Kilimogo Productions is

bicultural Biculturalism in sociology describes the co-existence, to varying degrees, of two originally distinct cultures. Official policy recognizing, fostering, or encouraging biculturalism typically emerges in countries that have emerged from a histo ...

theatre collective based in Ōtepoti Dunedin that was founded in 1995 or 1996.

Background

The founders of Kilimogo Productions include

Rangimoana Taylor Rangimoana Taylor is an actor, theatre director, storyteller from New Zealand with more than 35 years in the industry. He has performed nationally and internationally and was the lead in the feature film ''Hook Line and Sinker'' (2011). He was a ...

Cindy Diver Cindy Diver is a New Zealand writer, theatre director, actor and owner/director of TheatreWorks Ltd, a company that provides casting services as well as acting classes. Diver is most notable for creating and producing verbatim theatre productions ...

and

Hilary Halba Hilary Halba (born ''ca'' 1962) is a New Zealand actor, theatre director and academic. She is the head of the performing arts programme at the University of Otago. Biography Halba was born in Milton and attended Tokomairiro High School before ...

. The intention was to look at theatre from both a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and Pākehā perspective. Founding member Taylor says of this in an interview with Halba, "I sometimes think we go quite painfully, as equals, but we discuss everything."

Productions

Ngā Tangata Toa

''Nga'' ''Tangata Toa'' (1997) by

Hone Kouka Hone Vivian Kouka is a New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays, which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp T ...

. The play started with the Māori ritual of a karanga and haka pōwhiri blurring reality for the audience with this experience that bring a host group and a visitor group together and many in the audience would have experienced in different settings, overall the structure of the play was formed with the framework of a meeting on a marae.

Whaea Kairau

Two years after presenting ''Nga Tangata Toa'' Kilimogo presented Rangimoana Taylor’s brothers play, ''Whaea Kairau: Mother Hundred-Eater'' (July 1999) by

Apirana Taylor Apirana Taylor (born 15 March 1955) is a New Zealand poet, novelist, performer, story-teller, musician and painter. Biography Born in Wellington 15 March 1955, Apirana Taylor is of Pākehā and Māori descent with affiliations to Ngāti Porou, ...

at the

Otago Museum Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...

. This play references Brecht's play ''

Mother Courage and Her Children ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' (german: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, links=no) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrical ...

.'' In Apirina's re-telling the central character is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

women in New Zealand during battles and war at the beginning of settler colonisation starting in the 1840s.

References

{{authority control Arts organizations established in 1996 Theatre companies in New Zealand