Homebodies

‘Homebodies’ is a devised physical theatre work that explores themes of home, belonging and otherness. It is a piece collectively created by a team of performers, designers and artists using inspiration from personal autobiographies, exploring a methodology of devising performance and design alongside one another.

The team is made up primarily of students who are studying their creative practice at Wellington tertiary institutions, as well as recent graduates, who are all emerging artists. We all aim to raise the profile of the arts and aspire to be full-time theatre-makers. 

We are led by three MFA students at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington studying theatre:

• Stella Vaivai
• Bronya Davies

• Henry Brosnahan

  Our areas of research focus on arts education for rangatahi, design-based theatre and decolonising the arts by incorporating Pasifika cultural practices.

We believe that artists should be compensated for their time, art and efforts, and therefore the funds raised from this campaign will go towards:

• Covering the flat rates for hiring our cast and crew:

   We have a cast of 5 and a crew of 6, all of whom will be dedicating their time and energy into creating this piece - we wish to recognise this and so the majority of funds raised will be dedicated to paying our cast and crew.

• Physical materials required to create the show:

  As a design-focused piece, each designer will require funding to bring their designs to life, whether those are materials to build set, construct costume pieces or hire specialised lighting equipment.

The piece itself will be inspired by the personal autobiographies of the cast and crew, but given the nature of our project as one rooted in research, we are placing an emphasis on process over product. We will use our research to directly influence our way of working, especially utilising, adapting and combining the methodologies of globally successful devising companies such as Frantic Assembly, Complicité and Red Leap, to generate our own way of devising theatre rooted in collective creation. 

Aotearoa is becoming an increasingly diverse place and so we wanted to create a space for rangatahi in the arts to create a conversation around what home means to them. The stories of our cast and crew will lead to an exploration of not only their own journeys into adulthood, but also of the general diaspora of Aotearoa.

Wellington boasts a reputation as a the 'art capital of Aotearoa', with a supposedly thriving arts scene, but as local theatre-makers, we know  this doesn't ring true right now. At a time when artists and theatre makers are being presented with fewer opportunities, we are trying to to uplift the voices of young artists in Pōneke by creating a space for them to make art, be recognised for it, and be compensated for it. 

This piece will explore the diverse backgrounds of rangatahi in the arts, emphasising a message that we firmly believe in: that theatre is a powerful tool for storytelling and in these challenging times, there powerful and hopeful stories to be told by young artists emerging from Aotearoa.