In late 2019, close friends Tane Davis and Gail Yearbury, decided to form a new performance group. This group was named Disruptive Performers, with the object of staging shows dealing with issues and themes that the other theatre companies in the area weren't doing.

 

In 2020 our debut production of "The Terrible Fate Humpty Dumpty" by UK playwright David Calcutt was produced. The cast was made up of mostly local youth talent with a few seasoned adult performers to add experience and balance. A few bumps were hit along the way due to the COVID pandemic, however we persevered. We set up rehearsals in the Kamo War Memorial Hall and after a few months of rehearsing and fundraising, we staged our production at OneOneSix. Audience reaction to our first show was extremely positive so we decided to see if we could make lightning strike twice.

 

In 2021, Disruptive Performers decided to produce “Blood High” a horror-comedy murder mystery written by co-founder Tane Davis. Many of the cast members from Humpty Dumpty returned to tackle different roles in the new show but we were also joined by many new faces who had seen our first production and wanted to join the Disruptive family. When the production was ready to be performed, we once more moved from the Kamo War Memorial Hall and back into OneOneSix and we were not ready for the reaction we received. Blood High was an astounding success for Disruptive Performers, practically selling out the season with additional chairs needed to be added each night to accommodate for more audience members.

 

Having produced two hit shows consecutively, it was decided that it was time to formalize the structure of Disruptive Performers as a limited company and become registered on the Charities Register, with the goal of producing more shows each year. The current team is made up of co-founders: Tane Davis and Gail Yearbury, with Ajay Fryer, Ben Hooper, Carla McLeod, Nicole Calvert and Susan Landeg.

 

In 2022, Disruptive Performers were invited to move their rehearsals to the Interactive Learning Centre Building on the NorthTec campus, where they began the process of producing their next play, Blood High 2 the sequel to their previous sell out show, which saw even more new faces joining the Disruptive Performers family.

 

What does the future hold for Disruptive Performers? Who knows, but we intend to keep growing and disrupting the theatre world for many years to come.