One windy evening in the capital, a young couple sat around their kitchen table and cooked up a story. This story turned into a play. This play turned into a company that would head out and take on the world.

This is the story of Trick of the Light Theatre.

The 28th Nelson Arts Festival kicks off on October 20, just ahead of Labour Weekend. With so many events on offer the city will be buzzing with entertainment, offering holidaymakers the perfect minibreak.

The family friendly event that is Halloween in the Park returns for its unluckiest 13th ghostly year at Mt Eden Village on Saturday 29 October 2022, with FREE entertainment for kids of all ages. Come along in costume and get your scare on with spot prizes, spooky science, fortune telling, graveyard tunes and so much more from 12 – 2pm.

The world premiere of anarchically cheeky, genre-messing black comedy The First Prime-Time Asian Sitcom, transforms Q Theatre’s Loft into a fast-paced live TV studio. Playing November 3 – 27, this show blazes with canned laughter and trash talk, disarming audiences to consider stereotypes, commodity culture - and what the hell ‘Pan Asian representation’ really means.

The annual Auckland Fringe festival 2022 is thrilled to announce the winners of the Auckland Fringe Awards. The awards held at The Factory in Onehunga (Part of Kete Aronui) closed the festival with a celebration of the three-week fest, which saw a dazzling programme of over 70 shows and performances across Tāmaki Makaurau.

Over one hundred installations, exhibitions, guided walks, murals, performances, talks, markets, and workshops are set to bring life to the city centre for a celebration of Spring with Art in the City 2022.

NZTrio are set to close out their 20th year with Legacy 3, the final spellbinding programme in a magnificent 2022 series. Continuing a brimming year of performances, NZTrio will captivate audiences at Pah Homestead Auckland (6 Nov) Public Trust Building Wellington (9 Nov), Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber (17 Nov), Whittaker’s Musical Museum Waiheke (20 Nov), Lawson Field Theatre Gisborne (6 Dec), The Lodge at The Hills Arrowtown (7 Dec) and Nelson Centre for Musical Arts (9 Dec).

Te Pou Theatre’s annual Kōanga Festival celebrates the return of spring by laying the foundations for new Māori storytelling to thrive in Tāmaki Makaurau. From 23 September - 8 October, the festival brings audiences and artists together in a programme brimming with theatre, music, knowledge sharing, free whānau fun and kōrero.

New Zealand’s largest wildlife hospital and rehabilitation centre is appealing for public support as they prepare for an influx of baby birds.

Auckland’s leading theatre for children, Tim Bray Theatre Company brings back a modern classic, The Whale Rider, beloved by children and parents alike! Hailed as the ‘most intelligent Tim Bray production’ (KickArts, 2014) - the show swims across Tāmaki Makaurau this Spring.

Following the successful 2022 release of the award-winning documentary film of the same name, A Boy Called Piano the stage show is embarking on a national tour to Pōneke Wellington, Dunedin Arts Festival in Ōtepoti, Ōamaru, Hawkes Bay Arts Festival in Te Matau-a-Māui, Ōtautahi Christchurch and Auckland Live in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland from October 04, 2022.

Audiences across Aotearoa can join in the fun of Auckland’s favourite night-time playground, the Auckland Live Cabaret Season, through a brand-new online experience: The Virtual Wintergarden.

Media are invited to film, photograph and interview the audacious artists that come together for the annual Auckland Live Cabaret Season from 14 - 25 September.

World renowned physical theatre and contemporary circus performer Thomas Monckton is back with his Auckland Arts Festival smash-hit: renowned one man show The Artist, blending physical theatre, dynamic clowning, and outrageously funny storytelling. Adding to the already impressive tally of over 100 performances, this highly acclaimed solo show will hit two local arts festivals around the country in October and November culminating with a return season at Q Theatre’s Rangatira, 8 - 12 November.

Beloved New Zealand author Janet Frame’s landmark novel is brought to life on stage by the iconic theatre company Red Leap. Filled with fierce heart and visual splendour, Red Leap’s Owls Do Cry made its world premiere in Frame’s childhood hometown of Ōamaru, followed by sell-out seasons in both Tāmaki Makaurau and Whangārei, and a South Island tour in 2021. This year it is going on tour, to Hamilton and Wellington from 26 October – 13 November.