With so many events to cover, this page is the one stop shop for the latest. We’ll keep updating it as we add new stories, so you have an index to our Auckland Pride Festival coverage. Head here for all our Pride out and about galleries! Review: Away From Home Actor Rob Ward’s whirlwind depiction of a whole host of characters, from a rent boy to his lover, his from a camp manager to straight best mates, is one thing you need to see for yourself this Auckland Pride Festival. Rob Ward on Away From Home Actor and co-writer Rob Ward fills us in on Away From Home, Auckland Pride Festival’s award-winning UK theatre import which tells the story of an escort who falls in love with a premiership footballer. “I play nine different characters overall - straight and gay, male and female. It's a blast for me and hopefully you'll enjoy it too. If not, I'll buy you a drink afterwards and pretend you did :)” Review: Room 1334 “It’s difficult to put a tag on Mika and, really, why would you try?” reviewer Lexie Matheson says of Room 1334. “Even finding words to describe what he is – and does – is difficult. He’s mercurial, unpredictable, impulsive, intuitive, capricious, eccentric – and all in a good way.” Proud 'Gods and Monsters' headliners Three main acts are being brought in from London, LA and Sydney for the Gods and Monsters themed Auckland Pride Festival closing party: Disco Smack, Victor Rodriguez and DJ Sveta. We find out more about them. Can Proud go global? London-based designer and venue owner Lyall Hakaraia is organising this year’s Gods and Monsters themed Auckland Pride Festival closing party. He wants to make it more international. He tells us why, and what he has up his sleeve. Review: Girl on a Corner "The best work I have seen for years, if not forever, and at the heart of it, surrounded by a magnificent ensemble, is the glorious Amanaki Prescott who is quite simply outstanding,” finds Lexie Matheson. Review: Implicated and Immune From the bedsheets to human shitballs not everything in this exhibition will appeal or convey a message to everyone, but it is well worth experiencing. Pride preview: We are all worthy Auckland Rainbow Community Church has pulled together a diverse cast for its Auckland Pride Festival musical theatre production Worthy!!! It’s being performed in the beautiful St Matthew-in the-City. We had a chat to its director and a few cast members. Proud Corrections staff to join Parade Corrections staff will march in the Auckland Pride Parade for first time this year - something the gay staff member who led the charge says will be a “very, very proud moment”. Pride Preview: Actor Hamish Mouat on Bare Bare is a Broadway rock musical which follows a group of high school seniors at a Catholic boarding school. Lead actor Hamish Mouat tells us more. Review: XOX Pride at The Box The XOX Pride performance evenings kicked off at The Box cafe and bar on the forecourt of the Aotea Centre, with some truly great drag performances preceded by a short show that amounted to drag abuse! Heroes to have its swansong This Pride marks the end of a pretty special era, when lesbians gather at the park Bob Harvey once infamously dedicated to them, for the final Heroes Out West. Pride at Garnet Station Auckland café Garnet Station has a banquet of Auckland Pride Festival events on in its cute ‘tiny theatre’, including art, Dykes on Mics and speed dating for lesbians! Review: Legacy Project: www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/22/article_16430.php The opening night of this year's Legacy Project short play programme brought us glbti experiences that were satisfyingly heartwarming, challenging and farcical. Nathan Joe on writing for Legacy Project Writer Nathan Joe hopes audiences bring an open mind to his Legacy Project short play Act Of Submission, which has the brief synopsis “Blindfolds, bondage and ball gags. What could possibly go wrong?” Pride in pictures: The bears come out to play The hirsute gathered at K' Rd's Thirsty Dog for Bears and Beers, a relaxed chill out night for Bear New Zealand Week, which is part of Auckland Pride Festival. Pride Review: Live Orgy The first thing you need to know about Live Orgy is that there is no actual orgy – although there may be some simulation role play. The only other thing you really need to know is that Freya Desmarais’ Auckland Pride and Fringe show is both very funny and very thought-provoking, and you should go see it. Big Gay Out pulled another strong crowd Around 12,000 to 15,000 people are estimated to have attended the Big Gay Out. Big screen to feature BGO tweets and pics A huge screen is being set up beside the main stage for the Big Gay Out on Sunday, which will feature tweets and Instagram pictures from the crowd at Pt Chevalier’s Coyle Park, in Auckland. Use the hashtag #biggayout and make sure you’re