Unconscious

Unconscious is a fast-paced, funny, and surprising new play about ambition, trauma, and the voices in our heads. Inside Out (for adults) meets Severance. Premiering at The Meteor and being filmed for release online - a Waikato story with global ambition.

We’re a group of 20+ Waikato-based creatives ranging from 11 to 65 - writers, actors, props-makers, set builders, lighting designers, filmmakers - who’ve been working together to bring a new story to life. Unconscious has gone through 25 rewrites, countless late nights, and a lot of local feedback to get it into shape. The cast have helped sharpen it further in rehearsals, cutting out the bits that don’t work and making it funnier, stranger, and more alive.

We’re also collaborating with University of Waikato media students & supervisors to film the production, create graphics, and edit it into a final version. It’s a genuine community project, helping us all to develop new storytelling skills.

At its heart, Unconscious is about healing trauma, the inner child, and the voices in our heads that don’t always agree. These are heavy themes, but we’re telling them in a way that’s funny, fast-moving, and entertaining so they’re easier to talk about. The funding we are seeking will help cover some of the costs of staging the show at the Meteor in mid-November 2025.  

The bigger vision goes further and your support will help us get there:

• A filmed version on YouTube so it can reach audiences far beyond Hamilton.
• Sharing it with theatres internationally – we’d love to get it being performed in LA, San Francisco, New York and London.
• Exploring the potential to develop it as a TV series (anyone interested, shout out!)

We’re building from the Waikato, but we’re thinking globally.

We’re a team of 20+ Waikato-based creatives aged 11-65 bringing a brand-new play, Unconscious, to The Meteor and to film. It’s fast-paced, funny, surprising, and just a little bit strange (ok, a lot). 

On the surface it’s a simple story about a young biotech founder under pressure. But as the story unfolds, we find that various parts of her mind are competing for control. Imagine Inside Out (for adults) meets Severance, with a dash of Umbrella Academy.

We received CreativeNZ support to get the hard work underway: 25 rewrites, workshops, feedback from local reviewers, and cast-driven rehearsals to make the story sharper and funnier. And the set is almost completed. We’re working with Waikato media students to film it, so the final version can go online for free. Our goal is to get it seen worldwide.

Your support will help us to stage the show, complete the filmed version - to be filmed scene-by-scene over the course of a month - and start sharing it beyond Hamilton. 

Our stretch goals include promoting the show both locally and to theatres overseas, hosting a Hamilton premiere at The Lido, and connecting with local TV producers.

This is a homegrown story with big ambition. Backing us means helping Unconscious take its first steps into the world.

• The chance to spark conversations about trauma and resilience in ways that are accessible, funny, and memorable.
• A filmed version online for free so anyone can watch it, anywhere.
• Support for the 20+ team who are stretching their creative experiences into new areas – we know how to do theatre, but making a movie is new!
• An opportunity to show that bold, original stories can start in the Waikato (and anywhere else outside of the Big Smoke) and travel further.