Wolf Play was first produced as a National New Play Network Roling World Premiere by Artists Repertory Theatre (Oregon) and Company One Theatre (Massachusetts). Wolf Play received its New York premiere at Soho Rep., New York, NY. Sarah Benson, Artistic Director Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director. Developed By Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, Illinois. Chay Yew, Artistic Director Erica Daniels, Managing Director.

As part of IGNITION Festival of New Plays 2017.

Wolf Play staged at The Court Theatre 18 October - 22 November 2025

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Nau mai, haere mai.

We warmly welcome you to Wolf Play. Hansol Jung is the kind of acclaimed contemporary international playwright that holds an essential role within our season programming. Jung is the recipient of multiple awards, and her work is recognised for its lyrical precision, originality, and finely balanced combination of bite and warmth. Inspired by the gruelling investigative reporting into “disrupted adoptions,” Wolf Play digs deep, while also drawing upon a mischievous sense of humour and humanity.

To this, our talented creative team and cast bring their own unique creative voice and skill. In staging one of the best international voices, we also showcase the talents of Aotearoa artists. Director, Kathleen Burns, has brought together a

superb design team and cast (including one beautifully crafted and animated puppet: our Jeenu)!

Premiering exciting works such as Wolf Play is made possible by the support of funders, sponsors, and audiences who value creative, resonant theatre as much as we do. We are grateful to our core partner Christchurch City Council, core funder Creative New Zealand, our 2025 season sponsor, Ryman Healthcare, and our show sponsor, Great Journeys New Zealand. Like Great Journeys, The Court Theatre is about creating memorable experiences. We are proud and grateful to share this experience with you.

Enjoy the show!

Alison Walls Artistic Director

Hansol Jung wrote Wolf Play after reading a news article about adoptive parents using Facebook and Yahoo groups to re-home their adopted children.

The backdrop to this story is huge and complex. A program began in 1953 that saw South Korean children adopted out to families in the United States following the Korean war. Since then, thousands and thousands of these children have been adopted out.

This program was the first of its kind, provided a blueprint that would be implemented by other countries, and endures to this day. It is a fraught system, where good intentions meet ignorant saviourism; where corporate greed and political agendas exploit cultural norms and expectations.

This play can’t solve these problems.

What it can do is explore one child’s need for survival in the wake of displacement.

In the play, Wolf will tell you “Naturally, the arm folds inwards.” It’s a metaphor for the psychological reality that people instinctively favour their own.

Whether you interpret that as being a celebration of the care one has for those they love, or a critique of favouritism, there’s no escaping it being a universal truth.

This play is for people who like creative storytelling. This is for people who have a heart. I hope this play makes you feel something, makes you laugh, and makes you curious.

I’d like to acknowledge the incredible amount of work the cast, crew and creatives have put into Wolf Play.

Awwooooooo!

Kathleen Burns Director

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Ray is an Ōtautahi-based writer and performer, best known as the host and organiser of Late Night Poetry Hour - a celebration of poetry, feelings, and staying up past bedtime, which has run monthly at Little Andromeda Theatre since 2020. Ray has won the Christchurch Poetry Slam five times, and their debut poetry chapbook, published by Ngā Pukapuka Pekapeka, is due to be released in November 2025.

Ray Shipley Ash

They have performed three solo comedy shows at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival, including All This Crying Is Making Me Hungry, which was nominated for the Billy T Award in 2019. Wolf Play is Ray’s Court Theatre debut.

Emma (Ngāti Kahungunu) is a Pōneke based actor, excited to perform in her fourth Court Theatre show.

She made her debut with her performance of Anna in The Girl on the Train in 2022, played Medium Alison in Fun Home in 2024, and Olivia in Twelfth Night earlier this year. Her other theatre acting credits include Cringeworthy: Boppin in the 50’s and Swinging in the 60’s (Centrepoint Theatre), Mannbannd (Centrepoint Theatre), Pinocchio: The Pantomime (Circa Theatre), Land of the Long Long Drive (Circa Theatre), Sing to Me, and Destination Mars (Te Papa).

