Kate JasonSmith
"[13] JasonSmith was also among a number of women who "were told they couldn't be camerawomen because the gear was too heavy—even though in Kate's case she had been carrying heavy mail bags up and down the hills of Wellington while working as a postie.
"[13] In 1976, JasonSmith, along with Donna Cross, Christine Poland, and Nina Dawidowska, formed "a women-only art studio-gallery ... called Nga Tamahine Marama—the daughters of light, sun, moon and stars.
In 2016 and in 2018, Playmarket, "New Zealand's national playwriting agency," released statistical research on "what was being performed" over a given period of time in the country's major theatres, including information about the involvement of women relative to men.
... Around one hundred people attended the two sessions at Circa Theatre in Wellington, ... made up ... predominantly of women, of all ages and stages in their careers including actors, directors, designers, writers, producers and academics.
"[5][18] JasonSmith gave the first of two introductory presentations at this meeting, in which she "welcomed everyone and spoke of the times she has experienced injustice and discrimination against women in the New Zealand theatre industry.
"[5][16] Among other things, this led to an interview broadcast on Standing Room Only, a weekly arts show aired nationally by Radio New Zealand.
[5][16] The follow-up meeting, an "all-day event" held on 11 March 2017 and "convened by Linda Wilson and Kate JasonSmith," featured a keynote address by Gaylene Preston, in which she "made the observation that corporate talk of goals and list making were not applicable to the theatrical life – career paths were replaced by "people who just do stuff.
"[21] The name Hens' Teeth "pointed to the scarcity of female comedians";[4] the group's creation followed JasonSmith's "attendance at a women's comedy festival in Sydney.
"[3] The show, what participant Madeline McNamara has called "feminist devised comedy," debuted in Wellington's Circa Theatre in December 1988 and "broke box office records.
One early reviewer called the play "a show about the life of an ordinary woman who achieved extraordinary things" and said that it managed "to create an effective balance between personal experience and the larger historical events through which Phyllis moves.
[24] Promotional material for this iteration of the play described it as follows: "Irish-born Phyllis was one of only two New Zealand women ever to have been honoured with France's highest decoration, the Légion d'Honneur, for extreme bravery in WWII.
"[1] In 1987 "Kate JasonSmith and a collective of Australian film-makers directed The Quick Window ... a non-linear narrative on the margin of memory and fantasy in an old man's mind.
It was edited by Annie Collins and features Australian as well as New Zealand actors such as Jennifer Ludlam and Cathy Downes, along with JasonSmith's own mother, Phyllis.
[29] "In the early 90s, having been offered a number of projects that were too long to be short films, [producer Robin] Laing came up with the idea of an anthology series for television.
"[13] The individual films were "ultimately screened in two different slots, including as the first Kiwi entries on the Montana Sunday Theatre series.
"[30] The directors included Gaylene Preston (Married), Shereen Maloney (Mother Tongue), Pat Robins (Matrons of Honour), and JasonSmith (Xmas for Lou); the writers included Sue McCauley and Joy Cowley, both well-known New Zealand authors at that point; editors Dell King and Annie Collins, and composers Jan Preston and Michelle Scullion.
[13] Xmas for Lou (1992), a short drama of 52 minutes made on 16mm in colour, celebrates 1950s New Zealand culture while presenting "a story of adoption and of the love and hate between two sisters.
[37] Xmas for Lou also "broke new ground" in its portrayal of "the fierce ambivalence between sisters,"[13] played by Joanne Simpson and Madeline McNamara, who was part of the Hens' Teeth company.
