Learn the Three 'R'S Wakapurei-Style

Learn the Three 'R'S Wakapurei-Style

Six nights. Six plays. Six voices. Clear your diary.

Hekama Creative is pleased to announce the inaugural Rough, Raw and Ready showcase as part of Wakapurei 2012, running from Monday 25 June to Saturday 30 June 2012 at the Basement Theatre in Auckland. Rough, Raw and Ready is a week of semi-staged readings of plays by Maori and Pasifika playwrights, and is a collaboration between the Tamaki Makaurau Matariki Festival Trust, Banana Boat Charitable Trust and Hekama Creative.

Rough, Raw and Ready is a showcase of six semi-staged readings of plays by new and established Māori and Pasifika artists. Hinurewa te Hau, chair of the Tamaki Makaurau Matariki Festival Trust, is proud to make Wakapurei a reality. "This week-long event is an opportunity to nurture Maori playwrights and bring their raw script to stage. Supporting this step of the playwriting process is key to the development of Maori and Pacific theatre. Wakapurei 2012 is an event the Trust would like to see grow and develop for the Auckland Matariki Festival. This is the first step in building a foundation for these artists to bring new conversations and connect new audiences."

The works range from an hilarious psychological dissection of one man's destiny with a 9mm bullet (Rob Mokaraka's Shot Bro), through multi-generational tales of actual, metaphoric and familial conflict (Rena Owen's Daddy's Girl, Whiti Hereaka's Raw Men, and Dianna Fuemana's My Mother Dreaming), to darkly funny and menacing tales of modern day ennui (Mitch Tawhi Thomas' Have Car Will Travel, and Suli Moa's A Heart's Path).

Showcase director Jenni Heka has assembled a small army of playwrights, directors and actors to rehearse, workshop and present their works in celebration of the Māori New Year. "Auckland theatre audiences will be spoilt rotten with the diversity of voices," says Jenni Heka. "I'm not just meaning Māori, Tonga, Niue and Samoa voices - there's a fifty-fifty gender split amongst the writers, and there's a century's worth of experience between them, from up-and-coming writers to pillars of New Zealand theatre."

The programme is:
Monday 25 June - Raw Men by Whiti Hereaka (Ngati Tuwharetoa, Arawa);
Tuesday 26 June - A Heart's Path by Suli Moa (Tonga);
Wednesday 27 June - Shot Bro by Rob Mokaraka;
Thursday 28 June - Daddy's Girl by Rena Owen;
Friday 29 June - My Mother Dreaming by Dianna Fuemana (Niue/Samoa);
Saturday 30 June - Have Car Will Travel by Mitch Tawhi Thomas (Ngati Maniapoto).

Rough, Raw and Ready is produced by Jenni Heka for Hekama Creative, with works by Whiti Hereaka, Suli Moa, Rob Mokaraka, Rena Owen, Dianna Fuemana and Mitch Tawhi Thomas. All plays are presented by arrangement with Playmarket - New Zealand playwrights' agent. Wakapurei 2012 is made possible with funding from the Tamaki Makaurau Matariki Festival Trust.

For further information about Rough, Raw and Ready: www.hekamacreative.co.nz www.fb.me/hekamacreative

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