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2 unusual facts about Civic Theatre


Moodabe family

When Thomas O'Brien and his beloved Civic Theatre went bankrupt in 1932, the Moodabe brothers took over O'Brien's other Auckland theatres, including the Princess (later the Plaza), the Rialto in Newmarket, and the Tivoli in Karangahape Road.

The three sons used to visit their father's office in the Civic Theatre, Queen Street as they grew up, all were "promised a desk in the corner of that room and their father's supervision".


Southward Car Museum

The building also includes a 474-seat theatre, and features a 1929 Wurtlitzer theatre organ, which was originally installed in the Civic Theatre in Auckland.


see also

Geoffrey Freshwater

As a young actor, Geoffrey Freshwater was engaged in 1972 for a repertory season by Newpalm Productions at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford, appearing in productions such as Oh, What a Lovely War!.

Jay Laga'aia

Performances begin September 17, 2013, where he will perform alongside Jemma Rix at the Civic Theatre in Auckland.

Phillip Alford

Alford appeared in three productions with Birmingham's Town and Gown Civic Theatre, whose director called up Alford's mother to see if her son was interested in auditioning for the part of Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Rick Shiomi

As a stage director, Shiomi has directed at the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, The Bloomington Civic Theatre in Minnesota, St. Paul's SteppingStone Theatre for Youth, and has helmed numerous productions for Mu Performing Arts, including two by David Henry Hwang, the play Yellow Face and Hwang's revisal of Flower Drum Song by Rogers and Hammerstein.

Sean Slemon

In 2005, he filled the internal space of the Premises Gallery at the Civic Theatre in Braamfontein with two-and-a-half tons of carpet layers, a work called "Uplift:The Mountain Premises." "By entirely occupying a space with an artwork, an act that must have caused a certain degree of inaccessibility and inconvenience, Slemon sought to probe the manner in which we attempt to control the personal and public spaces that we occupy." -Jackie McInnes, SA Art Times, Issue 8, August 2006

William Trethewey

Subsequent works were a bust of Christchurch Hospital benefactor Hyam Marks, a bust of Christchurch Mayor Charles Gray (1853–1918) commissioned by Christchurch City Council, a shearer for the British Empire Exhibition in 1924–1925, and plaster work at the Civic Theatre, next to the then civic offices in Manchester Street.