A refreshing definition of success: Drafting rich stories on crip time

“When you’re given space to be authentic, to try different things, to experiment… you’re going to find more in the words and in the storytelling,” says Helen Vivienne Fletcher, one of three dramaturges for First Draft, a production which showcases early drafts of plays written by d/Deaf and disabled writers.

The showcase of eight works, premiering this week at The Hannah Playhouse in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, covers a vast range of themes and genres. 

Some of the plays include song and dance, while one is entirely without dialogue. Some stories delve into bereavement or living with disability, while other stories revolve around absurdist fantasy or preventing a time paradox.

Each staged reading is 20-minutes long, followed by 30 minutes of kōrero between the writers and the audience. Writers will use feedback from the audience to develop their plays further. “Some of them are writing a play for the very first time and some of them are more experienced, but for each of them, this is a new play,” says Fletcher.

First Draft was developed from conversations between director Sameena Zehra and Fletcher who both wanted a project that was helpful for writers. “Writing is so solitary and it’s hard to get that early feedback,” says Zehra. “It can really help to hear your words aloud and go, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean that but that’s quite interesting’ or ‘They really got that’.” 

“It’s an opportunity that is rarely available for any writer, let alone those from marginalised communities,” Zehra remarks.

'Doing things in a disabled way'

Fletcher is an author, playwright and performer who wrote her first of many plays in 2015. Reflecting on the kind of environment she wanted to create on First Draft, she recalled a period of time in her career when she stepped away from performing. “The message at the time was that if you can’t do things exactly right the first time, you’re not good enough.” Fletcher says. “There wasn’t time to learn or adapt and there definitely wasn’t space to do things in a disabled way.”

When invited to work as a dramaturge (someone who researches, develops and advises on plays) for the role of a disabled character in another production, Fletcher found herself working with a team that afforded everyone more time and space. “They just had a different mindset for how they worked and cared for each other,” says Fletcher. “Then I thought, ‘Well, why isn’t there more of this?’”

Fletcher then approached Zehra and found that there was already a community of people creating in this way. “There are a lot of people seeking the same thing,” Fletcher says. “Some of the people we ended up working with had also stepped away from performing because they didn’t feel there was room for somebody like them.”

The Magnificent Weirdos, their production company behind First Draft, was launched by Zehra in 2020 and Fletcher joined in 2024; the two are now co-artistic directors.

Zehra describes it as “a community of arts practitioners who understand how important it is to put access and inclusion at the heart of making art.”

“We live in capitalism where everybody and every human interaction is commodified. You think about profit, how many hours there are in a day and how you can optimise that,” says Zehra. “It’s such a reductive way to live and I very much reject that notion. I wanted to make a company that could have its own rules."

What's next?

After First Draft, it will be up to each respective writer where their story goes, but Fletcher hopes they continue to make connections and grow their base knowledge of putting on a production. “So much of putting on work is finding that community,” Fletcher says.

Zehra says, “There’s a lot of amazing people who are affiliated [with Magnificent Weirdos] and will continue to be, and to me that’s a successful, delightful way to make work.”

First Draft runs from August 15-17 at The Hannah Playhouse. All performances will have NZSL interpretation, as well as a preshow introduction for audience members with vision impairment. Visit the Magnificent Weirdos for more information.

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