UPU

Milford Asset Management

is proudto be Silo Theatre’s

Principal Partner,

supporting Silo Theatre since 2014.

UPUA Silo Theatre and Auckland Arts Festival co-production

CastMia BlakeAna CorbettNicola KāwanaNathaniel LeesShadon MeredithJarod RawiriGaby Solomona

CurationGrace Taylor

DirectionFasitua Amosa

Set DesignMicheal McCabe

Lighting and Projection DesignRowan Pierce

Sound DesignAnonymouz akaFaiumu Matthew Salapu

MovementJoash Fahitua

Projection MamanuTyla Vaeau

Costume DesignKristin Seth; featuring garments and handmade pieces from Jarcinda Stowers-Ama Dena JacobShona Tawhiao Lisa Kau and Alohalani Lei'sPati Solomona TyrellNuma MackenzieBrother Jay

Production ManagementGabriel Ford

Stage ManagementEliza Josephson-Rutter

OperationJoshua Tucker

Production CoordinatorIsabella Ieremia

Set BuildGrant Reynolds

Production Team

Silo gratefully acknowledges the support of:

Chisholm Whitney Family Charitable Trust

Auckland Arts Festival Board and Staff, Q Theatre Board and Staff, Seachange, Dr. Patrick Thompsen, Leah Dam, Rosanna Raymond, Toaki Okano, Angela Stewart, Simon Barker, David St George, Hayden J. Weal, Gabrielle Vincent, Basement Theatre, Nisha Madhan, Whetu Silver, Rawiri Paratene, James Maeva, Nora Aati, Julie Zhu, John Fausett, Kate Burton, Alice Canton, Jeremy Fern and Oceania, Noma Sio-Faiumu, Nikau Hindin, Sophie Elworthy and Corban Estate Arts Centre, Sela Hopgood, Alice Lolohea, Black Grace, Auckland Writers Festival, Tautai Pacific Arts Trust, Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland Live and RUSTY.

From the Creators

We, people of Oceania, are an ocean of storytellers. Historians, speakers of the now and prophets of the future. Our whakapapa/gafa/genealogies are passed down to us through oral storytelling, tatau and song. Much like our body of ocean, the wealth and depth of the literature in Oceania is vast. UPU celebrates the gathering of the distinct voices from different islands in Oceania and also the connection between us by the largest body of ocean on earth. “ Theirs was a large world in which

peoples and cultures moved and mingled unhindered by boundaries…”

— Epeli Hau’ofa in Our Sea Of Islands So much rich poetry by so many great writers to fit into a one hour show. What you witness in UPU tonight is but a sneak peak into this incredible and growing collection of literature. It is our hope that you are inspired by what you witness in this show tonight and dive further into the poetry of poets you experience. Go to the library, ask other poets or google the name of a poet you were moved by tonight and feast upon their words.

— Grace Taylor and Fasitua Amosa

Poems

A Samoan Star-chant For Matariki Selina Tusitala Marsh

Pō Brandy Nālani McDougall

Inside Us The Dead: Polynesians Maualaivao Albert Wendt

How I Got My Name Briar Grace Smith

Moko Ben Brown

Warrior Wig And Boar's Tusk Pendant Daren Kamali

On Cooking Captain Cook Brandy Nālani McDougall

SPAM’s Carbon Footprint Craig Santos Perez

Songs of the fat brown woman Sia Figiel

Explanation Of Poetry To My Immigrant Mother

Selina Tusitala Marsh

This Is A Photo Of My House Tusiata Avia

Identity Politics Tayi Tibble

Inside Us The Dead: Missionaries Maualaivao Albert Wendt

Vatu Invocation Grace Mera Molisa

15 (excerpt from ‘Thirty Songs of Love and Life by the Nineteenth-Century Poet Tomai,

of Liku’ in The Shark that Ate the Sun)

John Pule

For Makelesi Taulepa: Fefine mei Ofu Karlo Mila

16 (excerpt from ‘Thirty Songs of Love and Life by the Nineteenth-Century Poet Tomai,

of Liku’ in The Shark that Ate the Sun)

John Pule

Cross Albert Leomala

Natives Wanted Brandy Nālani McDougall

Girl From Tuvalu Selina Tusitala Marsh

Tell Them Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner

Basket No'ʻu Revilla

The writers whose poems feature in UPU have donated their writer's royalty share to the Teresia Teaiwa Memorial Scholarship in Pacific Studies fund. A fund that enables Pasifika students to access and excel at tertiary learning. Teresia Teaiwa (1968 – 2017), whose poem, Misplaced Native, features in UPU, was the director of Va’aomanū Pasifika at Victoria University of Wellington, a renowned scholar, activist and poet. Teresia is internationally celebrated for her groundbreaking work in Pacific Studies. If you would also like to donate to this fund please contact the Scholarships Office at Victoria University, scholarships-office@vuw.ac.nz. Fa'afetai tele lava.

