Late start for a local playwright
At 83, Waipukurau’s Sue Avery has become a playwright and director.
“I’ve dabbled in writing for many years, but I’d never written a play before,” said Sue, whose one-act play, The Waiting Room, is a semi-finalist in the Women’s Institute’s national play-writing competition. It will be performed at the Institute’s national conference in Lower Hutt on May 29.
A comedy, the 20-minute play centres on four women chatting to each other in a doctor’s waiting room. After performing it for the first time at the regional finals in Palmerston North earlier this month, Sue and her cast of four actors, all members of O¯ tawhao/ Takapau WI, debuted the show with a performance for the CHB U3A Group — of which Sue is also a member — at the Waipukurau Bridge Club last week.
“It went very well. They all really enjoyed themselves,” she said, though she admitted that given the age of the cast and crew (her youngest actor is 65), there was some work to do before the conference.
“There’s been a certain amount of trouble trying to remember lines, but we are getting there,” she said. CHB U3A president Rose Chapman said her members thoroughly enjoyed the play.
“The fact that Sue’s 83 and has written this play and it’s in the final of a national competition, we think it’s wonderful that one of our members has produced something so amazing and interesting,” she said.