Downstage Theatre was a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, which ran from 1964 to 2013. For many years it occupied the purpose-built Hannah Playhouse building.

Venue: Downstage Theatre
Town: Wellington, NZ

Downstage Theatre was a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, which ran from 1964 to 2013. For many years it occupied the purpose-built Hannah Playhouse building. Former directors include Sunny Amey, Mervyn Thompson, and Colin McColl. The Downstage Theatre Company was established in 1964 as a professional theatre company. The founders at the inaugural meeting in the Wellington Public Library on 15 May 1964 were actors Peter Bland, Tim Eliott and Martyn Sanderson, and restaurateur Harry Seresin. Sanderson believed in a small professional company in Wellington performing challenging works in an intimate venue. Seresin owned the Walkabout coffee bar on the corner of Courtenay Place and Cambridge Terrace in Wellington, and the upper floor of the Walkabout is where the first Downstage Theatre productions were performed. Another founder was the Victoria University professor Donald McKenzie. In 1968 the company took over the whole upper story of the Walkabout coffee bar building with a remodeling that was designed by B. Woods as the major project in his final year at the Wellington School of Design. It was a theatre restaurant, where people dined and saw a show in the same space. The Downstage Theatre Company continued to operate from the Walkabout coffee bar building until plans for a purpose-built theatre building were finalised. They moved to the Star Boating Club building in the early 1970s while the Hannah Playhouse was being built. Raymond Boyce MBE, a leading theatre set and costume designer, was on the board of Downstage when the playhouse was built. Boyce became design consultant to the architects Ron Parker and James Beard, influencing the design of the flexible stage area and auditorium. The Hannah Playhouse (seating) approximately 250 people was completed in 1973. Downstage published a quarterly magazine Act about theatre that included publishing play scripts. In 1973 Downstage supported the beginning of Playmarket, a New Zealand agency for p