Helen Moran
Helen Moran trained at the Drama Studio in Sydney and has worked in NZ theatre since 1989, as an actress and as a theatre artist who has produced her own work. (See here for actress bio). While performing in a number of Mervyn Thompson productions in Christchurch 1989 and 1990, she produced and performed in 2 touring solo shows: Swallowing is a Very Private Thing and Towering.
From 2003 when she was employed as Education Coordinator for the Fortune Theatre Helen began to produce young people’s theatre. She has produced 21 youth theatre projects with the upcoming IMAGINE Youth Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland being her 22nd. From 2006 – 2010 she created and produced her solo shows Skeleton Woman and then The Bone Keeper’s Story which have been performed in Wellington, Dunedin, Timaru, Christchurch and Okarito.
She and Martin Howells formed One Man Banned Productions in 2013 and Helen produced The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice in 2013/4 and in July/August 2015 she produced Once on Chunuk Bair at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand at Wigram as part of the WW100 commemorative events in Canterbury.
As One Man Banned’s Producer, she is currently excited to bring Karen Zelas' Poverty and Muse to Christchurch art lovers as a boutique theatre collaboration with the Christchurch Art Gallery. She is also currently planning to produce Martin Howells’ drama Once a Welshman in Christchurch in 2018 or 2019.
From 2003 when she was employed as Education Coordinator for the Fortune Theatre Helen began to produce young people’s theatre. She has produced 21 youth theatre projects with the upcoming IMAGINE Youth Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland being her 22nd. From 2006 – 2010 she created and produced her solo shows Skeleton Woman and then The Bone Keeper’s Story which have been performed in Wellington, Dunedin, Timaru, Christchurch and Okarito.
She and Martin Howells formed One Man Banned Productions in 2013 and Helen produced The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice in 2013/4 and in July/August 2015 she produced Once on Chunuk Bair at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand at Wigram as part of the WW100 commemorative events in Canterbury.
As One Man Banned’s Producer, she is currently excited to bring Karen Zelas' Poverty and Muse to Christchurch art lovers as a boutique theatre collaboration with the Christchurch Art Gallery. She is also currently planning to produce Martin Howells’ drama Once a Welshman in Christchurch in 2018 or 2019.
Martin Howells
Martin was born in Neath, South Wales, and lived in London until moving to New Zealand in 1988. He lived in Auckland before coming to Christchurch in April 1994.
Martin studied dramatic arts at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was winner of the City of London Performers Prize & the Director’s Prize for the best student production. After graduating, amidst acting contracts, he continued to develop skills in directing and scriptwriting.
Martin has had the opportunity of working with some of the world’s finest directors and actors including: Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Peter Hall, Albert Finney, Dorothy Tutin, Ben Kingsley, Bob Hoskins, Richard Briers and Tim Curry.
He has appeared as a leading and supporting lead actor in over fifty repertory and independent productions throughout the UK, including with The National Theatre Company and The Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also appeared in many television productions for BBC and UKTV and in independent films.
Since moving to New Zealand, his stage career has mainly centred around the Court Theatre, Christchurch, where he has played in around 30 productions. He has also appeared in Macbeth at The Aotea Centre, Auckland, and has acted in a number of independent productions. From 2000 – 2004, Martin was CEO and Artistic Director of The Fortune Theatre. Since his return to Christchurch he has worked on both Court and independent projects.
He and Helen Moran formed One Man Banned Productions in 2013 as an independent professional Christchurch theatre company. He directed and performed in The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice (One Man Banned Productions 2013/2014), and directed Geography of Loss (Lightning Productions, in association with One Man Banned Productions), in Christchurch in 2014. He directed Maurice Shadbolt’s masterful war drama Once on Chunuk Bair at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand at Wigram as part of the WW100 comemmorative events in July/August 2015.
Martin has written and directed 18 children’s productions for Imagine Youth Theatre in Christchurch between 2006 and the present.
He has written a variety of scripts for successful theatre, film and television productions, including:
Martin is also an author. He wrote a full-length book after extensive research, proposing his own theory about the identity of Jack the Ripper - The Diary of Jack the Ripper - with Keith Skinner, and was for some time one of Britain’s leading “Ripperologists”.
Martin has taught drama in both the UK and Christchurch, and directed 20 IMAGINE Youth Theatre Community theatre productions which feature core casts of professionals and 3 troupes of young people who work on stage with experienced theatre professionals.
He is thrilled to be working on Karen Zelas’s Poverty and Muse to honour the 70th anniversary of feisty New Zealand-born artist Frances Hodgkins.
Martin studied dramatic arts at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was winner of the City of London Performers Prize & the Director’s Prize for the best student production. After graduating, amidst acting contracts, he continued to develop skills in directing and scriptwriting.
Martin has had the opportunity of working with some of the world’s finest directors and actors including: Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Peter Hall, Albert Finney, Dorothy Tutin, Ben Kingsley, Bob Hoskins, Richard Briers and Tim Curry.
He has appeared as a leading and supporting lead actor in over fifty repertory and independent productions throughout the UK, including with The National Theatre Company and The Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also appeared in many television productions for BBC and UKTV and in independent films.
Since moving to New Zealand, his stage career has mainly centred around the Court Theatre, Christchurch, where he has played in around 30 productions. He has also appeared in Macbeth at The Aotea Centre, Auckland, and has acted in a number of independent productions. From 2000 – 2004, Martin was CEO and Artistic Director of The Fortune Theatre. Since his return to Christchurch he has worked on both Court and independent projects.
He and Helen Moran formed One Man Banned Productions in 2013 as an independent professional Christchurch theatre company. He directed and performed in The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice (One Man Banned Productions 2013/2014), and directed Geography of Loss (Lightning Productions, in association with One Man Banned Productions), in Christchurch in 2014. He directed Maurice Shadbolt’s masterful war drama Once on Chunuk Bair at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand at Wigram as part of the WW100 comemmorative events in July/August 2015.
Martin has written and directed 18 children’s productions for Imagine Youth Theatre in Christchurch between 2006 and the present.
He has written a variety of scripts for successful theatre, film and television productions, including:
- a full length stage adaptation of The Jungle Book for The Court Theatre;
- The Rewi Alley Roadshow, a theatre presentation to promote the centenary of Rewi Alley’s birth;
- Skycrane, a thirteen part film series;
- Space Knights, a space fantasy for children, produced by South Pacific Pictures;
- Icebreaker, a thirteen part documentary series on the Soviet Republic;
- Shortland Street;
- The Diary of Jack The Ripper, a ninety minute drama / documentary about the recently discovered diary supposedly written by the perpetrator of the Whitechapel Murders of 1888.
- adaptations of fifteen different traditional tales for IMAGINE Youth Theatre productions., working on the sixteenth (Alice in Wonderland) now!
Martin is also an author. He wrote a full-length book after extensive research, proposing his own theory about the identity of Jack the Ripper - The Diary of Jack the Ripper - with Keith Skinner, and was for some time one of Britain’s leading “Ripperologists”.
Martin has taught drama in both the UK and Christchurch, and directed 20 IMAGINE Youth Theatre Community theatre productions which feature core casts of professionals and 3 troupes of young people who work on stage with experienced theatre professionals.
He is thrilled to be working on Karen Zelas’s Poverty and Muse to honour the 70th anniversary of feisty New Zealand-born artist Frances Hodgkins.
