Philippa Stevenson: Dreamer on dramatic scale

As a young teacher in rural Onewhero, June Bruford was prime fodder for every community group going.

In 1949, aged 19, she was enlisted in the Onewhero Drama Club.

When June's compulsory country service was over, the young teacher moved on briefly to another school but the attractions of Onewhero, the small settlement straddling a high ridge above the Waikato River in northern Waikato, proved too great.

She returned to marry dairy farmer and rural contractor Tom McCoubrie and teach for many more years at Onewhero School.

Fifty-six years on, June's still a member of the drama club. She is, in fact, president of the group now known by the more encompassing (and flash) name Onewhero Society of Performing Arts. Locals call it Ospa.

June doesn't think small. For many years, time and time again, she raised the idea of the drama club having its own theatre.

Local sheepfarmer and fellow club member Richard Gemmell thought the suggestion a "bloody silly idea" for a group with a hundred members (maybe 150 if you count non-subscription payers who pitch in when needed).

Onewhero - offering stunning 360-degree views of farmland and river flats but little more than a dozen houses either side of a mechanic's workshop - can probably only boast a thousand souls if you head well into the surrounding farmland to hunt them out.

For many years, the club's productions were staged in the old Onewhero school-cum-community hall - quaint, cosy but ultimately rundown, demolished and replaced with a modern facility more gymnasium than theatre. When it didn't suit one production or another, the neighbouring Wairamarama hall was a good venue. So, to the north, was a Tuakau cafe, and occasionally the local church.

But still June banged on. At one stage she thought a site on the main road housing a bowling club building that had seen better days might be suitable, but it wasn't available.

After all, she reasoned, the drama club-turned-Ospa routinely put on a good show, with local and touring acts drawing big audiences from a wide catchment, which includes Pukekohe just 20 minutes away.

It's legend that Westie comedian Ewen Gilmour strolled into a packed house in the Wairamarama hall and asked "How the **** did anyone know this placed existed?"

Touring musicians the Twa Jimmies were similarly impressed by a big turnout.

They don't lack for variety at Onewhero. Top Irish harpist Maire Ni Chatasaigh and her guitarist husband Chris Newman graced the district last year, Matt Chamberlain's one-act play, The Anthony Wilding Story, was a hit, and just last weekend Christchurch soprano Janette Walker was part of the line-up.

Ospa mines local talent to stage drama, comedy, music and art festivals, kids' talent quests and its "bread-and-butter" annual, Christmas pantomime.

So, finally, everyone saw the sense in June's dream. Ospa got together with the bowling club and decided on a unique solution - a theatre on the central site alongside the bowling green that would incorporate facilities for the bowlers, a shared kitchen/supper room and a 100-seat theatre for Ospa.

A local benefactor kicked off the fundraising, the club hit up the charity gaming trusts and the Lotteries Board and with $70,000 in their pocket, the earthworks got underway in July 2002.

Since then they've ratcheted the funds up to $400,000 from other generous locals, gaming trusts, cattle drives, and the proceeds from productions and have built themselves that 100-seat theatre.

It's not quite finished yet. June's husband Tom is project manager and wouldn't mind a buck for every time someone's asked him when it will be finished.

Buying local, the 422sq m, plywood-clad building is essentially a log-frame, kitset barn from the Tuakau Timber Treatment company. Inside, the bowling clubroom, supper room and toilets have been all go since 2003.

Since last year, work has concentrated on the theatre. All the elements are there: stage, tiered seating, sound and lighting box, actors' dressing rooms, costume store.

Hopefully, the grand opening will occur next year - after April when the bowlers have packed it in for the winter.

It'll be a great day for Onewhero, and the arts.