Taylor Barrett and Aruna Po-Ching star in Officer 27, a play by Aroha Awarau.
When a journalist goes to interview the grief-stricken family of someone killed in tragic circumstances, the meeting is fraught with the potential to add to the distress loved ones already feel.
After her son Halatau Naitoko was shot and killed by police on Auckland's Northwestern Motorway in 2009, Ivoni Fuimaono did not expect to befriend one of the reporters who spoke to her about the tragedy.
Now, six years on, she has given her blessing to a play written by journalist and award-winning playwright Aroha Awarau. Called Officer 27, it was partly inspired by Halatau's death as well as overseas police shootings of innocent bystanders.
Halatau, who was just 17, was working as a courier driver for the family business and found himself trapped on the motorway on an otherwise ordinary January afternoon. He was travelling home to his family in Mangere, which included his infant daughter. The police were pursuing an armed man, Stephen McDonald, who was trying to hijack a truck on the motorway. They shot at McDonald but the bullet missed and hit Halatau in the chest. It was the first time in New Zealand that an innocent bystander was shot and killed by police.
McDonald later admitted 23 charges, including firing at police, possessing a firearm, aggravated robbery and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle. The officer who fired the fatal shot has not been identified nor were charges laid.
The family maintain had it not been for McDonald's drug-fuelled actions, Halatau would not have died that day and lived to see his daughter, who is now 7. He would have also met his younger brother as Fuimaono was pregnant at the time with her 12th child. The boy, called Halatau jnr, is now 6.
A magazine journalist for 10 years, Awarau interviewed Ivoni and was struck by her bravery and recognised she shared this strength with other Pacific mothers who have experienced tragedy.
"There was a common theme in that it was difficult for them to grieve because they have to stay strong and keep things ticking over for the rest of the family," he says. "When I have interviewed women in this situation, they have confronted the worst thing that can ever happen yet they have had to go on and endure.
"Ivoni's strength, in particular, really stuck in my mind. What she had to deal with was so public but she was so dignified and strong in being the public face for her family at a time when she was also grieving. My respect for her is immense. As a journalist, you interview hundreds of people in your career but I felt a real sense of connection."
In turn, Fuimaono gave her blessing for Awarau to write a play, because she trusts him and because it deals with the grieving process which, she says, is something we need to be more mindful of.
"A lot of people might be interested in what happened on the day but not many would think about what happens later, especially to a mother, and want to write about what she is going through and how much it hurts," she says. "Being a mum, it is like losing a part of yourself and you can grieve forever."
Awarau, who has Maori and Niuean heritage, lost his own mother when he was 15. Her death came just weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer. As a child he had watched his mum struggle to come to terms with the death of his older brother.
"I felt as if I could relate to Ivoni on so many levels," he says. "I was 5 years old when my brother, who was 18, died and even though I was very young, I could see Mum trying to stay strong for the rest of the family. When her own illness came and she faced her own death, I would visit her in hospital and she would be concerned about me and whether I had everything organised for school."
Officer 27 focuses on a Niuean mother of seven who struggles to cope with her grief when her son is accidentally killed by a police bullet. Visiting her son's grave, she befriends a teenage boy who is mourning the loss of his mother to cancer. Directed by Janelle Bish, it stars Aruna Po-Ching, Joe Folau and Taylor Barrett.
Awarau says the play deals with how to find peace within oneself and take the first steps to building a new life. Fuimaono says she coped with the support of extended family and friends and by taking on new challenges like becoming an ordained minister for the Assembly of God and ministering at Jacobz Well Church in Mangere. She also cherishes her memories of Halatau.
Awarau's debut play, Luncheon, was performed last year and dealt with an entirely different subject: the 1958 Hollywood Academy Award-nominated best supporting actresses. He aims to write a play each year and likes to challenge himself by writing about a wide range of different subjects.
What: Officer 27
Where and when: The Basement, September 22-26