BATS Theatre
BATS Theatre is New Zealand's leading venue for the development of new theatre practitioners and plays. The recently renovated venue has three intimate performance spaces and is located in the central city of the country's capital, Wellington. Most of the productions at BATS Theatre are New Zealand works. Ninety per cent of its annual programme of 60 to 70 shows are New Zealand and world premieres. BATS is largely funded by Creative New Zealand and Wellington City Council. The name BATS is an acronym of Bane & Austin Touring Society.
History
Originally created by Rodney Bane and David Austin in the 1970s BATS was established in its present form by Simon Bennett and Simon Elson in 1989. BATS began as a venue for the work of young and emerging writers, directors and actors, many of whom were graduates of Toi Whakaari, New Zealand's National Drama School. Since 1989 the fundamental philosophy of BATS has been to build a new young audience for theatre by presenting diverse, relevant and challenging performance work. BATS focuses on being accessible for both its audience and incoming theatre companies, giving support to many developing arts practitioners and new New Zealand work.