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National | Canada

Canada on the horizon for Māori Producer

A Māori theatre producer is on a mission to empower the Māori culture and increase the influence of te reo Māori through theatre.  Amber Curreen is set to take the first Māori play to the RUTAS Indigenous Arts Festival in Canada next month.

Ngāpuhi's Amber Curreen is no stranger to taking the stage. Some may remember her from one of NZ's popular television series.

“When I was just a teenager I started on Shorty Street back in 2001 just as an actor but I’ve moved into doing more producing and into theatre since 2006.”

Curreen is on a mission to evolve the traditional concepts of how theatre and performing arts are created.

“I want to see it done differently, I want to see it more in a multicultural framework I want to release us from the shackles of an English way of presenting art on a stage and integrate more Te Ao Māori within the way in which we do theatre.”

She has produced professional shows including Raising the Titanics, Te Awarua, Ruia Te Kākano and Purapurawhetū. All have a focus on Māori culture.

Those projects are inspired by making sure our voice is heard and our stories are seen and making sure there is more than just one way to access those stories not just over the TV not just through film

Her reputation has resulted in an invitation to the RUTAS festival in Canada.

“I met Ryan Cunningham who is the festival director for the director of the Native Earth which is the longest running contemporary indigenous theatre space that's in Canada Toronto and he was really enthused by the work that we are doing with Solothello and wanted to bring it over for the RUTAS Festival which is a festival that brings together traditional European English works and indigenous interpretations of them so Solothello works in perfectly.”

“SolOthello is a really exciting project that I’m doing with Te Rehia Theatre Company its a one man show which brings together Othello, Te Ao Māori and this new mask form that we have developed.”

Rehearsals are already underway. The team will depart for Canada early October.