March 24, 2012

MAORI PLAYWRIGHT WINS NEW PLAY AWARD WITH STORY OF COMING HOME.

PLAYMARKET is pleased to announce the ADAM NZ PLAY AWARD winner for 2012:

Mitch Tawhi Thomas for his play HUI   

Pita:   I could throw you back to where you came from.
Tina:  I came from here.

Four brothers are drawn home to mourn the death of their father Bob – presiding over this forced reunion, dead in his armchair. Tempers have not cooled nor have old wounds healed in the 20-years since last these brothers were together. What ensues is a harrowing, charged and stormy night where these brothers must confront the past, take responsibility for the present and ultimately find a way forward.

With devastating clarity and courage Hui grapples with the concepts of love, loss and how, for these brothers, they have come to define each other.

“Hui’s characters are ones that have been absent from our stages. This testosterone fuelled provocation invites the male population to look closely at themselves.” says Director of Playmarket Murray Lynch, who announced the win at Circa Theatre on 24 April 2012 alongside four other special award winners. A rehearsed reading of Hui followed the announcement.

The Adam New Zealand Play Award recognises and celebrates the best in new writing for the theatre. The annual award, now in its fifth year, is the only one of its kind for new writing.

Playmarket’s only entrance requirements are that the playwright be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and that the play has not had a professional production. The freedom to submit plays of any length, style or cast size and without the burden of considering a play’s affordability or a Theatre’s demands has inspired some outstanding work, and seen submissions nearly double this year.

Mitch Tawhi Thomas (Ngati Maniapoto) was presented the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2002, recognising early success in his playwriting career. Coupling (1994), Doughboy (1996), Take it or Leave it (1998), Have Car Will Travel (2001 and published by Tawata Press 2010) and Jangle (2010) all premiered at BATS Theatre in Wellington.

In 2010 Mitch led the Basement programme at Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North where he spent the year teaching Drama workshops to teenagers and where he wrote and directed the play Smashed.

Mitch completed a Graduate Diploma in Teaching last year and is now living and teaching in Northland.

Thanks to the generosity of the Adam Foundation, Mitch received a cash prize of $5000.

ADAM AWARD WINNER 2012 and
BEST PLAY BY A MAORI PLAYWRIGHT:
Mitch Tawhi Thomas for Hui

PLAYMARKET also announced the following category winners:

RUNNER-UP and
BEST PLAY BY A WOMAN PLAYWRIGHT and
THE PLAY PRESS SUBMISSION TO SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE:
Dawn Cheong for Remnants of the Silk Maker’s Ghosts 

RUNNER-UP:
Philip Braithwaite for White City

BEST PLAY BY A PASIFIKA PLAYWRIGHT:
Jonathan Riley for Makigi

PUMPHOUSE THEATRE PRIZE FOR AN AUCKLANDPLAYWRIGHT:
Pip Hall for Ache

PLAYMARKET is very grateful for the generosity and support of The Adam Foundation, The Pumphouse Theatre, The Play Press, Circa Theatre and our major funders: ASB Community Trust and Creative New Zealand.