KAUPAPA | ABOUT

An intimate evening of playreadings, celebrating the development of new works by Māori playwrights at Kōanga Festival 2025. The Kōanga Playwrights Programme is the beating heart of the festival. In this special playreading event, audiences are invited to hear brand new plays read publicly for the first time following a week of workshopping with top Māori performing arts creatives.  

STRANGE SIGNALS! ALIENS IN AOTEAROA nā Lila Black

Strange Signals! Aliens in Aotearoa is a story that follows the host of a conspiracy theory radio show whose world is turned upside down one stormy night, as they find themselves trapped, alone and terrified, with something lurking in the darkness.

The script was inspired by the Playwright's fascination with the "Kaikoura lights" and other alien sightings reported in Aotearoa. This curiosity led to the question: where are the Māori aliens? What might they look like, and what would they want from us?

From these questions, the script began to take shape as a vehicle for exploring a Māori science fiction narrative that engages with themes such as mental health, colonisation, and fear of the Other. It also examines the relationship between horror and fascination, and interrogates the tension between objective truth and perceived belief.

WHŌRE nā Zody Takuru

WHŌRE tells the story of two young Māori navigating cultural disconnect and survival in a hyper-politicised Aotearoa. In a near-future governed by AI, where cash is obsolete and unemployment is treated as the ultimate crime, best friends, flatmates, and siblings, Kahu and Sissy cling to each to survive.

When API, the AI government, enacts two new laws, Kahu (a proud, self-reliant sex worker) is given 72 hours to secure “legitimate” employment or face a forced reevaluation of his citizenship. But when Sissy suddenly disappears, Kahu is thrust into a journey that takes him to Hawaiki and back, racing a political system designed to erase them.

As the brutal truth behind citizenship reevaluation emerges, so too do the deep wounds carved by life under late-stage colonialism. When the systems meant to represent us turn to violence, what will we risk for those we love? And beyond survival, what makes a family unit legitimate?

NGĀ TĀNGATA | CAST & CREATIVES

Kaituhi | Writer of STRANGE SIGNALS! ALIENS IN AOTEAROA — Lila Black

Kaituhi | Writer of WHŌRE — Zody Takurua

Stay tuned for further updates.