Roma Potiki

Roma Potiki
Born1958
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Died2026 (aged 67–68)
Known forpoetry, theatre commentary, theatre, visual arts

Roma Potiki (1958–2026) was a New Zealand poet, playwright, visual artist, curator, theatre actor and director, as well as a commentator on Māori theatre. She was of Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri and Ngāti Rangitihi descent. Her poems have been included in a number of notable anthologies and her artwork is held in the permanent collection of the Dowse Art Museum.

Background

Roma Potiki was born in Lower Hutt, a city in the Wellington Region, and grew up in the suburb Wainuiomata. As a child she attended Wainuiomata Primary School, Woodhatton Primary School, Wainuiomata College and Wellington High School. Her first play was written while at primary school and she also started writing poetry at school.

Career

Roma Potiki was involved in contemporary Māori theatre in early formative years. She was in a play performed by Te Ika A Maui Players in 1978 called Death of the Land by Rore Hapipi (Rowley Habib). She went on to help form the Māori theatre company Maranga Mai in 1979. This company was linked to the Māori protest movement and they toured a theatre production in 1979 - 1980 to marae and schools. The play Maranga Mai that they presented was a fifty minute story of Māori activism. It started in with the 1975 Māori Land March, included reference to occupations at the Raglan Golf Course, Bastion Point and the protests by Ngā Tamatoa during Waitangi Day. People involved included Brian Potiki, Anna Meihana, Hori Hapimana, Henare Hapimana, Buffy Pihema, Cyril Chapman, Jacki Davidson and Liz Marsden. The play included song, poetry, movement and drama.

In 1990, she was a founding director of another theatre company He Ara Hou. They performed and toured a play called Whatungarongaro. This play was directed by Potiki and John Anderson and devised over nine months with the company members. Potiki had previously done workshops with a theatre company PETA (Philippines Educational Theatre Association) and was influenced by their way of working.

Roma Potiki's writing includes poetry contribution to many anthologies, as well as published volumes. She has written the foreword to books of New Zealand Māori plays and contributed text to exhibition catalogues. As an artist, Potiki has exhibited art work and one of her pieces Hinewai is in the collection of the Dowse Art Museum.

Legacy

The poem Stones in her Mouth by Potiki inspired contemporary New Zealand choreographer Lemi Ponifasio to create a community leadership project also called Stones in her Mouth in 2013. This involved a group of Māori women holding workshops at marae and writing text that was then performed.

He Ara Hou and Whatungarongaro

Before actor Rena Owen was in Once Were Warriors, she performed a similar role in theatre company He Ara Hou's play Whatungarongaro that Potiki co-created. Owen's performance in Whatungarongaro influenced her being cast in Once Were Warriors.

Playwright and director of theatre company Tawata Productions Hone Kouka cites seeing Whatungarongaro in 1991 at the Depot Theatre in Wellington as being life changing and convincing him that innovative Māori theatre had no boundaries. Another New Zealand theatre and film writer Briar Grace-Smith was an assistant to Potiki and learnt from the process of making Whatungarongaro.

Published works

Poetry

Plays

Other

Anthologies

Roma Potiki is widely published in anthologies.

Selected list:

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science & Heritage (27 October 2026). "Roma Pōtiki". Facebook. Retrieved 28 October 2026.
  2. ↑ Toi te Ao : Aotearoa world celebration of indigenous art and history, Te Taumata Gallery, Auckland, 1993. Wellington [N.Z.]: Toi Te Ao Art Committee. 1993. p. 32. ISBN 0473023113. OCLC 154557391.
  3. ↑ Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson, eds. (1998). The Oxford companion to New Zealand literature. Melbourne, Victoria.: Oxford University Press. pp. 448–449. ISBN 0195583485. OCLC 40598609.
  4. ↑ Odom, Glenn A. (2017). World theories of theatre. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 216–218. ISBN 9781317586289. OCLC 988290202.
  5. ↑ Balme, Christopher B. (1999). Decolonizing the stage : theatrical syncretism and post-colonial drama. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0198184441. OCLC 39655593.
  6. 1 2 3 Underhill, Bridget. "Roma Potiki". www.komako.org.nz. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  7. ↑ "Potiki, Roma". www.read-nz.org. January 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Roma Potiki". Poetry Foundation. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Kōmako A bibliography of writing by Māori in English". www.komako.org.nz. 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  10. 1 2 Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "2. – Māori theatre - te whare tapere hōu – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  11. ↑ Locke, Cybèle (2012). Workers in the Margins: Union Radicals in Post-war New Zealand. Bridget Williams Books. ISBN 978-1-927131-39-8.
  12. 1 2 O'Donnell, David (2007). "Calming the Oceans: Interview with Briar Grace-Smith". In Maufort, Marc; O'Donnell, David (eds.). Performing Aotearoa : New Zealand theatre and drama in an age of transition. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang. p. 271. ISBN 978-90-5201-359-6. OCLC 165412282.
  13. ↑ "John Anderson". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  14. ↑ Warrington, Lisa (2017). Floating Islanders : Pasifika theatre in Aotearoa. O'Donnell, David, 1956-. Dunedin, New Zealand. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-988531-07-6. OCLC 994638351.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ↑ Edmond, Murray (2007). ""Autonomous Theatre" in New Zealand". In Maufort, Marc; O'Donnell, David (eds.). Performing Aotearoa : New Zealand theatre and drama in an age of transition. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang. p. 65. ISBN 978-90-5201-359-6. OCLC 165412282.
  16. ↑ Kouka, Hone (2007). "The State of Contemporary Theatre". In Maufort, Marc; O'Donnell, David (eds.). Performing Aotearoa : New Zealand theatre and drama in an age of transition. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang. p. 240. ISBN 978-90-5201-359-6. OCLC 165412282.
  17. 1 2 3 "The University of Auckland Library".
  18. ↑ "Read NZ". www.read-nz.org. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.