The First Time by Courtney Rose Brown has enjoyed repeat seasons and critical acclaim in Wellington at Circa Theatre and BATS.  Now a fresh, all female team bring this incredible script to Basement Theatre for its Auckland premiere.  The First Time is a significant and insightful piece of contemporary feminist NZ Theatre. The play won Highly Commended in the 2016 Playmarket Playwrights b425 Awards and was Shortlisted for Plays for the Young in 2017.   
 
The First Time tells five interconnecting stories of young Kiwi women experiencing the first hurdles of adulthood.  It compassionately addresses important issues such as mental health, sexual assault, LGBT relationships, and socio-economic struggle.  The script has been lauded as “socially insightful” (Theatreview) and “exciting, contemporary, and relevant.” (Dave Armstrong).  Playwright Brown has crafted five unique young Kiwi women, so believable that “it's tempting to think we are witnessing autobiographical sharing” (Theatreview) but indeed Brown has crafted them all, inspired by the young women around her in her native Wellington.  
 
The First Time also represents the maiden flight of Director Stef Fink - a member of Massive Company since 2009, Fink attended the drama school of Ecole Philippe Gaulier in France in 2014 and is a graduate of the 2017 Massive Company Directors Lab.  Fink is fiercely interested in politics and social conditions in NZ.  She is passionate about bringing The First Time to life at Basement Theatre utilising her background in Physical Theatre as well as her belief that it is crucial that we carve out opportunities to hear the voices of our young women.  Fink says that “as a young woman, I feel that female experiences are still not talked about enough, and I want to change that…If we know how and what our fellow humans are thinking, feeling, and experiencing, we cannot ignore it.”  
 
The First Time puts five significant female voices that are impossible to ignore, front and centre. The First Time is performed by Toi Whakaari Graduate Miryam Jacobi (Balls, Auckward Love); Unitec Graduate Carla Newton (Pan is Dead); Alex Tunui (Long Cloud Youth Theatre, Shortland Street), Kolopa Simei-Barton (Massive Nui Ensemble), and Courtney Bassett (Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Faustus Project).   
 
THE FIRST TIME plays Dates:  3rd  - 14th April, 6:30pm Venue: Basement Theatre Tickets: $12.50 - $25.00 Bookings: www.basementtheatre.co.nz or phone iTicket 09 361 1000 
 
 

 For more information contact:  Kat Glass  kat@katglasscreative.com