About

Laurel Devenie is a director, actor, teacher and theatre-maker and graduate of Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School and the John Bolton Theatre School. She has worked consistently throughout the country in many different theatrical arenas. She has been heavily involved in professional and community theatre projects in the Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Wanaka and Northland regions. She currently plays Kate Nathan on Shortland Street.

She is the Director and founder of Company of Giants (Odyssey, Giant Teeth, The Owl and the Pussycat, Rangitahua, Milk and Honey) and directs both text based work and large scale devised pieces. She is co-instigator of ONEONESIX and is heavily committed to developing an audience in this region, and contributing to the growth of a professional performing arts framework in Whangārei, as well as continuing to create original exciting work for people of all ages. She believes that growth in the performing arts sector in our region comes from supporting touring work, creating a space for the development of new work and building opportunities for local performers, young people and community members to learn how to make work that is relevant to them.  She grew up in Whangārei and attended WGHS.

Ko An Dinas te maunga.
Ko Vellanoweth te awa.
Ko Ranatiki te moana.
Ko Ingarangi te motu.
Ko Kernow te rohe.
Ko Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri o Marazion te marae.
Kei Whāngārei tōku kainga ināinei
Ko Penny Fitt tōku ingoa.

I grew up in Cornwall and worked in the UK as a performance designer from 1991 – 2003 working in theatre, dance and opera, including productions for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, Dukes Theatre Lancaster, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Almeida Theatre London and the English National Opera Bayliss Project.

In 2003 I moved to Wellington to set up the Design Department at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. I worked there until February 2017, first as Head of Performance Design and later as Associate Director and Director of Production and Design.

My own design practice here in Aotearoa has been focussed on collaborative and devised making processes which incorporate visual exploration from the outset.
My first major project here was a collaboration with Jade Eriksen, Christian Penny and David Geary: Penumbra was a devised New Zealand story spanning five decades, first performed in Wellington in 2005. Later, a second version was presented at the 2007 Auckland Arts Festival.

In 2008 I worked alongside John Downie, Christian Penny and Matthew Suttor, Kate Hawley and David Eversfield to create an Opera piece called The Trial of the Cannibal Dog, for the New Zealand International Arts Festival.

In 2009 I worked with Teina Moetara and Heather Timms to create a live performance, devised with young Maori and Somali performers. This production at the Cable Street Warehouse was the culmination of The Southern Corridor Project- a two year engagement with immigrant and maori communities of Wellington’s southern suburbs.

Between 2018-20 I was part of the creative team working on Owls Do Cry with Malia Johnstone Julie Nolan and Heather Timms for Red Leap Theatre.

Over the last three years I have been working with Puti Lancaster, Jade Eriksen and Jo Randerson. The work with each of these directors is similar in that it involves an ongoing inquiry into performance forms which are designed to build community and voice.

Alongside my artistic practice I have gained experience working with and leading staff, developing programmes of learning and carrying organisational responsibilities. During My time in Wellington I served on the board of Taki Rua Theatre for two years.

Thomas Gowing is a Whangarei-based designer and developer. He graduated with a Bachelor of Design Innovation in 2014 with a major in media design. Thomas is a member of the Company of Giants theatre collective and regularly uses ONEONESIX to create theatre and media projects.

I fell in love with theatre when I was 16 and got to be a part of one of Bill Walker’s senior WGHS shows before winding up over at NYT. Performing arts is a vital part of our community, it gives everyone a place where they can tell their stories and feel as though they fit. Northland raised but currently based in Auckland, I’m an ex-intermediate school teacher currently working in theatre production, events and artist management. ONEONESIX is a tāonga and I feel lucky to be a part of it’s story.

Ash Holwell, born in Whangārei, has trained, studied and worked as an industrial designer, artist, and theatre maker in Wellington, Rotterdam, Vienna, and Auckland. Currently based in Whangārei, his artistic practice has acted as a catalyst for urban regeneration, resource recovery, decentralised education and community engagement, through work with Company of Giants, Whare Bike, Wood Community Space, council.go., and ‘suwi circle. He holds a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Massey University Wellington, a Master of Art & Science from The University of Applied Arts Vienna, and completed the John Bolton Theatre School in 2014.

Ko Parihaka te maunga
Ko Hatea te awa
Nō Whangārei ahua
Ko Keene tōku whānau
Ko Matt tōku ingoa

Matt was born in Whangārei and went to school at Kamo Primary, Kamo Intermediate and then WBHS. He holds a bachelor of management studies from Waikato University and is a partner in a local software development business. He believes in the need for public spaces that are accessible, welcoming and allow for the incubation of ideas and projects that have a social and community focus. As well as liking music, books, art, thearte and community radio, Matt, oddly, has an interest in NFP governance. He currently sits on a number of NFP boards focusing on education and the environment and he previously chaired The Quarry Arts Centre trust and Kamo School.

I am a local creative, and have lived in Whangarei my whole life. I was introduced to the local creative scene by the awesome locals who inhabit Whangarei. I work for our family business running youth mentoring programs, life skills workshops, and motivational training programs for our young people. In my life, ONEONESIX has always been a local watering hole for creatives, and has held a space for all to enjoy. I’m glad to be a part of it and look forward to the future of ONEONESIX.