following @loveyourcondom to get your pics on 'Big Richard' Mika to release album at Big Gay Out Mika will release a new compilation album at the Big Gay Out, the proceeds from which will go to the Aroha Project's anti-bullying and suicide prevention programmes. Songs for Aroha features singles Coffee, which Big Gay Out headliner Lavina Williams is a guest vocalist on, and Dress To Xpress which features Zakk d'Larté and Hannah Martin. Pride Gala - review and images The Auckland Pride Gala showcased some of the artists who will perform during the Festival. In pictures: the dawn of Pride Auckland Pride Festival had its spiritual opening in a special Waitangi Day dawn ceremony at Okahu Bay. Museum to light up for Pride once more The Auckland War Memorial Museum will once again be lit up in rainbow colours this Saturday night to mark the start of Auckland Pride Festival. It will remain lit up for the rest of the weekend. EquAsian hopes site will increase reach EquAsian is hoping the new website it's launching tonight will help it reach out to new migrants. The group was formed last year following an Auckland Pride Festival gathering which exposed a clear need to give lgbtiq Asian people in New Zealand a voice, support, and a fun social space. It also has a number of Auckland Pride Festival events lined up. GAYTMs come to Auckland, Wellington To celebrate Auckland Pride and Out in the Park, ANZ has glammed up four ATMS and turned them into 'GAYTMs' for February. Forecast "looking great" for Big Gay Out The weather is forecast to come to the party for Auckland’s annual Big Gay Out. Philip Duncan from weatherwatch.co.nz tells GayNZ.com Daily News “it's looking great,” for Coyle Park in Pt Chevalier on Sunday. Take a look at our guide to the wealth of Auckland Pride Festival visual arts here Staircase Revival's 2015 edition canned Well this sucks - this year’s planned Staircase Revival has been cancelled due to the lack of a suitable venue. The incredible Taane Mete tells us what he'll be up to for Pride ***image3***Can you even imagine? Taane Mete performing a solo piece inspired by Michael Parmenter’s epic 1999 production Jerusalem, to a song by the late Mahinarangi Tocker. The breath-taking fusion of the work of three of our community’s most loved and revered artists will open this year’s Pride Gala. “It’s a very powerful moment for me. Hopefully it will set a reasonable standard for the Gala performance.” A chat with Pride Festival Director Ta'i Paitai Pride’s Director hopes people from across a wide range of cultures will get involved, and own it. “I haven’t had much time, but I’ve been lucky, fortunate, to be able to seek more presence in the Festival from our African, Middle Eastern, Latino, Asian, Pasifika and Maori people, just in terms of being present and getting them to own the Festival, so that this is their Festival as well.” LYC's Guide to the Big Gay Out The much-loved community event returns to Coyle Park in Pt Chevalier, Auckland, on Sunday 8 February from midday to 7pm. Free entry. A look at the NXT15 Youth Leaders Conference It will bring together youth advocates from New Zealand and the Pacific with the theme ‘Strength in Numbers’. The keynote speaker will be American gay rights advocate David Kilmnick. Six fresh stories picked for Legacy Project The Legacy Project team received more than 20 script submissions for year two, and have selected six to put on stage – a process they say was challenging due to the diverse mixture of stories they were offered. Freya Desmarais on her show Live Orgy The self-declared ‘best non-South African lesbian comedian this side of the Bombay Hills’ is bringing “the sex education you never got but should have” to Auckland Pride Festival, with her show Live Orgy. Trinity Ice on Pride's drag competition K’ Rd’s Family Bar is hosting Miss Drag Pride throughout February, with the first heat on Friday 6 February, and the final on 27 February. Tamati Coffey: Let's truly make it a NZ Pride Parade Tamati Coffey thinks the Auckland Pride Parade should be renamed the NZ Pride Parade. He's organising a float from Rotorua, and is encouraging others outside Auckland to rally together to do the same. Richard Taki previews the Pride Parade Auckland Pride Parade Director Richard Taki says the 2015 edition on 21 February will be "inspirational, with a very Pacific feel, a higher standard and larger parade”. Key Pride dates: The Auckland Pride Gala Q Theatre, Queen Street Saturday 7 February, 8pm LYC Big Gay Out Coyle Park, Point Chevalier Sunday 8 February, midday Bear New Zealand Week Sunday 8 – Sunday 15 February Auckland Pride Parade Ponsonby Road Saturday 21 February, 7.30pm Closing Party Victoria Park Market Complex Saturday 28 February, 9pm Full details and ticketing info at www.aucklandpridefestival.org.nz GayNZ.com staff - 18th February 2015