I'm still buzzing about one of my books, my first play, "Maui and Sina" (2015), although written in 1994, being selected for the Year 9 - 10 English drama texts (as pictured above). It's been recommended as one of the texts to study in the Draft text list for the upcoming NZ curriculum, which will be taught in 2027, with more titles to come.
It's not a full list, at this stage, but to have come this far on its journey as my first play is amazing, to say the least, as a former English teacher from 1991 - 1996. As afterwards, I continued my career into Education facilitation and contracts before becoming a lecturer/teacher in tertiary education at a Māori institution of higher learning i.e. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
At the time of writing the play, I was only a fourth-year teacher with big writing dreams who decided to write an "epic" drama. I still remember the interest and playing to a full house with Patsy Fata as the art director and Mr Holden (I forget his first name) as our Lighting director.
The proudest moment for me at that time was having my family, and especially my parents, watching the Production. I know my dad was also quietly proud, as some of the play portrayed some of the characteristics of a firm and stern dad, much like my dad, and the mum was strong but caring, much like my mum.
It has remnants of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, both plays that I studied and/or taught. I also feel humbled to be chosen among esteemed writers such as William Shakespeare, Patricia Grace, Witi Ihimaera, etc. I've passed it on to my children to read and they've also enjoyed it too...
No comments:
Post a Comment