In 1992 a sudden financial crisis forced the Mercury theatre to close in dramatic fashion. Auckland Theatre Company rose from its ashes. Actor/director Simon Prast was there and recalls the upheaval for Eyewitness producer Justin Gregory.

"These men in suits came rushing down the stairs and told us to collect our personal belongings and leave the building"

The curtain has gone up on the $36 million ASB Waterfront Theatre, a 660-seat venue purpose-built for Auckland Theatre Company.

ATC, as it's known, turns 25 next year but until now has had to hire venues to stage its productions. Opening its own theatre is a significant milestone for what has become the largest professional company in our biggest city.

ATC rose out of the ashes of The Mercury Theatre, Auckland's original professional theatre company.

In 1992 a sudden financial crisis forced the Mercury to close in dramatic fashion. Actor Simon Prast was there and he recalls that day for Eyewitness.

The day the doors closed:

"Upstairs in the smaller theatre called The Gods we were doing a play called, rather ominously, Glorious Ruins. Simultaneously, on the main stage, we were doing The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams."

"I was preparing myself for the early show when all these men in suits came running downstairs into the dressing room and they asked us to collect up our personal belongings and leave the building.'

"By the early 1990's Auckland was going through a change. The Aotea Center had just been built and new musicals from overseas were coming through. The Mercury relied upon (its) musicals to subsidise the rest of its programme. If they should not deliver then it really put the whole operation at risk. Once the Board found it was in a certain position, it legally couldn't continue."

"For about seven days we kept on meeting (as a company) until finally word came through that it (The Mercury) was going to be placed into liquidation. I was not at all well prepared for sudden, instant redundancy. It left a lot of people in a very precarious position."

"And of course, it wasn't as if we could just go and work at the next professional theatre company in Auckland - because there wasn't one!"

Endings and new beginnings:

"That night it was like a huge wake where everyone got extremely drunk... singing songs... it's very vivid in my memory.

"Raymond (Hawthorne, ex-Mercury Theatre and Theatre Corporate director) pointed across the room at me and said, 'That man could run a theatre company!'"…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details