UPU honours the featured works of these poets who have departed our physical world, for their pioneering and significant contributions to literature in Oceania. They still live among us.

Grace Mera MolisaTeresia TeaiwaHone Tuwhare

Their voices and words a sacred, living and breathing taonga.

Hotel Pacific David Eggleton

Inside Us The Dead: Traders Maualaivao Albert Wendt

White-Land Celestine Kulagoe

Other People Grace Mera Molisa

Letter To The Colonel Konai Helu Thaman

Misplaced Native Teresia Teaiwa

The reincarnated mm: a cross cultural exchange between the big island taxi

drivers and the young girl a expert visiting Sāmoa for the south pacific games

Audrey Brown-Pereira

Scabbing Tayi Tibble

Two Nudes On A Tahitian Beach Selina Tusitala Marsh

A Pakeha Friend Tells A Maori Joke Hone Tuwhare

Pretty Simone Kaho

Tropical Lyz Soto

Paradise Pasifika Leilani Tamu

How Do I De.Kolo-Nize Myself Daren Kamali

Our Tūpuna Remain Jacqueline Carter

Lapita Pot Apirana Taylor

Poems

UPU: A Celebration of Trailblazing Moana Writers

Sāmoan/Pākehā writer and Pantograph Punch Editor Faith Wilson reflects on the words and the histories behind UPU.

The feet of the fat brown woman / Are grounded nicely to the bellies of / Her mamas / The fat blue Pacific / The fat brown Earth / Thank you very much

—Sia Figiel, Songs of the fat brown woman

I have a strong visceral reaction when I read or hear poetry by my fellow writers of the Moana. I legit get chills up my spine. My hairs stand on end. I get butterflies in my stomach. My eyes well up and I cry. Even when the poem is meant to be funny. One of the reasons for this, I think, is that I feel a surge of excitement, butterflies, chills, which is followed by a feeling of guilt, more butterflies, crying. Excitement because the poetry is that hot, and guilt because of all the different authors I encounter, I have actually only properly read from like, five of them. As someone who kinda prides themself on being well read, why haven’t I read more poetry from my Moana bros and sisters?

UPU is not so much a play as it is a celebration of words. It is an ode to a generation of trailblazing writers, those who make up our canon of published Moana writers, who were the first of us to talk about the effects of colonisation, who questioned the ideas of the noble savage and the dusky maiden. They’re who I should be thanking every day for the fact that I get to write about stuff other than that.

The script for UPU is essentially a collection of poems, curated by or ‘fished for’ by poet and performer Grace Taylor. When Grace told me that UPU is informed by two essays, Epeli Hau’ofa’s The Ocean in Us and matua Maualaivao Albert Wendt’s Towards a New Oceania, my guilt crept in again and I felt like a bad Sāmoan. I had not read either of these essays and praised the gods when I found both were available online for me to read for free.

Each of these essays, in its own way, makes a central argument: that for our peoples and our lands and our ocean to thrive, Oceania (Moana is the term I lean toward these days and will use here) must unite.

Maualaivao Albert considers artistic diversity to be the Moana’s greatest asset. Through the different cultures within the Moana, our artistic contributions (dance, visual arts, the words) weave firm links between us. “This artistic renaissance is enriching our cultures further, reinforcing our identities/self-respect/and pride, and taking us through a genuine decolonisation; it is also acting as a unifying force in our region,” writes Wendt.

UPU lives and breathes this kaupapa. Grace says, when selecting the various poems in UPU, she tried very hard to find published poems from every region of the Moana. Some Islands were difficult to source from – she says that this just shows how much opportunity there is to publish more poetry from those less represented regions.

Before my kōrero with Grace, I had noticed that the authors whose work is featured in the show are all from a certain era of writing, those who I call the first and second generation of Moana writers: Selina Tusitala-Marsh, Karlo Mila, Sia Figiel, David Eggleton, to name a few. I also noticed there were only a couple of writers from the emerging generation – the poets that I am currently most interested in reading (being a millennial and all). I questioned this, as I thought a performance concerned with unifying the Moana should not just be about regional unification, but also about connecting the young with the old, the established with the emerging.

But after hearing more from Grace, and actually reading and re-reading many of the selected poems, I was shook. Not only are so many of these poems written with a scary prescience that I can attribute only to the weird other-worldliness that many Moana artists seem to live with, but I also realised that bringing these poems to our rangatahi is connecting the past with the present, and with the future.

As Grace says:

“ A main part of our kaupapa is to inspire people to dive into Pacific literature, to libraries – by bringing the published word to the stage through the oral word… there is so much richness of published poetry from Oceania – but unless you are at uni or in an academic environment you probably will not access it… many audience members over our last two seasons said, ‘We just didn't know this poetry existed.'”

As Grace points out, the poetry of many emerging writers is available online. That’s less true of the first and second generation of Moana writers who feature in UPU. Much of their poetry is published in books that so few of our people know about. In those books, you’ll find a wealth of writing that’s as relevant now as the day it was written. UPU bridges that accessibility gap.

Two of the most salient issues concerning the Moana currently are undoing the effects of colonisation and, of course, climate change. Epeli’s essay talks at length about the environmental concerns that have plagued the Moana and continue to do so, especially the smaller nations. For Epeli, the unification of Moana is essential if we are to protect our environment; through working together, we find our strength. Meanwhile Maualaivao Albert posits the idea of a “colonial chill”; the creepy aftermath of colonisation, the way it has seeped into our bones. Even though Maualaivao Albert’s essay was written in the 70s, and Epeli’s in the 90s, and many of these poems were written in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, they speak to those two exact issues with currency and urgency.

In the space of a few hours after my exchange with Grace, I’m once again embarrassed at my lack of knowledge of writing that has been published and produced by writers I’ve always been meaning to read but haven’t. I feel like a fia poko, coming into this thinking that the only solutions to these issues can come from our present. When, in fact, as Maualaivao Albert puts it, “We must rediscover and reaffirm our faith in the vitality of our past, our cultures, our dead, so that we may develop our own unique eyes, voices, muscles, and imagination.”

UPU is all about bringing these writers to the fore. To make their writing accessible to everyone – even a bots like me. And I think of Maualaivao Albert saying that literature of the Moana transcends barriers, that writing is revolutionary, and my own shame of not knowing these things is one hundred percent a symptom of that colonial chill.

Epeli Hau’ofa’s essay begins with the late Teresia Teaiwa’s famously quoted phrase “We cry and sweat salt water / so we know that the ocean is really in our blood.” I know this phrase well, as many Moana poets do. As I was reading some of the poems included in UPU, feeling my body physically react to the works, Teresia and Epeli’s words kept floating in my brain.

Maybe the physical reaction I have is not only one of guilt, after all. Maybe it’s because I too am from the sea. The Pacific waters that flow through my blood flow through all of the writers I have read or am only just beginning to read. I feel so physically connected to their words because their words are in part mine. My history is my own, but it is also theirs. And though the ocean is vast, it is the single thing that brings us together. As Epeli says, “the sea is our pathway to each other and to everyone else, the sea is our endless saga, the sea is our most powerful metaphor, the ocean is in us.” If UPU is about connection and unification, even as I write this from the other side of the world I taste those salty tears, and feel at home.

Faith Wilson

Fasitua Amosa Director

Fasitua hails from Samoa and Tuvalu. He graduated from Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts in 2002. UPU marks longtime Silo whānau member Fasitua's directorial debut with Silo. His performance highlights with Silo include Take Me Out, The Boys in the Band, Badjelly the Witch, A Clockwork Orange, The Blind Date Project and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. Fasitua’s other directing credits include The Mountaintop and Still Life with Chickens.

Grace Taylor Curator

Grace Iwashita-Taylor, breathing bloodlines of Samoa, England and Japan. An artist of upu/words led her to the world of performing arts. Dedicated to carving out, elevating and holding spaces for storytellers of Te Moana nui a Kiwa. Grace is a recipient of the CNZ Emerging Pacific Artist award 2014 and the Auckland Mayoral Writers Grant 2016 and her highlights include holding the visiting international writer in residence at the University of Hawaii 2018, Co-Founder of the first youth poetry slam in Aotearoa, Rising Voices (2011 – 2016) and the South Auckland Poets Collective. Grace has two published poetry collections; Afakasi Speaks (2013) and Full Broken Bloom (2017) with Ala Press.

Mia Blake Mia Blake is proud to have been part of the Silo whānau since 2003. In that time she has performed in such productions as Bash, The Women, Badjelly the Witch, Tartuffe, Private Lives, Angels in America, The Book of Everything and A Streetcar Named Desire. Mia is thrilled to be part of the Silo launch of UPU. This project brings together two things she loves – Pasefika storytelling and poetry.

Ana CorbettAna Corbett is a performer working across stage and screen in Aotearoa since graduating from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. She has been a part of the journey of UPU since its first staging, Upu Mai Whetū and is looking forward to “bringing these incredible words to life with the most wonderful bunch of people and sharing it with the world. Poetry is so infectious and powerful.”

Nicola KāwanaNicola is a Māori/Pākehā actress of Ngāruahine and Kahungunu descent. She is a graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School with experience in film, television and theatre. She is also a passionate organic gardener, garden designer, Greenpeace supporter and garden television presenter. Nicola is most looking forward to “the people, the words, the voices we give air to” with this season of UPU.

Nathaniel LeesNathaniel’s extensive career in theatre, television, film and storytelling in Aotearoa and internationally spans more than 40 years. He has previously performed in the Silo productions of White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Peter and the Wolf and Hir. Nathaniel is enjoying “being part of an amazing collaboration of performers, designers and administrative team striving to give full life and meaning to who we are as people living in the expanse that is Moana Nui A Kiva.”

Shadon MeredithShadon graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2009 with a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting). Since graduating, he has worked in various roles in film and theatre, including making and performing his award-winning show Waiting. Shadon is proud to have worked nationally and internationally on youth-based artistic projects that aim to empower and encourage the arts as a way to create social dialogue. Shadon is happy "to be working and playing alongside talented and hardworking Pacific artists, and to see what happens when they bring Oceanic stories to the land of the long white cloud."

Jarod RawiriJarod returns to Silo having performed in 2018’s Cellfish, his other Silo highlights include Take Me Out, The Cut, Lobby Hero, The Brothers Size, White Rabbit Red Rabbit and Angels in America. Jarod is of Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Tūwharetoa whakapapa. He is the founder of White Face Crew, a hip-hop clown theatre group. On UPU, Jarod says, “The cast are powerhouses. And it feels like family. There's no awkwardness trying to get to know each other. The laughs are easy, the kai is good and the work is championed.”

Gaby SolomonaGaby Solomona is a New Zealand born Samoan hailing from the villages of Afega, Apia and Leone in American Samoa. She is an alumni of PIPA (Pacific Institute of Performing Arts) and since graduating has performed on stage and screen and won the Best Newcomer Award at the Auckland Theatre Awards in 2015. Gaby is excited "to bring the words of these poets to the stage and hopes that the younger Māori and Pasefika generations will become more aware of these poets, their words and the wonderful gift of oratory that is embedded in Pasefika people – to celebrate our being and help us navigate our vakas."

The Writer

Jun

11 —

Jul 4

Q T

heat

re —

Lof

t

The

Inte

rnat

iona

l Pre

mie

re

By Ella Hickson

“ Electrifying... very punk rock, a thrillingly uninhibited rally against the establishment. ”

Time Out London

Our Kind of People

Silo Patrons are passionate individuals who believe in our work and feel strongly about supporting a visionary creative culture in Auckland. They are our extended family — they listen, advise, congratulate, share in our mission and cheer us on.

Silo Generator PatronsBetsy & Michael BenjaminWilliam BuckAdrian BurrRichard & Susan GarlandDame Jenny GibbsJohn Ormiston

Silo Patron PlusMary BrookRick & Jenny CarlyonChristine & Richard DidsburyRoss & Josephine GreenTracey Haszard & Phil SargentSir Chris & Lady Dayle MaceRachel & Jason ParisJenny & Andrew SmithMike Smith & Dale D’Rose

Silo Foundation PatronsHeather Anderson & Mike ClarkDavid ApplebyJohn BierreJohn Billington QCBrian Carter & Clare BradleyChristina Chan & Nigel EllisGary CheyneAmber Coulter & Andrew LewisGarth & Vivienne CumberlandMichelle DeeryRichard EbbettCameron Fleming

John & Jo GowJohn & Trish GribbenSue HaighSamuel Holloway & Michael LettMichael Hurst & Jennifer Ward-LealandDavid Inns & Sally WoodfieldPhilip & Michelle KeanMargaret LakeHilary LewisStella McDonaldAlison & Murray McMillanMorgan CoaklePrue OldeSusan Pezaro & Antony MahonAnthony QuirkGeoff & Fran RickettsJuliet RobiesonSouth Pacific PicturesThane & Susy SmithMichael & Margaret StanleyLady TaitLindsay ThompsonNoel & Kerrin VautierSusan & Gavin WalkerPeter Winder Auckland Music Theatre

Silo Best FriendsLinda AitchisonLesley DennisArend Merrie & Fiona TurnerSarah Sinclair

Silo Theatre is a registered NZ charity: CC24374 All donations are tax deductible and appreciated more than you know :)

Blue Star

Proud printers of all Silo programmes.

Use them. They’re the best. jim.rendell@ bluestar.co.nz

Executive DirectorJessica Smith

Artistic DirectorSophie Roberts

Finance ManagerMartine Holloway

Marketing & Communications CoordinatorJordan Keyzer

Accounts AdministratorMichelle Hall

Silo Ticketing & AdministrationAdam BrownPatrick CarrollLucie Everett-BrownIsabella IeremiaBrynley Stent

Artistic AssociateJason Te Kare

Silo Theatre TrustJo AllisonRick Carlyon [Chair]Greg FaheySharon Aroha HawkeRachel ParisSarah PeirseRosabel TanPeter Winder

Design & Art DirectionSeachange

WebsiteSons & Co.

PhotographyToaki OkanoDavid St George Pati Solomona Tyrell

Administration & Ticket Enquiries09 369 5783admin@silotheatre.co.nz

We have moved to: Samoa House283 Karangahape RoadPO Box 7752Wellesley StreetAuckland 1141

Join our E-News at silotheatre.co.nz

Facebook @silotheatre

Instagram @silotheatre

Twitter @silotheatre

In Good Company

Major Partners

Industry Partners

Sustaining Partners

Charitable Partner

Venue Partners

Media Partners

Principal Partner

Technical Manager Nick Tomlin

Technical Administrator Anna Bennington

Head of Staging Andrew Gibson

Head of Lighting Abby Clearwater

Head of Sound Sandy Gunn

Head of AV Simon Barker

Production Manager Vicki Cooksley

Production Manager, Place des Anges Pak Peacocke

Operations Manager, Place des Anges Charlotte Crone

Festival Front of House Manager Siân Tucker

Patron The Governor General, Her Excellency The Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, GNZM, QSO

Board of Trustees John Judge (Chair) Angela Clatworthy Rick Carlyon Evan Davies Sarah Judkins Graham Tipene Fred Ward Angela Watson

Chief Executive David Inns

Artistic Director Jonathan Bielski

Business & Finance Manager Vanessa Zigliani

Accounts & Payroll Administrator Mirena Tomas

Accounts Assistant Desna Ahlam

Executive Assistant Elizabeth Swinburn

Office Manager/Partnerships Assistant Gill Saker

Receptionist/ Office Assistant Jesse Quaid

Pou Tikanga Eynon Delamere

Head of Programming Dolina Wehipeihana

Creative Associate Tama Waipara

Senior Programme Manager Steph Walker

Programme Manager – Toitū te Reo Ngatapa Black

Programme Assistant – Toitū te Reo Whetu Silver

Programme Coordinator – Whānui Noma Sio-Faiumu

Programme Coordinator – Creative Learning Amy Turner

Programme Coordinator – Access & Inclusion Alex Lodge

Artist & Logistics Manager Megan Andrews

Artist Liaison Assistant Maria Williams

Programme Administrator Michelle Wigg

Marketing & Communications Director Thierry Pannetier

Marketing & Communications Manager Sally Woodfield

Brand & Content Creation Manager Tim Wong

Festival Publicist Tess Marshall

Communications & Digital Marketing Assistant Jesse Carpenter

Marketing Assistant Camila Araos Elevancini

Content Marketing Assistant Nahyeon Lee

Marketing Intern Stephanie Khoo

Partnerships Executive Vanessa Morgan

Ticketing Manager Jillian Davey

Ticketing Assistant Charlotte Underhill

core funders

Ph +64 09 309 0101 Email info@aaf.co.nz

Level 5, Wellesley Centre 44–52 Wellesley Street West PO Box 5419, Auckland 1141

aaf.co.nz #AKLFEST

Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland Arts Festival is a place for ambitious ideas by storytellers, provocateurs and creators.

The Festival reflects our contemporary, cosmopolitan city with its many communities. It challenges artists and audiences to be bold and take a risk. Through the work of artists of Aotearoa and across the world, we aim to unify, enlighten and inspire the people of Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau and our many visitors.

A globally recognised celebration of art and culture taking place each March in New Zealand’s largest city, AAF will be presented for the 12th time in 2020. The Festival has attracted nearly two million visitors to date.