EBKM

EBKM is an award winning theatre company from Aotearoa-New Zealand who make socially minded, formally innovative, contemporary performance

EBKM is one of New Zealand’s most innovative contemporary theatre companies, led by co-artistic directors Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken who founded the company in 2017. Foregrounding intelligent and empathic writing, formal innovation, a strong connection between actor and audience, and social utility, EBKM’s shows run the gamut from exploring consent and healthy relationships, to artistic failure, to the physiological impacts of heartbreak.

For the past five years the company has consistently toured abroad, appearing at esteemed festivals and presenting houses in the U.K., Canada, North America, Iceland, Australia, Serbia and Germany, while adaptations of their works have taken place in Hungary, Catalonia and Wales.

EBKM develops new work through extensive research and in consultation with audiences, social agencies and academics, as well as long-term collaborations with leading designers and performers.

In 2022, Eleanor and Karin were the recipients of the prestigious Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2022 for their body of work, the first time in the award's 40 year history that it was awarded to a creative partnership. 

In 2024, their large-scale adaptation Gravity & Grace was commissioned by New Zealand’s two largest arts festivals, winning multiple awards including Production of the Year at the Wellington Theatre Awards, and Gold Award - Spatial Design from the Designers Institute of New Zealand.

In 2026, EBKM will make their New York debut with an off-broadway run of Heartbreak Hotel followed by tours to Canada, Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand. 

  • Co-Artistic Director

    Karin McCracken is an award-winning writer and performer based in Pōneke, Wellington, and the co-artistic director of EBKM, alongside Eleanor Bishop. Karin wrote and performs in Heartbreak Hotel, which has been presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, RISING Festival Melbourne and Soho Theatre London. She co-wrote (with Eleanor Bishop) the large-scale theatre show Gravity & Grace and Yes Yes Yes, a show for young people about healthy relationships. Yes Yes Yes has been presented in Canada, the USA, Germany, Iceland and Australia, and has been translated into Hungarian, Catalan and Welsh. Karin and Eleanor were the recipients of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2022, the first time in its history that it was awarded to a creative partnership. In 2025 Karin received a MacDowell Fellowship to write a new work for stage.

  • Co-Artistic Director

    Eleanor Bishop is a director and writer working across theatre, opera and film, and the co-artistic director of EBKM, alongside Karin McCracken. For EBKM she directed and co-wrote (with Karin McCracken) Gravity & Grace and Yes Yes Yes and directed Heartbreak Hotel. EBKM’s work has toured to the UK, Canada, the USA and Europe and Yes Yes Yes has been translated into Hungarian, Catalan and Welsh. EBKM are the winners of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2022, the first time in the awards history it has been given to a partnership. Eleanor was a member of Jane Campion’s inaugural pop up film intensive “A Wave in the Ocean” supported by Netflix and her first short film “GIRL TIME” premiered in official selection at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. She holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

  • Creative Producer

    Melanie Hamilton is an experienced arts producer who has been working with EBKM since 2021, creative producing 'Gravity & Grace' and 'Heartbreak Hotel', and co-leading the company’s development. She has worked with a number of independent dance and theatre artists from across New Zealand (as creative producer & dramaturg), and toured works to festivals and venues through Australia, Asia and the UK. Since 2021, Melanie has co-led Verb Wellington, a literary organisation that supports and showcases writers and literary artists through a range of festivals, residencies and live events.