NYDS artistic director Ben Fagan shows some well-known former theatre kids footage of their teenage selves – and asks whether an education in performing arts has been useful.
Rongokako, great ancestor of Kahungunu, rests in modern Havelock North. In life he travelled the motu in huge strides, ate the hills and studied at an ancient school. Now he is the maunga. Tourists climb te mata, his face, and take pictures from the peak.
Near his feet, tucked away between vineyards on Te Mata Road, is an unassuming high school campus. Each year since 1991 it has transformed during the April school holidays into the National Youth Drama School. Over 200 of the nation’s teenagers travel across the motu for eight days of training in the performing arts. Stand-up comedy, screen acting, poetry, drag, circus skills, musical theatre, songwriting and more. From as far south as Blue Mountain College outside of Gore, as far north as Kerikeri High School, and everywhere in between.
Thanks to a dry shed and the efforts of passionate volunteer Bev Hodges there is a rich video archive of thousands of past students, going back to the first school over three decades ago. There are some familiar faces in the archive too, notably political and cultural leaders in their younger years. I reached out to a few with footage of their teenage selves and asked whether an education in performing arts has been useful.
Former Green MP Gareth Hughes attended NYDS in 1998 and 1999, coming down from Tairāwhiti Gisborne for the week. “Absolutely arts training helped my political career” he told me. “The ability to get on a stage or speak in front of a group of people with confidence is a crucial attribute in politics. What I really learnt was the power of storytelling and building a connection”.
National MP Katie Nimon was living and attending school in Napier, the constituency she now represents. She came to NYDS as a student in 2008, then returned to teach Shakespeare for several years after. “You need to hold an audience as a politician. Knowing when to add humour, when to let the words speak for you, and when to leave space. I always think back to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and the speeches of Mark Antony and Brutus. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears…” Her biggest takeaway was how to use her voice, projecting so she doesn’t need to shout. “Shouty politicians are the worst”.
Both Gareth and Katie shared with me that they found validation at NYDS. “Coming from a sports-focused school I felt like a bit of a black sheep,” Gareth told me. “Meeting similar people from across the country helped me broaden my horizons and feel less alone”. Katie was the same. “I’m not sporty. The arts were my sport: it was what I was good at. I’ve seen performing arts help people make sense of what they might be dealing with: processing emotions, and finding their sense of place.”
Beloved Taskmaster’s assistant Paul Williams was studying at Nelson College when he arrived at NYDS to take the musical theatre class. Video from the archive shows him absolutely sending it. “When you’re a creative kid it’s just so nice to get to be around like-minded kids and to have adults telling you that a career in the arts is possible. There’s so many people telling you it’s not realistic. I went to multiple careers advisors and they would always tell me to become a carpenter.”
I asked Paul if he thought the performing arts can solve some of today’s problems for teenagers. He was honest, “I don’t really know what the problems are for teenagers today but my biggest problem is getting distracted by the internet.”
He’s not the only one. Some elements of online life have proved not just distracting but damaging. As momentum grows for taking action to mitigate the harms of social media, AI has arrived to interfere with their wellbeing in whole new ways. Students are vulnerable to these technologies, but are also smart and know the benefits of moving from online anonymity to real-life communities.
Tessa Rao plays medical registrar Poppy Achari on New Zealand’s favourite medical soap opera, but in 2013-2015 was one of those students. “If you’re anything like I was when I was at school” she posted on Instagram “you might not feel like you’ve found your place in the world yet, you might not feel like you’ve found your people.” Arriving at NYDS, Tessa found the support she’d been missing. “It introduced me to some of the people that I still call my closest friends. I can say confidently that this school changed my life.”
When I sent her archival footage, she had my favourite reaction. “Honestly, baby Tessa kinda killed it”.
In 1999, Allan Henry (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Ruanui) from Flaxmere College rocked up to the school for the first time. Thin moustache, ponytail, and a charming stage presence. He’s since become one of New Zealand’s foremost motion capture artists. If you’ve got apes, monsters or a bear on drugs in your Hollywood movie, Allan’s your guy. “NYDS is where I discovered my passion. The skills learned there, and at Toi Whakaari, have become the foundation for my career.” He told me that through stories you connect with people different from you. “The more a person learns about the arts, the greater their capacity for empathy”.
Dolina Wehipeihana (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa) is the co-director at the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts, and arrived from Hamilton to attend NYDS 1992-1994. She agrees with Allan that through arts training she met people outside her bubble. “NYDS introduced me to teens outside of my own circle, with different life experiences. I met young people who were at Rudolph Steiner education, state schools, or private schools, confident kids or kids who came out of their shell over the week. I even met my first teenage sweetheart who dressed like Morrissey (would not go for that now).”
“One stand-out moment for me was one night we went to see a performance by Jim Moriarty and at the end the cast sang a waiata at the curtain call. That evening totally opened my eyes up to theatre’s ability to bypass the fourth wall, reach into the hearts of Māori and connect us with our own stories and identity. That has been a huge focus of my professional work life.”
Some NYDS students come for one or two years then decide to do something else with their April school holidays. Others age out of the 14-19 year old range. Some like Paul get offered the role of Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat in a local production of Cats. “Obviously that’s something you can’t turn down.” Whenever their time at the school comes to an end, and whatever challenges will come their way, hopefully the community they found in Havelock North will remain.
Applications to attend Taiohi Whakaari ā-Motu: National Youth Drama School 2026 are open now.
