top of page

Previous Years

This page contains information about previous years' programmes.

DAFT 2023

DAFT 2023 was the second year of DAFT.

Events

The Launch Party

Red theatre curtains surround the image of many people sat at a table getting to know each other. In the foreground, the person on the left is bent over and pulling a silly face while sticking out their tongue; the person on the right is laughing very hard and having a great time!

Saturday 16th September,

5pm-7:30pm

Two/Fiftyseven
NZSL/AD

Two-FIftyseven Logo_edited.jpg

It’s back! Bolder, longer, more accessible, and with slightly more joint pain, it’s DAFT 2023!

Join us at two/fiftyseven on Willis St at 5pm to celebrate the launch of DAFT 2023.

There'll be speeches (short ones), mini performances, food, the chance to speed date an artist, and plenty of opportunity to celebrate the talent found in the d/Deaf, Disabled, and neurodiverse communities.

All welcome.

Facebook Event: The Launch Party

Your Body Is a Wasteland

Saturday 16th to

Saturday 30th September,

5pm

Online   

Sometime in the future, their world ends.

That's only the beginning. Piece together digital remnants of a forgotten world, following our protagonist as they travel the apocalyptic wastes. A deeply felt story of chronic illness, time, and hope.

When your body betrays you, where can you turn?

You will be able access the show on this website.

Facebook Event: Your Body Is a Wasteland

A person dressed in post-apocalyptic gear, wearing a gas mask

Social Sundays

Red theatre curtains surround a photo of people getting to know each other. A bearded man in the foreground wears a pink striped beanie hat and is deep in conversation.

Sundays 17th and 24th September, 2pm-4:30pm

Two-FIftyseven Logo_edited.jpg

Two/Fiftyseven
NZSL/AD

Spend time getting to know your fellow artists and build community!

Bring your crafts, your art, your writing, your favourite board games, some snacks, and hang out!

Stay for the whole time or drop in for a quick chat. Everyone welcome.

Facebook Event: Social Sundays

Five Slices of Another Life – development season

Thursday 21st to Friday 23rd September,

7pm-9pm

Sunday 24th September,

4pm-6pm

BATS Theatre
NZSL, AD  

BATS logo_edited.png
Seven different disabled and/or neurodiverse performers in the line drawing style of a graphic novel. Each member has a pop of colour on a piece of clothing they are wearing. The background is a drawn cityscape experiencing a meteor shower.

Two women wait to be rescued from a burning building. Another finds salvation in a box of chickens. Things get awkward in a cafe. A detective investigates himself, and a blind seer delivers one last prophecy.

Five new Kiwi short plays, written by and featuring disabled and neurodiverse folk – are you ready to step into another life?

This show has NZSL on Sept 21st and 22nd
Audio Description on Sept 23rd and 24th
Relaxed Performance Sept 24th

Facebook Event: Five Slices of Another Life – development season

BATS Event: Five Slices of Another Life – development season

Palsy it Up!

Red theatre curtains surround Dave's face against a purple background. He is grinning broadly and his blue/green eyes shine brightly.

Sunday 24th September,

2pm-3:30pm

Friday 29th September, 

6:30pm-8pm

BATS Theatre
AD, Subtitles 

BATS logo_edited.png

If you liked ten minutes of Dave Batten last year, you're in luck! The rest of his set is HERE in full-length glory.

Expect self-deprecation, social commentary, hearty guffaws, and unrestrained honesty.

Dave presents his comedy as a slide show with inbuilt subtitles. He is a comedian with athetoied cerebral palsy who loves making people laugh.

Facebook Event: Palsy It Up!

BATS Event: DAFT - Palsy It Up

Scratch Night

26th September,

6:30pm-8:30pm

BATS Theatre
NZSL, AD  

BATS logo_edited.png

All new performances from DAFT participants!

Witness a wide range of talent from individuals and groups! Check out how many art forms we can cram into one evening!

Bite-sized work-in-progress, raw, unpolished new and developing pieces from local writers, dancers, makers, and creatives.

Have you (a disabled and/or D/deaf artist) got something you want to share? Get in touch! You're guaranteed a live, generous, art-loving audience.

