Kōanga Play Readings | Pōmere
Leigh Minarapa & Ngahiriwa Rauhina

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.    

Te Koha nā Leigh Minarapa

Te Koha is a family drama that fuses dystopian sci-fi and horror within the walls of a futuristic wharenui.

Set in the year 2045, Te Koha takes place in a world where technology is fully entwined with te ao Māori. Among these integrations is a digital koha system that is cashless, contactless, and entirely online. 

The play begins as two sisters gather to conclude a tangihanga with the koha meeting. When the money inexplicably vanishes, an electrical storm traps them indoors, and a visitor from the other world arrives, they are forced to confront their long-held grievances before morning breaks.

Inspired by the playwright’s lived experience, Te Koha explores the tension between tradition and technology, and what it means to be Māori in a rapidly shifting world.

Te Koha is in te reo Pākehā. 

Leigh Minarapa (Ngāti Rangitihi) (she/her)

Leigh Minarapa (Ngāti Rangitihi) (she/her) was born and raised in Matatā and now resides in Tāmaki Makaurau. A filmmaker, writer, and freelance contractor for film and television, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, a Master’s in Creative Writing (First Class Honours), specialising in Screenwriting from Auckland University of Technology, and a Diploma in Māori Language Fluency from Te Wānanga Takiura o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa. She is also a board member for Day One Hāpai te Haeata.

With over a decade of experience in film and television, Leigh has worked in a range of roles, including script supervisor, art director, production manager, researcher, writer, and director. Her directing credits include the short documentary Street Smart and the recent short film Shades of Blue and Green, which has screened in festivals worldwide.

Te Tau E nā Ngahiriwa Rauhina

He matarua a Mikaere Tipiwai. I te ao mārama, e ai ki a ia, he tohunga e tiaki ana i te hinengaro, te wairua, te tinana, te ngākau hoki. Engari ki ia te pō, he nanakia, he tinihanga, he kaitāhae kē. Heoi, ka aro ia ki a ratou e noho ki raro i te pouri, te taumaha rukiruki hoki, te hia whakamomori, ratou e whakapono ai hoki. E ai ki a ia, he mahi noa iho!

I tipu ake a Mikaere i te korowai aroha. He ngākau nui ōna mātua ki tōna hapori, ia te rā i whakapau kaha rāua ki te hapai i te iwi. Whakapou pūtea hoki. Heoi, i tō rātou matenga i toromi a Mikaere ki te raruraru – te pūtea taurewa. E ai ki a ia he hārorerore noa iho te manaakitanga. Mā te kaiapō kē, ka whai oranga te tangata.

Katahi ka hoki mai tana ipō-o-mua ki te tono atu ki a Mikaere kia hokona, hoko atu rānei te whare kia watea ia, me ā rāua tamariki, kia hūnuku ki whenua kē. Tata rawa-kore, tata kainga-kore, tata Tamariki-kore ka ahatia e Mikaere.

Ka toro atu a Hinemoa Pere ki a Mikaere hei awhina i tōna whānau. Ka pōhēhē ā Mikaere – māmā noa iho ki te pāhao pūtea. Engari, mai rāno te raru ō te whānau Pere – he maha ngā mea e huna ana i te ao, ngā mea e kore e noho huna. Ka honohono ki te whanau Pere, ka mutu, ka kitea ka kōrahirahi kē te arai ki te ao wairua.

I te hīkina ō te kohu ka kitea e Mikaere he kōwhiringa māna; Ka mate wheke, ka mate ururoa kē. Mā te tiro whakamuri ka kōkiri whakamua kia muru ai te hara, kia kaore hoki koe e huna i ngā haepapatanga māna anō.

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Mikaere Tipiwai wears many masks. By day, he’s a self-proclaimed tohunga—cleansing taonga, healing ailments, and banishing restless spirits. By night, he’s a conman, preying on the desperate and grieving. For Mikaere, it’s just business.

Raised in a loving Māori whānau, Mikaere grew up watching his parents sacrifice everything for their community. After their deaths, he was left to shoulder their debts alone. To Mikaere, generosity leads to loss—and self-preservation is survival. But when his ex-wife returns, demanding he either buy out the family home or sell it so she can take their children overseas, the carefully constructed life he’s built begins to unravel. Penniless, nearly homeless, and soon to be childless—what is Mikaere to do?

When Hinemoa Pere seeks his help, Mikaere assumes she’s just another client he can exploit. But her family’s troubles carry ancient weight—whispers, wairua, and secrets that refuse to stay buried. Drawn into the tangled legacy of the Pere whānau, Mikaere finds the boundary between the living and the dead dangerously thin.

As the ghosts of Hinemoa’s family—and his own—close in, Mikaere must choose: keep running from his truth, or confront the darkness within. In a house echoing with ancestral presence, his journey becomes one of redemption, reconnection, and reckoning with the cultural responsibilities he’s long tried to escape.

Ngahiriwa Rauhina (Ngāti Whakaue, Tuhourangi ki Wahiao, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Raukawa) (he/him)

“E te ti, e te tā, nei ra te mihi manahau ki te kaipānui. He uri tēnei no Te Arawa waka, Mataatua waka me Tainui waka hoki. Ko Ngahiriwa Rauhina tēnei. He kaiwhakaari, he ringatohu, he tauira kaituhi hoki tēnei. Ko te mahi whakaari taku reo rangatira nō reira koina te take kei te hiahia au ki te whakapakari i āku pūkenga i tēnei ao o te ao whakaari.”

Ngahiriwa Rauhina (he/him) is a Māori actor, writer, director, and producer with 17 years of experience in stage and screen. Based in Rotorua, he leads Ko.Ko.Ko. Creative LTD, creating kaupapa Māori theatre that amplifies indigenous voices.

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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.