Taki Rua Theatre: Breaking Barriers

Documentary on Taki Rua Productions, a kaupapa Māori theatre company, directed by Whetū Fala who draws on her personal connection to pay tribute to actors, writers, producers, directors, staff, governors, and te reo Māori advocates who have helped shape it over the last 40 years.

"Post the 1981 Springbok tour, as New Zealanders were embracing a new maturity of valuing their own identity, a group of liberal-minded theatre practitioners took over the running of an unwanted theatre space in downtown Wellington near Downstage Theatre. 

"They called it the New Depot – a theatre that focused on New Zealand stories for New Zealand audiences. Within a few years, the liberal-minded theatre practitioners’ thinking grew to understand that in order to truly represent our stories, they needed to be in partnership with Māori and the New Depot evolved into Taki Rua Depot Theatre, now Taki Rua Productions – a kaupapa Māori theatre company. 

"Wellington theatregoers from the 1980s will recall the newness of the approach at the slightly shabby but much-loved Alpha St theatre. For Kaupapa Māori productions, the audience waited in the foyer before being welcomed into the theatre with a powhiri." (Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival)

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