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SO YOU THINK YOU KHANDALLAH

A TOTALLY IMPROVISED SOAP OPERA ABOUT FITTING IN, STANDING OUT, AND FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS

· media release,nzi comedy festival
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"You’ve got talent. Now let's see what we can do with it."

It's 1982 and we're gonna live forever, but first we have to go through the blood, sweat and tears of Khandallah Academy of Performing Arts. From the creators of Deep Space Naenae, Lyall Baywatch, and Mirror Miramar comes a brand new serial. Follow the ongoing story nightly or tune in for just one episode!

SO YOU THINK YOU KHANDALLAH is an improvised soap opera celebrating and satirising everything we love about shows like Fame, Glee, Step Up 2: The Streets, and anything else with dramas and ponytails as high in the studio as they are in the limelight. Each night we’ll follow the students of KAPA navigating adulthood, romance, and dramatic arts assignments, accompanied by epic dance numbers, soulful songs, and melodramatic monologues created on the spot!.It’s heartfelt, hilarious, and high-kick heavy.

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“We’re offering something a little different to other comedy festival fare,” says director Clare Kerrison. “We get our belly laughs from heightening recognisable characters and our improvised storylines from our commitment to those characters. It's soap opera meets sitcom meets coming of age saga - plus leg warmers.”

Director Clare Kerrison is a NASDA graduate, actor, dancer and improvisation tutor, and has been a core member of Soap Factory since 2016. Her experience with the soap opera format ranges from co-directing and performing in the first two seasons of The Young and the Witless (Wellington Improv Troupe) to playing a major character for a year in Bristol's 'Closer Each Day' - a regularly sold out soap opera that has played fortnightly for 6 years. This is her first time leading a Soap Factory production, for which she has put in many hours of research (specifically, watching huge amounts of soap opera and dance academy movies on Netflix).

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Soap Factory are the ensemble behind 13: The Soap, Lyall Baywatch, Deep Space Naenae, and Mirror Miramar, garnering nominations for Best Improv and Outstanding Ensemble for their work in NZ Fringe. Specialising in improvised soap opera marathons, So You Think You Khandallah marks Soap Factory’s first nightly season, first musical soap, and NZ International Comedy Festival debut. Ensemble members hail from across the Wellington improv scene, and have been joined by various national and international guests.

“Countless moments of improvisational gold” - Theatreview
“Impressively epic improv” - Theatreview

Featuring: Christine Brooks, Matt Hutton, Sam Irwin, Liam Kelly, Jennifer O'Sullivan, Matt Powell, Dianne Pulham, Tara Swadi, Wiremu Tuhiwai
Directed live by Clare Kerrison and Luke Rimmelzwaan (AU)
Lighting design by Darryn Woods

SO YOU THINK YOU KHANDALLAH - NZ INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL

Dates: 6:30pm 21-25 May, 60 minutes
Venue: The Random Stage at BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace
Tickets: $15-20 from www.bats.co.nz or call 04 802 4175
More info: comedyfestival.co.nz 

Graphic design by Hadley Donaldson

Photography by Jason Aldous

For more information contact:
Jennifer O’Sullivan