Facebook Event: Scratch Night

BATS Event: DAFT Scratch Night

Red theatre curtains surround an image of a microphone with spotlights streaming onto it.

Body of Work

Red theatre curtains surround Melanie who is pictured with her walker. Her left leg is raised and she has a grimacing smile on her face. She is wearing a '50s style outfit. The image is repeated in cartoon shadow style in purple with a yellow background.

28th September,

6:30pm-8pm

BATS Theatre
AD

BATS logo_edited.png

‘Body of Work’ by Melanie McKerchar is a poetry show that explores what it means to be a woman with a body that is chronically ill, disabled, and plus sized. There will be laughter, tears, wombs, and boobs. It is hard work loving a body that society deems unworthy, but this show shouts: all bodies are good bodies!

Facebook Event: Body of Work

BATS Event: DAFT - Body of Work

Chronic Club Caberet

30th September, 

6:30pm-9:30pm

BATS Theatre
AD

BATS logo_edited.png

Celebrate the success of DAFT '23 with MC (and festival co-director) Creatif Kate as she hosts (probably horizontally) an extravaganza of talent from all corners of the cabaret scene. Opera, burlesque, drag, and performance art like you've never seen before!

Starring: Laura Loach, Vixen Temple, ShaZaah, Blood Baby, Maggie Rose as LaLa, & more!

Stick around for the closing ceremony and after party!

Facebook Event: Chronic Club Cabaret

BATS Event: DAFT - Chronic Club Cabaret

Red theatre curtains surround and image of Creatif Kate who stands in front of a purple background. She is wearing a sparkly blue jumpsuit with lipstick and microphone cover to match.

Workshops

Accessible Improv Fun

Susan Williams and members of Silver Noodle Soup having fun

Tuesday 19th September,

10am-2pm

BATS Theatre
NZSL, AD  

BATS logo_edited.png

Learn from a fellow disabled improvisor (and festival co-director!), and throw away your inhibitions, expectations, and a decent chunk of your dignity.

Accessible Improv Fun. (A joyful taster for disabled and D/deaf people to try improv, play games, and connect.)

Facebook Event: Improv Workshop One

BATS Event: DAFT Improv Workshop with Susan Williams

Comedy Workshop

Thursday 21st September,

2pm-5pm 

BATS Theatre
NZSL, AD  

BATS logo_edited.png

Getting Started in Stand-up Comedy

A fun no-pressure overview of everything you need to know to get a mic in your face for the first time. Learn techniques for joke-writing and delivery, where and how to get practice, and how to avoid many common mistakes new performers make.

Register via BATS website. Koha (suggested $20), but pay what you can.

Facebook Event: Comedy Workshop with Neil Thornton

BATS Event: Daft Workshop - Neil Thornton's Comedy Class 

Neil Thornton smiling

Drama Workshop

Members of Silver Noodle Soup having fun

Friday 22nd September,

10am-1pm

BATS Theatre

BATS logo_edited.png

Join award-winning Silver Noodle Soup Film and Theatre Company for a drama workshop like no other! These festival favourites create a safe and joyful space.

Facebook Event: Drama Workshop with Silver Noodle Soup

BATS Event: DAFT Drama Workshop with Silver Noodle Soup

Techniques for Disabled Improvisors

Tuesday 26th September,

10am-2pm

BATS Theatre
NZSL, AD  

BATS logo_edited.png

Workshop two: Techniques for disabled improvisors. (For disabled and D/deaf performers with some prior experience, who want to take their improv skills to the next level.)

Facebook Event: Improv Workshop 2

BATS Event: Techniques for Disabled Improvisers

Instagram Improv 2 ws_edited.jpg

Writing Workshop

Creatif Kate chewing a pen

Wednesday 27th September,

2pm-4pm

Online

Join festival Co-director Creatif Kate for an online writing workshop.

Bring rough drafts, new ideas, and blank pages to shape into something special.

Suitable for all levels.

Please let the team know your accessibility needs when you sign up!

Facebook Event:  Writing Workshop with Creatif Kate

Booking Information:

Book via daftfestivalteam@gmail.com and you'll be sent the Zoom link.

