Venue: Playhouse Theatre, Glen Eden
Address: 15 Glendale Road, Glen Eden, Auckland
Town: Waitākere Ranges, NZ

The Playhouse Theatre is a performing arts centre situated in Glen Eden, New Zealand. The building was constructed in 1937 following a fire that destroyed the Glen Eden Town Hall that was on the site at the time. The Theatre has continued to serve West Auckland, initially for civic and community functions and events, moving into cinema and theatre productions by the 1970s when the name of the building officially changed to The Playhouse Theatre. Various theatre groups that had used the venue eventually amalgamated as the Waitakere Playhouse Theatre Trust in 1997. After considerable fundraising, the building was upgraded and in 2003 reopened as a modern performing arts facility. In 1901, at the site of the Glen Eden Playhouse Theatre, Glen Eden's first public hall was opened by local MP John Bollard. The social life of the Glen Eden community (then known as Waikumete) revolved around the hall, which was used to show films and hold town boards meetings, dances and political meetings. In 1935, the hall burned down. A design for the replacement building was noted in the NZ Herald on 22 May 1935 as being a "modern version of a Georgian type...rectangular in shape with protruding wings at each corner...and the main auditorium, with a seating capacity of 500 and requisite kitchen and dressing rooms, a small library and municipal offices". When the new building was officially opened on 12 May 1937, it had Town Board Offices but was also "suitable to be used as a library, dance venue, for school and community events as well as Indoor Bowling tournaments". It was clear, however, that it would function primarily as a cinema and after the town offices and library moved, the building became known as the Star Theatre, a name it retained until 1972 when it officially closed due to "declining financial viability". In 1967, there was a recommendation from the Glen Eden Borough Council's engineer that $1,400 be spent on repairing the building. In light of this, and the possibility of