Emma also enjoys working as a director, sound designer, and emcee.

Emma Katene Robin

Nic has spent 18 years acting across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, Dubai and the UK – with stints in the West End, a tour with Elaine Paige, and immersive hits Star Wars and Back to the Future with Secret Cinema London as well as a guest role on Shortland Street.

Nic Kyle Ryan

Theatre credits include Kinky Boots (NZ Premiere), The Music Man, Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, Ladies Night, and Shrek The Musical. A Broadway World UK Best Actor nominee and Variety Club’s 2023 Top Male Artist, Nic is represented by Karen Kay Management & is a proud member of Equity New Zealand.

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Andrew is a multidisciplinary creative professional from Ōtautahi. Since joining The Court Jesters in 2006, his theatre career has encompassed writing, directing, acting, musical composition, and design, across more than 70 productions.

Andrew Todd Peter

Court Theatre highlights include creating AV animation for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Hedwig and the Angry Inch; adapting H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine; and performing in The Wind in the Willows and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. His play The Consummate Professional, cowritten with partner Cathasaigh Ó Fiannachta, won the 2025 McNaughton South Island Play Award. Outside theatre, Andrew works as a screenwriter, filmmaker, comedian, and consultant, and serves on the board of the New Zealand Writers Guild.

Reylene Rose is an Ōtautahi-based actor and improviser, as well as a graduate of the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA). Her Court Theatre credits include The Littlest Ninja, Thumbelina, The End of the Golden Weather, Scared Scriptless and Disney’s Frozen JR. (as choreographer). Her other theatre highlights include Me and My Nana (Cubbin Theatre Collective), Around The World in 80 Days (Anthony Harper Summer Show), and Dungeons and Comedians (Little Andromeda Theatre). Reylene’s latest project was Blood Brothers (Showbiz) where she served as choreographer.

Reylene is a member of The Court Jesters, Equity New Zealand, and is an in-house producer with Asian Waves Productions. She is the singer of the track “Backspace…

Delete” from Isolation Mixtape Volume 2 (Blackboard Theatre Collective) available on Spotify.

Reylene Rose Hilaga Wolf

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Hansol Jung Playwright

Productions: Wolf Play (Artists Rep, Soho Rep), Wild Goose Dreams (Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse), Cardboard Piano (Humana Festival), Among the Dead (Ma-Yi) and No More Sad Things (Sideshow, Boise Contemporary). Commissions: Public Theater (NY), Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, La Jolla Playhouse. Residencies/Fellowships: Hodder, Royal Court, NYTW, Berkeley Repertory, MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Sundance Theatre Lab and Page 73.

Awards: Steinberg Award, Whiting Award, DGF Award, Helen Merrill Award. TV: Tales of the City (Netflix), Pachinko (Apple+). Hansol is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, NYTW’s Usual Suspects, and The Kilroys. MFA: Yale School of Drama.

Kathleen Burns’ director credits include Fun Home, Flagons and Foxtrots, Cinderella, The Littlest Ninja (The Court Theatre), The Wedding Singer, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (NASDA), and the play reading for the winner of the 2025 McNaughton South Island Play Award, The Consummate Professional.

This play marks the first she has directed in The Court Theatre’s beautiful new building and she is so excited to share this work with you.

Hannah McDougall Set & Props Designer

Kathleen Burns Director

Hannah is a graduate of Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School (Bachelor of Design) and College of Creative Arts – Massey University (Master in Fine Arts – Performance (Honours)). Her previous Court Theatre design credits include Disney’s Frozen JR., Te Kuia me te Pungawerewere, The Sweet Science of Bruising, Christmas Carnage, Apprentice Santa, and Fun Home. She also frequents the stage as a Court Jester. Hannah has presented theatre and performance art work across New Zealand as a part of her own independent art practice throughout the last 10 years – showing at gallery, corporate, festival and public spaces, such as The Engine Room Gallery, OHO! Festival CHCH, National Library New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, (Te Papa).

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Daniella joined The Court Theatre’s Costume Department in March 2021 as Costume Technician and became Costume Manager later that year. Daniella’s Court Theatre design credits include The Girl on the Train (2022), Appropriate (2023), Dance Nation (2023), and Strictly Ballroom the Musical (co-design, 2024).