Drag Workshop

Friday 29th September,

2pm-5pm

BATS Theatre
AD  

BATS logo_edited.png

Discover your drag character, create a catchy name, and bring them to life!

Learn about stage presence, song choice, incorporating your existing talents, and how to drive a crowd wild with excitement!

Facebook Event: Drag Workshop with Willy SmacknTush

BATS Event: Drag Workshop

Willy is pictured in full drag mid performance. He is wearing a royal looking purple and gold outfit, a big ginger wig, and a crown to match the outfit.

Dance Workshop

Sumara and members of WIDance are photographed in black and white, behind the DAFT theatre curtain design. Some people are sitting, some are posing, some are in motion and are blurred.

Friday 29th September,

2pm-4pm

BATS Theatre

BATS logo_edited.png

Join WIDance for a playful dance experience, where we will warm up to some fun tunes, create mini dances, and find new ways of moving and grooving on the dance floor.

Facebook Event: Dance Workshop with WIDance

BATS Event: DAFT Workshop - Dance and Movement

DAFT 2022

DAFT 2022 was the first year of DAFT.

Events & Shows 

Launch Party & Living Library

Sunday 18 September, 1pm - 3pm

BATS Theatre

Book Tickets Here

NZSL Interpreted Event

Welcome speech/es, info about the Festival programme and kaupapa…, sharing food and drinks, a living library/speed date an artist component where launch goers can meet and interview  DAFT artists about them and their creative  work. 

Welcome to the launch of DAFT - the Disabled Artists' Festival of Theatre!

We'll have welcome speeches, info about the Festival programme and kaupapa, we'll share food and drinks, and you'll find a living library where you can speed date an artist - meet and interview DAFT participants and ask about them and their creative work!  

Wellington Feminist Poetry 

Tuesday 20 September, 7.30pm

Fringe Bar 

Book Tickets Here 

The Wellington Feminist Creative Community brings you its curated Poetry Night, this month in association with DAFT.  Eight disabled poets bring their finest work to your Tuesday night, with MC Creatif Kate.  All proceeds go back to the poets.

 

DAFT x Barbarian SCRATCH NIGHT

Thursday 22 September, 7pm 

Two/Fifty Seven

(Venue entrance: 70 Victoria Street)

Book Tickets Here

Volunteer Audio Described

Scratch Night offers artists and audiences an opportunity to present short excerpts or ideas of work-in-development, offering audiences bite sized morsels of wild new work and artists an opportunity to test and present work in front of a live, generous, art-loving audience.  Come and witness some of Poneke’s finest disabled artists in what promises to be an unforgettable night.   If you are a disabled poet, dancer, comedian, writer, performer or singer and want to present your work please email Jessie

Illegally Blind 

Friday 23 September, 7pm 

Two/Fifty Seven

(Venue entrance: 70 Victoria Street)

Book Tickets Here

Integrated Audio Description

Touch Tour 6.30pm 

Tw: Ableism, fatphobia, queerphobia

Tragedy!

Hardship!!

Inspiration!!!

This. Is. NOT. That. Show.

Susan is a perfectly normal queer, fat, functionally blind, Autistic, chronically and mentally ill, nonbinary person, who just happens to be collecting diagnoses faster than they collect eel facts.

In this not-so-solo solo show, Susan just wants to get stuff done. Instead, they end up on an epic quest, battling sock-puppets, ableist audio-describers, a pile of laundry, and people who don’t provide digital copies of important documents.

Drawing on twenty years of theatre and performance skills, Susan brings their real-life experiences to the stage. The result is a whimsical romp through the world of identity and shattered expectations, mixing traditional theatre with stand up comedy, poetry, improvisation, and more silly voices than you can shake an eel at.

Content warning: Illegally Blind contains references to ableism, fatphobia and queerphobia.

Spring Shoots: Performance & Film work from Silver Noodle Soup

Saturday 24 September, 7pm  

Two/Fifty Seven

(Venue entrance: 70 Victoria Street)

Book Tickets Here

Volunteer Audio Described

Witness 2022 Wellington Airport Award Winners, Silver Noodle Soup. The Film & Theatre Company presents another legendary theatre performance programme and premiers their latest film SNS 4! SNS artists roll out the red carpet to showcase their ensemble skills in movement & song including resident writer Maggie Rose Paine’s Instruments Have a Christmas Party… where violins going by the clump, French horns sneeze and bassoons go unheeded… and some solo acts to boot!

