Taking The Stage At Secondary Schools

Toi Maori Aotearoa
Media Release

Taking The Stage At Secondary Schools

Three emergent Maori performers will take to the stage at secondary schools in the Poneke (Wellington) region in an effort to promote, inspire and encourage creativity in students, particularly those of Maori and Pacific descent.

Featuring performers James Tito, Tarah Rudolf-Ahkiau and Matiu Te Huki, the touring programme has been aptly named FRESH Tour 2009 and will take place during 22–24 September visiting schools in the Kapiti Coast, Wellington City and the Hutt Valley.

After rave reviews of his Shakespearean performance in te reo Maori with Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, tour member James Tito understands how students can become disillusioned about literature.

“I never liked or understood Shakespeare when I was at school, until I found a way to make it my own and what it means to me as a young artist in today's society,” says Tito.

Also on tour, performance poet Tarah Rudolf-Ahkiau, a member of the South Auckland Poets Collective, will be saying it “loud and definitely proud” as her rhythmic prose beats out an expression of what it is like to be young and brown in Aotearoa.

The third performer, singer, songwriter and playwright, Matiu Te Huki, is also no stranger to the stage. Te Huki has performed with such bands as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Anika Moa, DLT, Tiki Taane, Homefire Burning, and Basscamp not to mention having recently written this year’s te reo Maori play for Taki Rua Productions. Te Huki is currently a member of the band My Golden Soul.

FRESH Tour 2009 is an initiative produced by Toi Maori Aotearoa’s literary committees Te Ha and Nga Pou Kaituhi Maori to support and expose young Maori artists and Maori literature to a wider audience.

An additional tour will follow in October to secondary schools in the Wairarapa region.

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