A theatre company is appealing for funding to take a multi-sensory production aimed at people living with disabilities on the road.
Spark Live kicked off at the Auckland Town Hall on Thursday and will tour Northland in the coming weeks.
Organisers were hoping to give disabled communities around the country a chance to see it.
Lily-May Oakley plays teenager Kate in the show - and had high hopes for how the audience would feel about her character.
Lily-May Oakley, lead actor in Spark Live. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
"I am really hoping that they're gonna fall in love with me and fall in love with Kate but also love everyone else in the show like my mum."
Lily-May has Down syndrome and said it was extra special to be the star of the show.
"Well I didn't know that I had Down syndrome until I got told, and it's not different to me - I feel absolutely normal with having Down syndrome. It's even more special that I have it and it's the whole part of being in the show."
She had big plans for where theatre would take her next.
"I think it's kind of obvious that I'll be in Hollywood, but right now I'll work in the movie theatres."
Spark Live was a multi-sensory production, meaning all the audience's senses were engaged.
Smoke and bubbles billowed out, props were used to make sounds and brought around for the audience to interact with and there was plenty of musical and dance numbers which the audience got involved with.
Show director Charlotte Nightingale said this kind of theatre, which was designed to appeal especially to people with profound learning disabilities, was incredibly important for the community.
Show director Charlotte Nightingale. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
"They have an experience that is uniquely their own, we have a little bit of story, we explore something in the multi-sensory and you connect in your own way as an audience member."
The launch date of the show was no accident, it was also World Down Syndrome Day, and people from the community gathered for a picnic at Aotea Square to celebrate as part of Auckland Arts Festival.
Jamie Henshaw said it was important for people with Down syndrome to get together.
"You just want to be out there and do what you want to get out and do."
Spark Live was amazing, she said.
An audience member at Spark Live. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
"They are very, very talented people out there, and we got to have a little dance in-between with so many cool songs. I just thought the whole show was incredible."
Spark Live will tour around Northland over the coming weeks, but Nightingale was hoping for more funding to take the show around the rest of the North Island.
But she said government cuts to the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage made it a difficult time to get funding for the arts.
"We still need more funding. We want to ensure that this theatre is really accessible, and the way that we do that is having low cost or no cost tickets... so funding is really important, we need it, we're desperate for it."
The show will also tour the South Island next year.
