24/08/2025
***The Last Songs Last Post***
Hey everyone,
The production team of The Last Song just want to take a moment to say a big, heartfelt thank you to all the incredible people who made the play possible.
First off—our fearless director, Blair Strang. Thank you for your vision, your leadership, and for steering the ship with such heart. You made this journey unforgettable. Alys Hughes – thank you for your fabulous dance chorography. Kate Louise-Elliot – for writing an awesome play and for granting us the rights to put it on.
Lenore Potier, Amber Scott and Chrissy Were, your costumes, makeup and hair dressing brought the characters to life. Thank you for your creativity and attention to detail—you truly made the cast shine.
A massive shoutout to all our backstage crew—everyone who scanned tickets, ushers, moved sets, decorated the Hall, set up and packed up, but especially the team that volunteered to ran the tech – Paula Poloniati and Bruce Roberts — all of you are the glue that held the production together. We literally couldn’t have done it without you.
To Glenn Border and Tim Bell for supplying the lightening and sound, they gave generous discounts towards the production costs.
To the Waipu Lions Club, Louise Wickham and Judy Guy who run the Bar and the Kitchen over the 6 nights.
Dave Klum – who did the Shane video and has put a video together of the show to enable all of the cast to be able to watch the show themselves. This video was made possible by some locals who agreed to fund the discounted cost of doing this so a special thanks to: Warren McLean, Paul Jensen (Fresha Valley Milk), James Alexander (Ray White) and John Lang.
And now, to our incredible cast—what a group. They poured their hearts into their roles, brought their characters to life, and told the story with such honesty, emotion and humour. Every rehearsal, every line, every moment on stage—they gave it their all.
They didn’t just perform—they connected with the audience, with each other, and with the purpose behind this show: raising funds and awareness for Linking Hands. That’s what has made this more than just a play. It has became something meaningful. A donation of $42,000 which will enable Linking Hands to purchase a new car for the Waipu area.
So to every cast member, every crew member, every volunteer —thank you. You’ve been generous, passionate, and absolutely brilliant. Everybody is so proud of what we’ve created together.
And finally a huge thank you to all of our audience members who purchased tickets to the show. Without an audience the show would be nothing and there would have been no donation to give to Linking Hands. So a massive thanks to you all.
Cast: Emma Couper, Neil Troost, Alisa Dodds, Chris Townshend, Jenni Carr, Amber Scott, Lizzie Carroll-Thom, Aleesha O’Brian, Kasey Carr, Stacey Hollis, Paul Carr, Gary Loughnan, Christian Dally, Johnny Fetelika, Jeannie McKee, Milena Zampa and Kylie Reynolds.
Heartfelt Thanks from -
Juanita McGoldrick, Steve Jones, Catherine Jenkins and Paula Alexander
The Last Song Production Team
