Roma Potiki

Roma Potiki (born 1958) is a New Zealand poet, playwright, visual artist, curator, theatre actor and director, as well as a commentator on Māori theatre. She is of Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri and Ngati Rangitihi descent. As well as being a published poet, her work is included in the permanent collection of the Dowse Art Museum.

Roma Potiki was born in Lower Hutt, a city in the Wellington Region, and grew up in the suburb Wainuiomata. As a child she attended Wainuiomata Primary School, Woodhatton Primary School, Wainuiomata College and Wellington High School. Her first play was written while at primary school and she also started writing poetry at school.

Roma Potiki was involved in contemporary Māori theatre in early formative years. She was in a play performed by Te Ika A Maui Players in 1978 called Death of the Land by Rore Hapipi's (Rowley Habib). She went on to help form the Māori theatre company Maranga Mai in 1979. This company was linked to the Māori protest movement and they toured a theatre production in 1979 - 1980 to marae and schools. In 1990 she was a founding director of another theatre company He Ara Hou. They performed and toured a play called Whatungarongaro. This play was directed by Potiki and John Anderson and devised over nine months with the company members. Potiki had previously done workshops with a theatre company PETA (Philippines Educational Theatre Association) and was influenced by their way of working.

Roma Potiki's writing includes poetry contribution to many anthologies, as well as published volumes. She has written the forward to books of New Zealand Māori plays and contributed text to exhibition catalogues. As a fine artist Potiki has exhibited art work and one of her pieces Hinewai is in the collection of the Dowse Art Museum.

The poem Stones in her Mouth by Potiki inspired contemporary New Zealand choreographer Lemi Ponifasio to create a community leadership project also called Stones in her Mouth in 2013. This involved a group of Māori women holding workshops at marae and writing text that was then performed.

He Ara Hou and Whatungarongaro

Before actor Rena Owen was in Once Were Warriors she performed a similar role in theatre company He Ara Hou's play Whatungarongaro that Potiki a co-creator of. Owens performance in Whatungarongaro influenced her being cast in Once Were Warriors.

Playwright and director of theatre company Tawata Productions Hone Kouka cites seeing Whatungarongaro in 1991 at the Depot Theatre in Wellington as being life changing and convincing him that innovative Māori theatre had no boundaries. Another New Zealand theatre and film writer Briar Grace-Smith was an assistant to Potiki and learnt from the process of making Whatungarongaro.

Poetry

• Stones in Her Mouth (1992) Publisher: Tamakimakaurau, N.Z. IWA
• Roma Potiki (1995) Publisher: Wai-te-ata Press, Wellington, N.Z.
• Shaking the Tree (1998) Publisher: Steele Roberts, Wellington, N.Z.
• Oriori: a Māori Child is Born: From Conception to Birth (1999) co-authored with Robyn Kahukiwa. Publisher: Wai-te-ata Press, Wellington, NZ

Plays

• Whatungarongaro (1990) Roma Potiki and He Ara Hou. Published in Ta Matou Mangai: Three Plays of the 1990s: Irirangi Bay, Taku Mangai, Whatungarongaro (1999) ed. Hone Kouka. Publisher: Victoria University Press, Wellington, N.Z.
• Going Home (1996)

Other

• Introduction - He Reo Hou: 5 Plays by Māori playwrights (1991) ed. Simon Garrett. Publisher: Playmarket, Wellington, N.Z.
• Robyn Kahukiwa : Works from 1985 - 1995 (1995) Exhibition catalogue. Includes essays by Anne Kirker and Jonathan Mané-Wheoki, and an interview by Roma Potiki. Publisher: Bowen Galleries, Wellington N.Z.
• Foreword - Waiora (1997) by Hone Kouka
• Memory Walking (1998) "Exhibition of contemporary paintings, prints and installation work by eight women artists from around the world." Text by Roma Potiki. Exhibiting artists: Lubaina Himid, Michi itami, Robyn Kahukiwa, Jean LaMarr, Lily Laita, Debra Priestly, Maud Sulter, Judy Watson. Publisher: City Gallery, Wellington N.Z.

Anthologies

Roma Potiki is widely published in anthologies.

Selected list:

• Te Ao Marama: Vol 4: Contemporary Maori Writing for Children (1994) ed. Witi Ihimaera
• Oxford (1997)
• My Heart Goes Swimming : New Zealand Love Poems (2000) ed. Jenny Bornholdt, Gregory O'Brien
• Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English (2010) Ed. Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan