Jonty Hendry
Chief Executive - jonty@bats.co.nz 021 655 128
Jonty takes care of how BATS runs and grows and brings all the tools to fly BATS to the future. He is the former Artistic Director of Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre and was previously Head of Acting and an Associate Director of Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School. Jonty is a strong advocate for the arts who is regularly called on for his skills in governance, moderation and advisory.
Carrie Thiel
Creative Producer - carrie@bats.co.nz
Carrie's career has spanned live theatre and digital performance, dance, music and stunts. She values the relationships she has built in a variety of arenas including digital visual arts, mixed reality and video production. She sees interdisciplinary, experimental and collaborative work as essential to the evolution of our industry and a reflection of social context and current times.
Neenah Dekkers-Reihana
Programmer - neenah@bats.co.nz
We’re stoked to have Neenah back after her Programming Internship which culminated with Maramataka in Fringe 2020, which was unfortunately only presented once due to COVID-19. Neenah is a much loved and respected member of the BATS whānau. Her knowledge of BATS’ whakapapa and mana makes her leadership as we move into the future of what BATS could be essential.
Pearl Kennedy
Front of House Manager - pearl@bats.co.nz
Pearl has been at BATS for 3 years now, she worked her way from being a Box Office babe to being your one-stop-shop for all things Front of House.
Michiel van Echten
Lumen Bar Manager - bar@bats.co.nz
Stevie Greeks
Marketing and Communications Manager - stevie@bats.co.nz
Stevie is a keen writer, with a background in communications. She is new to the theatre scene, but is a passionate promoter of the arts. Stevie will make sure that our whānau is in the know of all things BATS. She will also be working on audience development so that we can continue to show off the amazing talent that comes through our doors.
Kristin Burns
Finance and Events Manager - kristin@bats.co.nz 022 455 6658
Kristin has called some excellent venues 'home' around the world including The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, Adelaide's Garden of Unearthly Delights, Auckland's Q Theatre and The Classic Comedy Club. She's worked a variety of roles in a plethora of events and brings this incredible experience to assist with 'behind the scenes' operations in the BATS office. She also gets to be a bit creative and plan fun things to help keep the building humming along between shows.
Brynne Tasker-Poland
Technical and Facilities Manager - tech@bats.co.nz
Brynne looks after all things technical at BATS as well as looking out for the safety of everyone who works here. Brynne has been working as a technician, stage manager, producer and designer in Wellington across many different disciplines and is here to bring those skills to help BATS whānau put on their shows.
Hannah Clarke
Partnerships Manager - hannah@bats.co.nz 021674407
Hannah joins BATS having been the Fringe festival director for eight years and The Pit Bar manager before that, as well as stints in public service, various trust board roles, and advertising. Alongside her roles in arts administration Hannah has been making theatre, comedy, puppetry, and live art at BATS and around the world as a writer, director, performer and producer. A strong advocate for emerging practitioners and ideas, Hannah is dedicated to ongoing sustainable support and development space for artists and arts communities at all stages of their practice.
Front of House Team
Our FOH team are a multi-talented bunch who you will see working at both the Box Office and bar:
Phoebe Johnson
Lennox Grootjans
Ben Ashby
Campbell Wright
Scott Williams
Molly Friis
Leah Thomas
Tyler Clarke
Olivia Flannagan
Rose Jang
Hugo Olsen-Smith
Blu Marqueses
House Techs
Hooray for our house techs! These guys are serious technical lifesavers.
Alex Greig
Darryn Woods
Isadora Lao
Tony Black
Haami Hawkins
Tane Hipango
Lucas Neal
Sam Tippet
Benny Jennings
Bekky Boyce
Niamh Campbell-Ward
The BATS Theatre Board
Our volunteer board members are awesome BATS advocates and provide a brilliant range of skills and experience that keep us flying steady.
If you'd like to contact the BATS Board about strategic or governance issues you can send an email to board@bats.co.nz. Correspondence is discussed monthly at board meetings.
For urgent matters or issues relating to the day-to-day running of BATS, please contact the theatre office on (04) 802 4176 or email General Manager Jonty Hendry on jonty@bats.co.nz
Cathie Sheat (Chair)
Cathie is a Wellington-based lawyer practising in the criminal and family courts. She has been on the BATS board for six years. Her association with BATS goes back to the late 80s when she started her comedy career, and then went on to appear in calssic NZ comedy shows like Hen's Teeth, The Lewd and the Ludicrous, International Comedy Festival Divas, Wellington's Comedy Club and the DragKings. Cathie is committeed to ensuring BATS remains a vibrant and exciting space for for new work and new practitioners. Recently, she has been focussing for her funny efforts on the DragKings and subversive embroidery.
Ed Watson
Ed is a creative communications and marketing generalist and a graduate of the Victoria University theatre programme. His day job is Marketing and Communications Manager at Ākina - a social enterprise and impact development consultancy. He's a 'lapsed' theatre practitioner having written, directed and performed in several independent and Fringe productions over the years, including at BATS. Ed knows BATS well - he was on the BATS team during the 'Out of Site' years and the refurbishment of 1 Kent Terrace. He's thrilled to have the opportunity to bring his passion for the arts and live performance to the board.
Tessa Waters
Tessa Waters is a multi award winning comedian, actor, director, writer and mentor with over a decade of experience in creating acclaimed comedy, theatre and cabaret which have played to sell-out crowds around Australia, New Zealand and the UK. She has a Bachelor of Creative Industries majoring in Physical Theatre and Arts Management, a Post Grad dip in Arts Management and trained for a year at the prestigious E’cole Philippe Gaulier in France. She has also trained extensively in Improv, Viewpoints and Suzuki physical theatre methods all of which she brings to her unique Training and Direction. She is an internationally recognised clown, comedian and theatre maker and for the past three years has run a Mentorhsip Program for femme, queer and non-binary emerging artists (Australia/UK).
Prabha Ravi
Prabha is the founder, producer, director and choreographer of Natraj School of Dance, an Indian classical dance school established in 1999 specialising in teaching Bharatanatyam. It is an ancient art form of India that dates back to over 3000 years. She has more than 100 solo performances to her credit. She has also performed for various festivals in India, Canada, USA, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Prabha’s work and contribution to dance and the ethnic community has been well recognised by the community and both regional and central government through several awards during the past decade. She was awarded The Queen Services Medal by the NZ government in 2017, Community award by Indian Newslink for her contribution to Tamil community in 2018 and contribution to Dance in 2019, Hutt City Mayoral Civic Honour Awards for Cultural Affairs and Community Group in 2011, Cultural Award from Upper Hutt Multi Ethnic Council for contributions to Art and Culture in 2013. She was also a Finalist for Wellingtonian of the Year Award in 2016 for Education. She is also a Justice of Peace.
Te Aorewa Rolleston (Intern)
Kia Ora e te whānau, my name is Te Aorewa and I am a student, artist, performer, journalism student and story-teller. I came to Te Whanganui-a-tara in 2017 and complete my undergrad teritary studies at Victoria University of Wellington majoring in Theatre and Māori resource management. I'm now doing a postgraduate diploma in Journalism. I came to BATS due to a desire to work, learn and contribute with others from the arts community towards building a healthier foundation for story-telling on the stage. As a theatre student there were often times where it became clear that belonging within a place and environment can change an artist's creative ability and perceptions. Therefore I'm here to tautoko BATS going forward so that on a governance level we can make improvements to our theatre spaces for the upcoming generation.
