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Working in a hotel chain as Head of Department for Conferencing gave Kathiy Watson a lot of satisfaction. She was good at it, and with a knack for consolidating and streamlining, she achieved record breaking income in her department. But it was also stressful and demanding and taking it’s toll on her health and soul. So she resigned.

With a mortgage to manage, and no job to go on to, Kathiy said she was more than a little nervous. Her leap of faith paid off though, and on her very last day at work, she received a phone call about a six week contract to ‘look after’ Hannah Playhouse. Taking only one day to recuperate, Kathiy said was all she needed, “It was a breath of fresh air being back in an arts environment that I love.” Kathiy became permanent as General Manager with Hannah Playhouse earlier this year.

A dancer herself, Kathiy has had plenty to do with theatres over the years. She continues to dance, teach and examine, and outside of Hannah Playhouse, teaches ballet at the New Zealand School of Dance and with Deirdre Tarrant, balancing her passion perfectly with her arts management career.

Recounting her career path, which has consistently followed the pattern of corporate role then creative role, she advised, “Don’t be afraid to spend some time in the corporate world. There’s a lot to be learned there. As an arts practitioner, it’s hard to be successful without good arts managers paving the way.”

When she tells people where she works now, Kathiy said she’s often met with “Isn’t that Downstage? Isn’t that closed?” The theatre is now a venue for hire, on a mission to grow their audience and provide performance experiences for all. “We want everyone to know we’re alive and thriving and to keep their eye on us,” Kathiy said.

Kathiy highlighted the point that 1 in 5 people in New Zealand are considered to have accessibility issues. With this in mind, she is working hard to provide a welcoming and comfortable environment that meets a growing range of needs, through simple efforts like staff being able to deliver basic greetings using sign language, and ensuring font size on signage and menus, etc. is adequate for a dimly-lit theatre environment.

Offering a diverse range of theatre experiences Kathiy said, is really helping to build their audience. In addition to its more traditional theatre offerings this year, the theatre has also played home to Capital E children’s theatre productions, two operas and a rave, amongst other theatre genre.

In an effort to better support practitioners in marketing their work, Hannah Playhouse have also recently partnered with 100% New Zealand-owned ticketing platform iTICKET. While artists can choose to still ticket in-house, in opting to use iTICKET, Kathiy said artists will have access to a substantial complimentary marketing package.

For information about upcoming shows at Hannah Playhouse visit www.hannahplayhouse.org.nz