Carving path for Maori theatre's rising stars

Taonga Whakaari: The Inaugural Maori Playwrights Festival. Photo / Supplied

The Maori New Year festival Matariki gets bigger every year. This year Taonga Whakaari: The Inaugural Maori Playwrights Festival has been added to the calendar of events in Auckland and Papakura.

It showcases work from acclaimed playwrights Briar Grace Smith and Albert Belz brought to the stage by directors Cathy Downes and Raymond Hawthorne, with a strong line-up of actors including Rawiri Paratene, Tama Waipara, Scotty Cotter, Wesley Dowdell, Bronwyn Turei and Miriama McDowell.

Emerging Maori playwright Whiti Hereaka joins Smith and Belz in having work performed. Wellington-based Hereaka recently won the Adam New Play Award, formerly known as the Playmarket New Play Award, for Te Kaupoi. Described as a raunchy political drama, it is set in the not-too-distant future when internal terrorism has rocked the country. Currently being staged in Wellington, Te Kaupoi is directed by Nancy Brunning and stars Jason Te Kare, Tina Cook (Secondhand Wedding) and Kay Smith.

It will be performed alongside Briar Grace Smith's classic play Purapurawhetu and Albert Belz's new work Raising the Titanics. It was chosen to be part of the inaugural Maori playwrights festival meaning it gets an Auckland season far earlier than Hereaka had anticipated.

"It's really exciting and quite an honour for an emerging Maori playwright," says Hereaka, who also has a novel, The Graphologist's Assistant, out in July.

"Briar Grace Smith's work has been an inspiration and the last play I saw by Albert, Yours Truly, was amazing so both have been an influence on me in terms on how they expand what theatre is and Maori theatre in particular."

The festival also introduces a novelty event where five Maori playwrights face off in the 24-Hour Deadline Theatre Challenge.

Each playwright will be given a prop and 12 hours to write a 15-minute play that uses the prop. The following 12 hours after that will see directors and actors take the script from the page to the stage for performance at 8pm on Sunday, July 4.

The festival arose from discussions at the 2007 Maori Playwrights Hui, which identified a need for Maori theatre practitioners to have a place to hone their craft. Hawkins Theatre general manager Graeme Bennett, tasked with expanding the theatre into the community, saw a festival as a way to fulfil both requirements.

"It's an incredible opportunity for Maori to write, perform and produce their stories in a purpose-built venue, and the Maori Playwrights Festival gives the theatre the opportunity to interact with our local community."

Purapurawhetu tells a haunting story of a young man working to complete woven tukutuku panels for a new marae when a mysterious old woman arrives to help him. She reveals a past filled with loss but also a future filled with hope. It will be performed at the Hawkins Theatre from June 16-18 and also at the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber from June 30-July 2.

Raising The Titanics takes audiences on a voyage back to the golden era of the Maori show band. It runs at Tapac from June 23-27 and at the Hawkins Theatre from July 1-3.

Te Kaupoi follows with performances from July 21-23.

PERFORMANCE

What: Taonga Whakaari: The Inaugural Maori Playwrights Festival
Where and when: Hawkins Theatre, Papakura, June 16-July 23; and other venues