Daniella Salazar Costume Designer

Other theatre credits include production design assistant for The Effect (Auckland Theatre Company, 2024), costume design for Romeo & Juliet (Auckland Theatre Company, 2025), and costume construction for SUARA/ ORA RUA (Singapore Arts Festival 2024).

Giles is a graduate of Hagley Theatre Company (Diploma in Performing Arts), where he concentrated on technical production, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Canterbury. Currently Head Technician at The Court Theatre, Giles has worked on more than 50 Court Theatre productions including Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Mr and Mrs Macbeth of Heathcote Valley Road, A Doll’s House, The End of the Golden Weather, Black Faggot, Twelfth Night, and The King’s Speech. Giles was one of 2023’s The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Out of the Limelight Awards recipients, recognising dedicated theatre practitioners in Aotearoa.

Giles Tanner Lighting Designer

Dan Bain is ‘one of New Zealand’s most experienced theatre practitioners’ (RNZ) and is a multi-award-winning playwright, director, and standup comedian.

His audio design and composition credits include The Odyssey and Around the World in 80 Days for Anthony Harper Summer Theatre, Boudica and Jekyll and Hyde for The Court Youth Company, and Coffin Ship for Little Andromeda. You can also hear his original compositions and sound designs in his podcasts Dan Bain’s Sleepy Time Mumbles, and Angry Ladies.

Dan Bain Sound Designer

He was the Artistic Director of The Court Jesters from 20142020, the Associate Director of The Court Theatre from 2017-2020, and is currently the Artistic and Programming Director of Little Andromeda Fringe Theatre.

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The minimalism in the design was intentional, leaving space for the actors’ physicality and the emotional rawness of the narrative to take centre stage.

I aimed to strike a balance between theatrical abstraction and moments of grounded naturalism. Certain scenes invite a more realistic tone, and the modularity of the set allows for a seamless shift between these modes.

Lighting and shadows play a crucial role in deepening the surrealist tone,

distorting everyday objects and subtly emphasising the tension beneath the surface.

Ultimately, the set functions as both a psychological landscape and a physical space—unsettling, ambiguous, and always shifting. By creating a home that feels slightly “off,” I hoped to visually echo the play’s themes of displacement, identity, and the search for family, grounding them in an environment that is at once theatrical and profoundly human.

Hannah McDougall Set & Props Designer

Wolfplay Set Design : plan view 1:50 @ A3

For Wolf Play, my set design embraces a minimalistic yet deeply unsettling aesthetic, composed of uncanny domestic spaces that evoke both familiarity and distortion. Inspired by the surrealist art movement, the design seeks to destabilise the viewer’s sense of reality—mirroring the emotional and psychological dislocation central to the play. The set fragments are symbols of traditional notions of home, offering disjointed elements of domestic architecture—doors that lead nowhere, tilted walls, incomplete rooms—that suggest a world slightly off its axis. This architectural unease supports the play’s exploration of fractured identities, fluid relationships, and the primal instinct for belonging.

THE COURT COMPANY

Information accurate at time of publication

The Court Theatre Company is made up of full and part-time, casual and contracted staff, and volunteers.

Chief Executive Richard Aindow ARTISTIC Artistic Director Dr Alison Walls Associate Artistic Director Tim Bain FINANCE Finance Manager Kevin Fee Administration Assistant Fiona Haines Payroll and Accounts Administrator Annah Johnstone PARTNERSHIPS AND DEVELOPMENT Partnerships and Development Manager Sophie Hicks Partnerships and Development Account Manager Andrea Winder Grants Manager Anna Colthart Events Manager Hannah Aualiitia MARKETING Sales and Marketing Manager Virna Smith Graphic Design & Social Media Specialist Georgia Bingham Marketing Coordinator Prue Griffiths Publicist Sandra Roberts EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT Education and Engagement Manager Ben O’Brien-Limmer Education and Engagement Administrator Madeleine Murphy Lead Teaching Artist/Education and Engagement Administrator Grace von Huben TEACHING ARTISTS Daniel Allan Lisa Allan Jorja Baylee Harmony Beaven Nikki Bleyendaal Reylene Rose Hilaga Alison James Libby McMahon (Intern) Myrna Mortada Caitlin Penhey Khalil Qualls Lily Reed Stacey Schembri Tobin Smith Trubie-Dylan Smith Jamie Spyker

