Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwrights Festival

Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwrights Festival 2010

OPENS WEDNESDAY with PURAPURAWHETU
Hawkins Theatre - Papakura

The inaugural Taonga Whakaari: Maori Playwrights Festival, which is part of Matariki Festival 10, opens with a classic play on Wednesday night. The opening play, Purapurawhetu, runs from Wednesday June 16 to Friday June 18.

Purapurawhetu is a story with many threads. It is a weaving pattern based on the stars, based on the souls of ancestors. As a young man works to complete tukutuku panels for the new marae, a mysterious old woman arrives to help him. She reveals a past of hidden secrets, dark stories, jealousy – a past filled with loss, but also a future filled with hope.

Purapurawhetu, the haunting drama by Briar Grace Smith is now a classic, performed internationally and around the country since its award-winning debut in 1997 and now a part of the school curriculum. The new production is directed by Cathy Downes, who also directed its original seasons, and stars Rawiri Paratene (Whale Rider), Scotty Cotter (Shortland Street), and Roimata Fox (Korero Mai). Purapurawhetu also plays in the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber June 30-July 2.

This year’s inaugural festival also features “Raising The Titanics” by Albert Belz (July 1-3) and “Te Kaupoi” by Whiti Hereaka (July 21-23). It also introduces a novelty event, the 24-Hour Deadline Theatre Challenge (July 4), in which five leading Maori playwrights work to a time challenge.

Taonga Whakaari: The Maori Playwrights 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 -Papakura general manager Graeme Bennett, tasked with expanding the theatre into the community, saw a festival as a way to meet both objectives: “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.”
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