Messy

Messy is a dark comedy about two women leaning on each other. 

Freya is solid and grounded but losing her spark. Gracie is a wildfire who is ready to burn the world to the ground.

They’re struggling to navigate their first year as artists in the real world. Finding that having money, sanity, and artistic purpose at the same time is nearly impossible. 

The play came about from real conversations between Tara and Cayla and from discussions with clothing designers, visual artists, photographers, actors, directors, singers, dancers and chefs who all felt that education in their field kicked the stuffing out of them, and left them utterly drained on the doorstep of real life. But who also we’re not willing to give up on their dreams. 

Messy speaks to those still on the doorstep and those who have made it into the house of dreams but still remember the days of accidentally dying their potatoes blue, because they had to use the same pot to boil the blue fabric for their designer dreams

Writer/Director/Freya 

Tara Weston-Webb

Tara Weston-Webb is a 2024 graduate of the The Actors program. She has also trained with Miranda Harcourt, Laura and Latham Gaines and Jamie Irvine.  

 She’s been involved in numerous creative projects, both in the theatre, including “Why are We still here” 2019, Anne Boleyn in “Bring Up the Bodies” in 2018, “The Potential for Rain in 2022 and Ivy in Bare and on screen most recently in several short films including “The Waiting Game” alongside Ian Blackburn and Kelsey Robson, Directed by Kelsey Robson. “Origami” Directed by Nicole Whippy and “God’s Favourites Fall Hardest” Directed by Faith Ward and Penelope Cornell in Shortland Street. 

Tara is a versatile actor, in particular drawn to dark or disturbed women. She also has a talent for comedy scripts and improv, especially dark humour.

Tara is also a writer and director, though her creative voice has been most prominently expressed through her performance work, complemented by a background in Philosophy from Victoria University of Wellington and further training in creative and screen writing through Whitireia and Victoria University.

Her written work focuses on complicated women and under examined family and relationship dynamics. In particular the importance of friendship, purpose and your place in the world over romance and traditional values. 

Tara’s writing spans stage and screen. She is currently co-writing a feature film script.  She has written a number of excerpts to be used at workshops including Sandbox and Screenfit. Her short film script Wow, praised by filmmaker Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa during the Screen fit Workshop, is now in preproduction with a Wellington-based team.

Director/Gracie 

Cayla Louise

Cayla Louise holds both a Diploma of Musical Theatre and a Bachelor of Creativity (Musical Theatre) from Whitireia. In 2024 Cayla also graduated from The Actors Program.

Growing up in a small town the two options for after school activity were sports or theatre. There was never a choice for Cayla.

Cayla has performed in musicals such as Seussical, The Sound of Music, Grease, Mamma Mia, The Welkin , and has many cabarets under her belt. She is currently rehearsing for A Hardware Love Affair, an original musical debuting at BATS as part of the Wellington Six Degrees Festival in late November.

Cayla’s performing strengths lay deep in the comedy realm. However she is not afraid to approach roles with dramatic depth to them.

Cayla is just beginning her onscreen career. Although she loves the camera, the stage will always be her home.

Since 2022 you can also find Cayla on the drag stage as 'Friday'. 

We are currently casting our Annie/Andy

Tara and Cayla are funding this project themselves. 

The play is being performed at BATS where usage of the space is granted for percentage of ticket sales. Tara and Cayla are very grateful to BATS.

The boosted campaign will increase our budget and allow us to also increase the quality of the show and the payment to those helping us.

Your donation will help us:

• Pay our third actor (currently on profit share with more funding. We will be able to pay them a larger koha)
• Purchase props (80 mushrooms do not make themselves and clay is not cheap) 
• We would love to be able to pay for the things we do need to buy, including posters, paints, sheets and a second hand mattress to stage “Freya’s bedroom".
• Hire a van for an hour
• Pay our facilitators and play readers (this play is coming together with the help and support of many, extremely talented members of the arts community, who have been volunteering their time. We would love to be able to give them a koha to thank them for their support.)
• Pay for our song usage fees through APRA
• Fund travel costs. Tara lives in Auckland and will be traveling to Wellington for the duration of the play.
• Pay for our poster design
• Pay our photographer
• Fund a marketing campaign ( the reach of this production will be determined by how much marketing we are able to do, although everyone has access to a certain level of free marketing on line,  posters, and “promoted” posts go further and allow our play to reach outside of our own acquaintances and BATS dedicated audience. 
• Pay ourselves ( while we are currently on profit share, given the money that we will put into the show we will be lucky to break even. This is a labour of love but it would be wonderful to come out of it with a little profit to go towards our next production.)
• Record our show. For our own records and friends and family overseas. We would love to have enough money to hire someone to come in and professionally record the show.

Any amount is extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

Messy is a one act play from Wellington writer Tara Weston-Webb, performed by a three-person cast including Tara and Cayla Louise. Messy will be staged at BATS Theatre November 2025

Messy follows flatmates Gracie (deep in therapy and retail work) and Freya (accidental drug dealer, “barely” an artist) as they survive the psychological toll of their art degree and navigate life post Uni. Both girls struggle with their mental health.

The characters are intentionally flawed: Gracie’s rage gets the best of her and Freya is losing hope. They’re honest and human, but not always likeable. The play speaks to our art industry; how tough it can be not to give up on this career & how necessary mental health support is for our resilience. 

Messy is a dark comedy; quippy with fast intellectual dialogue. It pokes fun at the mundane drudgery of life and highlights the beauty of creating art and leaning on your artistic community for support.

Times are hard financially, and when there are less opportunities and less funding and creatives have to rely more and more on traditional jobs, the desire to create can be subsumed by exhaustion. People leave the industry in search of stability. For some people, that’s the right choice, but some people make that choice because the psychological struggle is too hard. It’s easy to think when the situation sucks that that’s the only reason you’re miserable. But it’s important that we remember that you can receive psychological help so that you can be mentally stable, but struggling. 

In this industry we create art because it brings us joy and community and connection and it’s beautiful. We need to be healthy enough to enjoy those things. Even if we have to work three jobs. 

Messy a play about not giving up because things seem too hard and about realising that even if you can’t improve your circumstances, you might be able to improve your mental health if you ask for help. 

Most importantly, Messy is fun. It’s a witty, dark, intelligent comedy that should leave its audience, laughing and uplifted- reminded of why we create together not alone.