Tanea Jane Heke is an actor, director and producer of theatre in New Zealand. In 2019 she was appointed as /Director of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School.

Career

Heke is a 1997 graduate from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School and was appointed director at the end of 2019 after doing the role as interim director since the beginning of the year. She founded Hāpai Productions to create and support Māori theatre in 2013 with the late

Nancy Brunning Nancy Brunning (1971 – 16 November 2019) was a New Zealand actress, director, and writer who won awards in film and television and made a major contribution to the growth of Māori in the arts. Brunning was of Māori descent from the tribes of ...

. Hāpai Productions has a focus on making opportunities for Māori women in theatre. Heke has also worked at Taki Rua Productions,

Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

where she was an exhibitions manager and

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

, where she worked with

Carla Van Zon Carla Marja Olga Van Zon (born 20 January 1952) is a New Zealand retired artistic director. She worked on international opportunities for New Zealand artists at Creative New Zealand, before becoming artistic director of the New Zealand Internat ...

Directing

In 1995 Heke directed ''Maua Taua'' by

Hinemoana Baker Hinemoana Baker (born 1968) is a New Zealand poet, musician and recording artist, teacher of creative writing and broadcaster. Biography Baker was born in Christchurch in 1968 and grew up in Whakatane and Nelson, and descends from the Ngā ...

at Taki Rua Theatre as part of their Te Reo Māori season performed in the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

. In 1998 Heke directed ''GrandfatherSon'' by

Kirk Torrance Kirk Torrance is an actor and playwright from New Zealand, best known for his role as Wayne Judd in '' Outrageous Fortune''. He is also a former Commonwealth Games swimmer. Career His debut play ''Strata'' (2003) won Best New Playwright at the ...

BATS Theatre BATS Theatre is a theatre venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Initially founded as the Bats Theatre Company in 1976, then established in its current form in 1989. BATS Theatre has seen the development of many performing arts talents of New Zeala ...

Acting roles

Honours and awards

In 2020 Heke won Creative New Zealand's Making a Difference Award, Ngā Tohu Hautūtanga Auaha Toi. In the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

, Heke was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to the arts and Māori.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heke, Tanea Living people New Zealand theatre directors Toi Whakaari alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit