Aroha Awarau, a Hato Paora old boy and Auckland-based journalist says his next play is going to be about the first Māori bishop.
“A lot of great Māori writers tend to explore Māori issues in a spiritual or Māori world,” says Mr Awarau.
Mr Awarau says the play looks at the election of the first Māori Catholic bishop in New Zealand with a bit of a reality TV twist.
“People can connect to that desire and want of competing for a prize.”
The first Māori bishop, Max Takuira Mariu SM, was also a former student and later on teacher at Hato Paora College.
Despite writing full time for New Zealand Woman’s Weekly magazine, Mr Awarau also wrote and produced the Annual Script Writers award-winning play, “Luncheon“.
He has also had short films shown at international film festivals and is trying his hand at television production as well.
Mr Awarau attended Hato Paora College, a boarding school in Fielding and as a 17-year-old travelled to New York to live with a Jewish family on an exchange for a year.
His final year was at Hawera High School. “What shaped me as an artist really was my time in Hawera,” he said.
Source: CathNews