Gemishka Chetty and Aiwa Pooamorn are poets and playwrights back for 2020 Auckland Fringe with their brand new show Have You Ever Been With An Asian Womxn? The show presents a bold and satirical investigation into porn fetishes centred around the hyper-sexualisation of pan-Asian women. Hainamana speaks to Chetty and Pooamorn about internalised racism, creating…
Life Is Easy is an 8-episode comedy web series that explores the complexities of race, gender and sexuality from the perspective of two best friends. Hainamana caught up with the acting/writing duo Chye-Ling Huang and Cole Jenkins behind this hilarious, hot new show. Watch online now on TVNZ OnDemand. Life Is Easy is a fun…
AMY WENG | The year of the pig has barely begun with lunar festivities still winding down, yet there’s no sign of rest and relaxation ahead. Here’s our top nine things to do this week to keep the celebrations goings…
AUSTIN TSENG | Tian Tan is one of those Kiwi legends that, like those crunchy bits in a serve of hot chips, pop up here and there but always leave a memorable impression. An actor, Tan has appeared in such productions as The New Legends of Monkey on Netflix, and the hit web series Baby Mama’s Club. Many will also know him as Main Man Tian Tan from his videos on Facebook and Youtube, where he posts comedy sketches and life advice…
JESS HONG | Tu-Bryant is a musician, actor, writer, visual artist, puppeteer and director who identifies as a storyteller of Taiwanese and New Zealand European descent. She had just driven back to Wellington with a car full of set pieces, having rehearsed for several weeks in Auckland for her upcoming devised show Tide Waits for No Man: Episode Grace…
QIAN-YE LIN | Orientation is presented by Q Theatre and Proudly Asian Theatre as part of MATCHBOX 2018. Qian-Ye Lin reflects on the show’s complex and nuanced perspectives on sexuality and race…
AMY WENG | What can a farcical relationship between a man and a woman teach us about language, loss and living? This winter, Eugène Ionesco’s Les Chaises (The Chairs), has been adapted by four Aotearoa theatremakers into Pākeha English, Te Reo Māori, Samoan and Cantonese. Editor Amy Weng caught up with the Cantonese season producer Renee Liang, and director Hweiling Ow, to reflect on the importance of language on and off the stage…
AMY WENG | As part of the Auckland Fringe Festival, Proudly Asian Theatre presents the New Zealand premier of Roots [根], in association with Auckland Lantern Festival. Amy Weng caught the show at Uxbridge in Howick. Roots [根] will also play at Q Theatre from 1 – 3 March 2018…
AUSTIN TSENG | The year thus far has been quite a treat for connoisseurs of stage productions. This output has been notable for the coverage of a much-neglected history. The releases of opera The Bone Feeder, play The Mooncake and the Kumara and “large-scale documentary theatre” piece OTHER [chinese] have given us a compelling trifecta of interpretations of the Chinese experience in Aotearoa…
![At a rehearsal of OTHER [Chinese]. Photo by Julie Zhu](https://hainamana.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Rehearsal-4-450x300.jpg)
OTHER [Chinese] isn’t your standard night out at the theatre. Directed by Alice Canton, and developed over the course of a year in consultation with individuals from various Chinese communities, OTHER [Chinese] is a work of documentary theatre that explores what it is to be Chinese in Auckland in the here and now. Stories that…
AMY WENG | Asian Men Talk About Sex is three women’s mission; to challenge the mainstream media’s portrayal of ‘sexy’ by asking every-day Asian men in New Zealand to talk about their sex lives. Director Chye-Ling Huang spoke to Amy Weng about the challenges involved in creating the documentary, and what she hopes the film will help us to understand…
CHYE-LING HUANG | In July, Fresh Off the page will present Conflict Circle, Singaporean playwright Ellison Tan’s foray into the absurd. With three professional productions under her belt, Ellison’s Conflict Circle challenges the nature of theatre and the futility and absurdity of performance…