PRODUCTION Production Manager Annie de Senna Head Stage Manager Jo Bunce Stage Manager Louise Topping Tim Bain Head Technician Giles Tanner Lighting and Sound Technician Geoff Nunn Properties Manager Julian Southgate Properties Assistant Rochelle Wright Costume Manager Daniella Salazar Costume Technician Findlay Currie Workshop Manager Matthew Duffy Set Construction Seth Edwards-Ellis Edward Roche COURT JESTERS Daniel Allan Jorja Baylee Harmony Beaven Brendon Bennetts Kathleen Burns Nelly Campbell-Reeves Jeff Clark Kirsty Gillespie Ryan Goodwin Criss Grueber Millie Hanford Maddie Harris Riley Harter Reylene Rose Hilaga Bryony Jamison Scott Koorey James Kupa Hannah McDougall Emma Newborn Dan Pengelly Caitlin Penhey Ciarán Searle Jarred Skelton Vito Strati Gabby Wakefield Jester Musicians Gabriel Baird Deen Coulson Kris Finnerty Criss Grueber Hamish Oliver Dan Robertson Sarah Clare Judd (Apprentice) Rahil Uddin (Apprentice) Jester Producer Caitlin Penhey (Interim)

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Customer Experience Manager Rachel Vavasour Head Chef Jack Shewell Bar Manager Emilie Stear Customer Experience Administrator Erin Hills Box Office and / or Lead Hosts Haydon Dickie Becky Gallacher Amélie Harris Annah Johnstone Leanne Kearney Lorie Nell Rebecca Radcliffe Rose Spoelstra Cécile Wagener Lauren Ward Karyn Willetts Duty Managers Anthea Johnson Davinder Kaur Jana Maxova Tyranny Blu Sutherland Jack Taylor Bar Staff Beatrice Billcliff Georgia Bingham Cameron Clayton Kaitlyn Cooper Haydon Dickie Sienna Gutsell Sienna Holland-Reiser Eva Lynch Rory O’Sullivan Lucy Vaughan Helen Vessey Ella Waldron Kitchen Staff Callum Andrews Tilly Cox Vesper Cox Luke Hyndman Liam Tait Oliver Tippett Harry Tong Alex Vannucci OPERATIONS AND FACILITIES Operations and Facilities Manager Flore Charbonnier Project Manager Tom Clisby Project Manager - The Shed Mandy Perry Venue Coordinator Benny Joy Smith

TRUST BOARD Executive Chair Steve Wakefield Deputy Chair Anne Newman Board Andrea Bankier Paul Bryden Pete Glasson Jenny May ONZM Tanya McCall Georgina Toomey Steven van der Pol Secretary Pauline Hayes FOUNDATION BOARD Chair Hall Cannon Treasurer Christopher Weir Board Jill Bromley Carolyne Grant Mark Hadlow ONZM Patron Cilla Glasson FRIENDS Patron Ben Gough Chair Annie Bonifant Deputy Chair Cheryl Colley Secretary Charles Duke Treasurer Lynn Vandertie Membership Secretary Helen Crooks-Scarf Committee Andrea Bankier Pat Braithwaite Carolyne Grant Jenny May ONZM Jay Pollock Raewyn Raynel David Winfield FELLOWS / ASSOCIATES Bryan Aitken Philip Aldridge ONZM Stuart Alderton Paul Barrett Annie Bonifant Judie Douglass Tony Geddes Ross Gumbley John Harrison ONZM Joe Hayes Geoffrey Heath Elric Hooper MBE Avril Lockhead Yvonne Martin John McSweeney Lynda Milligan Eilish Moran Felicity Price ONZM Stewart Ross

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2026 Season