Kōanga Play Readings | Pōhoroi
Lila Black & Zody Takurua

Join us at Te Pou Theatre for an intimate evening of play readings, 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 play reading 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.

Lila Black (Ngāti Raukawa) (she/her)

Lila Māhina Black is a theatre technician, designer, kaituhi, and performer currently based in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara. She has most recently worked as Venue Technician at BATS theatre, been operator and designer on several shows during Fringe 2024/25, and operated and coordinated for the International Comedy Fest 2024/25. Lila is a 2020 graduate of Te Kāhui Auaha, obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts, and currently continues her studies in Te Reo Māori and Creative Writing. As a wahine Māori, wahine takatāpui, and wahine tipua, her kaupapa and toi mahi comes from an intersectional approach grounded in manaakitanga and ihiihi.

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WHŌRE nā Zody Takurua

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 In a near-future governed by AI, where cash is obsolete and unemployment is treated as the ultimate crime, best friends, flatmates, and siblings, Kahu and Sissy cling to each to survive.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?

Zody Takurua (Ngā Rauru) (They/Them)

Zody Marino Takurua (Nga Rauru), is a kaituhi/kaiwhakaari in their final year at Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa. Their creative practice is majorly informed by the trisectionality of Takatapuitanga, Māoritanga and Pākehātanga. Having existed at this intersection for all 23 years of their life, they are interested in how to make valuable commentaries and statements through their written and performative practice, to support the growth towards the unity of these communities. This intersection is highly political and spiritually tender. Zody’s writing resembles Te Warou (Pacific Welcome Swallow) – assembling clarity, agency, and sanctuary from the narratives these three communities create to the detriment of each other – by re-imagining these narratives with the reo this intersection has gifted them.

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After the play readings, come along to What Happened to Mary-Anne? by Brady Peeti in our main theatre. Tickets for all Kōanga shows are available here.