Conversations With My Penis

Project 2014-02-24 15:57:56 +1300

A TOUCHING TWO-HANDER

Conversations With My Penis is a new comedy play that explores the ups and downs and ins and outs of the most powerful partnership of a man’s life – him and his penis. Nothing else in a man’s body causes more regular doubt, frustration, fear, guilt, or – on a good day – joy. Conversations explores them all! 

Richard Falkner (How to Meet Girls From a Distance) plays Tom, an average guy with all the same penile problems we pretend we don’t have. Opposite Tom sits his penis, a man-sized boisterous and excitable pleasure-seeker who often lands Tom in trouble.

Conversations follows the relationship between Tom and his penis as they experience a lifetime of issues – from impotence to infidelity, from cancer to Viagra. The play is an absurd buddy-comedy with a lot of laughs and plenty of heart, and won’t take longer than an hour – it never has before.

Written and directed by Dean Hewison (director and co-writer of Make My Movie winner How to Meet Girls From a Distance, 2013 48HOURS winner The Sleeping Plot, co-writer of Live at Six), and produced by Out of Bounds (FootBallistic, Hypnotastic, Out of Bounds Sounds). 'Like' our Facebook page to be kept in the loop with performances, giveaways, events and factoids!

RELATIONSHIPS CAN BE HARD.

Conversations will have its world premiere season in the International Comedy Festival – first at BATS Theatre in Wellington, then the following week at The Basement in Auckland.

The money raised through PledgeMe will be used to contribute towards the design and construction of the penis costume, transport for the cast and crew to get to Auckland, marketing and publicity costs, rehearsal venue hire, and other production costs (like set and props). 

To make it worth your while, we’ve put together an awesome selection of rewards to suit any budget – rewards so good that you’ll nearly forget how generous you’re being! (But we’ll remind you…) Check them out over on the side!

Every contribution helps us achieve our goal, thank you!

THE TEAM

DEAN HEWISON –Writer / Director / Co-producer

Dean has a degree in TV production from the NZ Broadcasting School. Since 2003 he has written and directed several plays, beginning with Head of the House, winner of the NZ Young Playwrights Competition and Chapman Tripp Theatre Award nominee for Outstanding New Playwright. He has since written for the stage Brain Power, The Henchman (Young and Hungry 2007), FootBallistic, Hypnotastic and 2009 STAB commission Live at Six, which had a re-staging at Downstage in 2012 and recently completed a six-city national tour to various NZ arts festivals. 

In 2009 Dean’s Fringe Festival project Two Day Plays won Best of Fringe, leading to Dean producing a second round of the competition at BATS Theatre later that year. In 2010 Dean wrote and performed in Giggles Live – a theatre spin-off of a TV show that he was post-production director for. Other projects have included a feature film called Maintain, co-writing and performing in award-winning radio show Out of Bounds Sounds, and writing and directing several short films - many of which are award-winners including this year’s 48HOURS Wellington city winner and Grand National Champion The Sleeping Plot, which also won Dean the Wellington and National Best Director awards. 

Between 2010 and 2013 Dean worked as an Asset Manager at Weta Digital. Last year he co-wrote and directed the feature film How To Meet Girls From a Distance, which premiered in the 2012 NZ Film Festival before screenings this year in Beijing, Shanghai, France and Mexico. The film was nominated for six NZ Film Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Its biggest success so far is winning the Grand Prix du Jury (Jury Prize) at the Festival des Antipodes in France, and is going to be included in this years Cannes Cinephiles section.

This year Dean’s directing work has included the band announcement video for Rhythm & Vines, a 30 second TVC for All Bran styled as an ‘80s training montage, and co-directing duties on the children’s action show Operation Hero 3 for Gibson Group. He is currently working on the next season of Operation Hero, a new short film and developing a new feature film.

RICHARD FALKNER – Performer / Sound designer / Graphic designer

Richard is something of a creative mongrel. A trained actor, he also freelances in music and sound design, and is increasingly focused on writing. In 2001 he wrote/produced/directed his first play at Wellington Fringe, a sci-fi musical called Marjorie Fish and the Lost Time, winning the Hot New Thing award. The same year he moved to Australia, joining top-40 dance outfit Sonicanimation, performing on numerous tours including two Big Day Out circuits, and writing/producing for albums, before moving home mid 2004 to produce Cortina’s critically acclaimed debut Control Freaks Rule the World. Co-writing and performing in his first 48 Hours entry How to Deal with the Situation earned 2nd place at the Wellington final that year, propelling his focus back onto acting. Joining local improv legends The Improvisors in 2005, he won their popular Improv Idle contest. In 2007 Richard got his start in video production at The Learning Connexion, the same year meeting and working for the first time with Dean on Brain Power, for which he created the sound design and played the lead. Subsequently Richard has worked with Dean on several projects culminating in 2012’s How to Meet Girls from a Distance, for which he was nominated for Best Actor and Best Screenplay at the NZ Film Awards. Richard co-wrote and performed in The Sleeping Plot, winner of the 2013 48HOURS Film Competition. He also produces electronic music under the moniker kazaamBLAM!, having performed at festivals, flown down Cuba St in a UFO, and earning praise for the 2010 album Trapezoids Away.

BEN POWDRELL – Co-producer

Since 2001 Ben has appeared on the Wellington stage, in the Danny Mulheron directed Vick's Boy at Circa theatre, and in the Out Of Bounds productions of Brain Power and Footballistic. He also co-wrote and produced Hypnotastic for the 2008 International Comedy Festival. Most recently Ben co-wrote and co-produced the Radio-Comedy show Out Of Bounds Sounds, which was a hit on the Radioactive 88.6FM Breakfast show and picked up Most Original Concept and Best Marketing at the 2012 Fringe Festival Awards. When not working on theatre projects Ben is a freelance editor working in television and film with 14 years experience.

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