SNS4 is a 30 minute, captioned, roller coaster ride of Silver Noodle Film Making Workshop 2021 artists doing what they love best: big song hits, drag, storytelling, dance, movie scenes, magic tricks and comedy.

Sexy Sunday Shenanigans

Sunday 25 September, 7.30pm  

Fringe Bar

Book Tickets Here

Volunteer Audio Described

Slide into Sunday evening with a truly vaudevillian variety show, featuring tantalising talent from the top tier of Wellington’s performance world. All corners of the cabaret scene are covered: burlesque, pole, comedy, drag, poetry, music, a mixture of them all – we've found only the finest for you to wind down the weekend with.  Starring: Laura Loach, Blood Baby, Nathan Bond, Vixen Temple, EJ Barrett, Dave Batten, ShaZaah, Ness Quick

 

Created, produced, and hosted by Wellington's wildest woman – Creatif Kate (winner 2021 Welly Comedy Award for Innovation).

Made possible with the support of the WCC Living Wage for Artists Fund.

Workshops 

Intro to Improv Workshop

Monday 19 September,

10am - 2pm (or come for the first two hours).

BATS Theatre

Register Here

A workshop for disabled people which puts our experiences first.  Have you always wanted to try improv, or do you already love it? 

And are you disabled or have a long term mental or physical condition? 

Come along and learn how to make theatre on the spot, have some fun, and unlock your spontaneity!

 

No experience necessary. This will be a fun jam, and an exploration of skills, for any experience level. 

Learn from a fellow disabled improvisor, and throw away your inhibitions, expectations, and a decent chunk of your dignity. As we play games, look over some basics, and have an amazing time connecting with each other, and above all, making stuff up!!! All the exercises and games are adaptable, and no one will make you do something you are uncomfortable with. The tutor is blind and neurodivergent, so the day will absolutely be blind and ND friendly. 

Inside Drag with Les Femmes

Wednesday 21 September,

11am - 1pm

BATS Theatre

Register Here

Les Femmes, New Zealand’s cabaret drag sensation is coming to DAFT! This trio of gals deliver slick vocals, tight choreography and bucket loads of belly laughs.

Come behind the scenes and grab a taste of Drag prep and performance! DAFT 2022 are excited to be hosting the Les Femmes queens for an insightful performance preparation demonstration. Join us for a fascinating window into the complex 'getting ready' process the Les Femmes queens embark on each time they prepare for a performance. From makeup design and application, to body work, wigs, jewellery and costuming - watching the queens become 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' and performance ready is an education you won't want to miss out on! You will have lots of opportunity to ask questions and talk with Les Femmes about Drag performing.

Silver Noodle Soup Drama Workshop

Friday 23 September

10am - 1pm 

BATS Theatre

Register Here

Would you like to try out drama in a no-stress, friendly and inclusive environment or check out how our Silver Noodle Soup Film and Theatre Company approaches inclusive performing arts practice? At the workshop you will meet and spend time with disabled performing artists, play games, share ideas, devise and perform pieces with a disability-led film and theatre company! Silver Noodle Soup Company members alongside tutors Madeline McNamara and Haidee Clark will lead this fun session. SNS Company members are young performing artists, film and theatre makers with intellectual disabilities and/or who are neuro-diverse. Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend this workshop!

MC Workshop

Saturday 24 September

10am - 1pm 

BATS Theatre 

Register Here

Join Creatif Kate for a beginner's guide to MCing as a person with disabilities. Learn about stage presence, crowd work, and setting the scene for shows of all kinds. Practise your skills with the class, gain confidence in front of an audience, learn how to manage your disabilities, and have fun!!

 

Creatif Kate is well-known on the poetry, comedy, and cabaret circuits of Wellington. She's a poet, producer, performer, photographer, preacher – basically, if it starts with 'p' she's in. She has done MC work of various kinds for many years and lives with multiple chronic conditions, both physical and mental.

bottom of page