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In the play-within-a-play which is Thomas Sainsbury and Chris Parker's The Opening Night Before Christmas, the Levin Community Players are presenting the town's annual Christmas pageant. It's currently being produced up the road at Palmerston North's Centrepoint Theatre, with real-life Centrepoint general manager and artistic director Kate Louise Elliot playing the writer and director of Levin's show.
Elliot knows all about the comedy and tragedy of theatre. She's both a veteran actor of stage and screen and one of the country's most respected theatre managers. Credited with turning Centrepoint around since she took over in 2017, it's the only surviving professional theatre company in regional Aotearoa. Elliot first started performing there 25 years ago.
After Christmas Kate is set to take a role in the Auckland Theatre Company's The Heartbreak Choir. It's about another subject straight out of her own songbook - a regional community choir.
