Circa Theatre

Circa Theatre is a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that was established in 1976. They present a number of plays each year in their two auditoriums, and have a unique partnership and funding model with incoming shows underpinned with a cooperative principle.

Circa Theatre was formed in 1976 by a group of actors who were reacting against what they saw as an administration-heavy professional theatre scene in New Zealand. Many of this group had come through Unity Theatre, the New Theatre and Downstage Theatre in Wellington. Circa Theatre was part of a wave of professional theatre companies in New Zealand that started with Downstage Theatre in 1964, and was followed by the Mercury Theatre, Auckland (1968), Four Seasons, Whanganui (1970), The Court Theatre, Christchurch (1971), Gateway Theatre, Tauranga (1972), Fortune, Dunedin (1973), Theatre Corporate, Auckland (1973) and Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North (1974).

The founding Circa Theatre group wanted to keep costs low and focus on quality scripts and performances. They developed a cooperative model of presenting plays and all invested their time in setting up a venue. The founding members were Ray Henwood, Carolyn Henwood, Grant Tilly, Fay Tilly, George Webby, Susan Wilson, Ross Jolly, Anne Flannery, Ian McClymont, Marilyn Head, Michael Haigh, Stuart Devenie, Gwen Kaiser, Jean Betts and Tony Lane.

In 1996 Circa Theatre published a book compiling a twenty-year history that summarises the plays and people involved from each years programme. The Circa Council at that time were Neville Carson, Rhona Carson, Peter Hambleton, Ray Henwood, Carolyn Henwood, Ruth Jeffery, Ross Jolly, Katherine McRae, Ian Nicholls, Bruce Phillips, John Reid, Grant Tilly, Jane Waddell, Linda Wilson and Susan Wilson. Grant Tilly wrote in the Circa Theatre twenty year anniversary book,

"Circa remains above all an actors theatre, a theatre whose heart is the play in performance.

Now larger in scale than in the 1970s Circa Theatre still operates with the same principles that it started with and is an incorporated society governed by Circa Council. On an annual basis Circa Council programmes the years events and presentations, and form a partnership with each of the companies that present work. The Circa Council programmes two venues, Circa One of approximately 250 seats and Circa Two of approximately 100 seats.

Circa Theatre has a standard four week run for shows with a week in between for production.

Support for Circa is received from Creative New Zealand, the Wellington City Council and other sponsors.