Indigenous Theatre book launched at Studio 77
Indigeneity on the Oceanic Stage: Intimations of the Local in a Globalised World, an internationally published book, was launched at the University's Studio 77
Studio 77, the performing home to the School of Theatre on the Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Kelburn campus, was full to capacity for the Wednesday, March 5 launch of a new book about Indigenous theatre in the Pacific region. Indigeneity on the Oceanic Stage: Intimations of the Local in a Globalised World is published by Brill in the Netherlands, and edited by Marc Maufort, Emeritus Professor of Anglophone Literatures at the University of Brussels, and David O’Donnell, recently retired Professor of Theatre at Te Herenga Waka. Professor Maufort travelled from Belgium to Wellington especially for this event, and was thrilled by the interest in the book from the audience of Victoria staff, postgraduates, theatre practitioners and theatre archivists.
The book was launched by Dr Nicola Hyland, Pouakorangi—Programme Director of Te Whare Ngangahau—Theatre and Performance Studies. In her kõrero, Nicola emphasized the collaborative nature of the book:
"It is particularly meaningful for me to be included in a volume with so many First Nation scholars from all across this region – featuring work from Aotearoa, Hawai’i, Rapa Nui, Ao Moemoea (Australia), and Tagata Pasifika. We also share these contributions alongside champions from within settler communities. It not only enhances the mana of our discipline to be able to speak of the global impact of local Indigenous performances, but it also re-conjures these performances for new audiences. The archive – or as Yuki Kihara claims it, the Vāchive – keeps the work alive, and brings new life and voice to work we might have otherwise forgotten".
Professor Marc Maufort explained the theoretical ideas underpinning the book, emphasizing the complex performative interplay between the local and the global. David O’Donnell and the authors who were present at the launch led the audience through each chapter in the book, which takes the reader on a symbolic journey around the Pacific Ocean, from Hawai’i, to the Torres Strait Islands, to Australia, to Rapa Nui/Easter Island, by way of Aotearoa and Samoa. The book covers a wide range of performance, including scripted plays, devised plays, plays in Pacific languages, educational theatre, pōwhiri, queer Pasifika ballroom, Māori showbands, and the intersections between customary and contemporary Indigenous dance.
Indigeneity on the Oceanic Stage has strong connections with Te Herenga Waka, with chapters by staff members Nicola Hyland and James Wenley, former staff member Sean Coyle and PhD graduate Moira Fortin Cornejo, all of whom spoke at the launch. Hilary Halba from Otago’s Theatre Studies Programme (attending via Zoom) spoke to her chapter about devised bi-cultural theatre in Ōtepoti, and made a tribute to her co-author Rua McCallum (Ngāi Tahu Whānui) who passed away last year.
Another distinguished guest was Tammy Haili’opua Baker, Professor of Hawaiian Theatre and Playwriting at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa, who travelled with her husband from Honolulu for the launch. Professor Baker performed a powerful Hawaiian chant and spoke movingly about her chapter on Hawaiian language theatre and the social and political importance of performing arts in Oceanic cultures.
The event was a fitting celebration of this volume which aims to fill some of the gaps in Oceanic performance studies, and to illustrate the imaginative ways Indigenous Oceanic performing artists respond to the forces of globalisation in the 21st century.