New co-production secures funding for show about Chinese Poll Tax history

Talia Pua in Iron Eyes by Jang Huddle

PAT has signed on to co-produce and mentor Hand Pulled Collective on a new show highlighting the Chinese Poll Tax imposed on new immigrants of Chinese descent in 1881.

The Chinese Immigrants Act 1881 and the Immigration Restriction Act 1899 and its amendments, set out details of requirements to be met by ‘aliens’ or non-British citizens, entering or leaving New Zealand, When departing overseas, they required certificates of registration to ensure that they would be permitted to re-enter New Zealand.

‘Pork and Poll Taxes’ is a movement based exploration of NZ’s dark history, by creator and performer Talia Pua and produced by Natalya Mandich-Dohn who make up Hand Pulled Collective. 

Pork and Poll taxes has been funded by the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust Fund and Creative New Zealand’s continuity grant.

PAT creative director Chye-Ling Huang says, “We couldn’t be more excited to work with Hand Pulled Collective on this piece about an often forgotten event in Aotearoa’s history. Made all the more relevant by the increase in anti-Asian sentiment over Covid era NZ, we are excited to mentor two dedicated and promising talents in the Auckland art’s scene to make something striking and resonant.”

Chye-Ling Huang funded for horror show development

Congratulations to PAT creative director Chye-Ling Huang, who has received funding to develop a new play with Cole Jenkins about sinophobia against Chinese in New Zealand! 

The untitled show uses the genre of horror to highlight the unease and fear caused by racism in New Zealand, drawing on early immigrant experiences and spanning the rise of anti-Asian sentiment in Covid-19 era 2020.

Chye-Ling says, ‘We want the show to be as theatrical as possible - our development will be looking at horror can live in the physical, live realm and be just as terrifying as film. It’s going to be fun.’

Looking to be performed with a cast of Pakeha and Chinese practitioners, the development period folds in sound design from Wellington musician Nikita Tu-Bryant. 

PAT receives funding for three projects

PAT is proud to be the recipient of three grants as a result of Creative New Zealand’s Arts Continuity Grant and general Art’s Grants - the former offered to support a short-term arts project, or the stage of a project, that can be delivered within a changed and evolving environment as a result of COVID-19.

Our funded projects are:

• Breathing Space - an initiative created and hosted by Marianne Infante, who interviews Asian practitioners to touch base with our identity shift as performers during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020

• PAT’s all new website - with better hosting abilities for our online initiatives, as a result of Covid-19

• Fresh Developments - our mid-level workshops for practitioners for second-phase developments, shifted to personal research essays, journals and in depth analysis of the world of their individual plays after Covid-19 restrictions.

We are grateful to continue developing Asian artists and keeping our whanau in work as we move through these challenging times. Stay tuned to see the results of our mahi!

PINAY secures funding for re-development

Great news! Marianne Infante has received a Creative New Zealand grant to continue work on PINAY, the sellout smash of 2019, in preparation for a tour and remount. 

First developed through Fresh off the Page in 2018, PINAY debuted its development season in 2019 at The Basement to rave reviews, produced by PAT. Marianne will work with Ahi Karunaharan and Sums Selvarajan to produce the next series of drafts.

Congratulations to Marianne - watch this space!

Theatre in the time of Covid-19 - PAT update

PAT and Covid-19

How do you run a theatre company in the midst of a global pandemic?

Photo: Ankita Singh

Creative Director Chye-Ling Huang on where to for Proudly Asian Theatre.

The outbreak of Covid-19 has changed all of our lives in different ways. With physical distancing enforced for the foreseeable future, the very nature of theatre itself - sharing space, breath, in all its palpable and visceral glory - has been put on time out. Survival - mentally, emotionally and financially - has been our priority and the priority of the practitioners we work with since Covid-19 distancing measures were implemented in March.

PAT was formed by two young actors as a reaction to the lack of Asian representation in a media landscape where we make up over 15% of Aotearoa, and almost a quarter of Auckland where we are based. Representation is vital to changing the prejudiced narrative that Asian diaspora live with, as much as it it vital in dismantling the unseen biases in casting, who holds power, whose art is prioritised and who gets control over our narratives. Lack of representation is actively damaging. The void is quickly filled with the simmering layer of anti-Asian sentiment embedded since the first wave of immigration in the 1860’s - one that has so quickly reared its head in this time of crisis. Our goal is simple: with every performance, gathering, post or korero we chip away at stereotypes and encourage other Asian artists to be visible, to create work that reflects their original and specific voice without fear of judgement - from reflective cultural journeys, to offbeat comedy, to non-verbal performance art.

We don’t know what the future holds - but we do know this: Asian voices need to be heard now more than ever.

A test of a play reading online - March 2020.

Some of our initiatives are unable to be executed safely, and we don’t know when they will be able to run again. However, our kaupapa is, as always, focussed on the artists intention. This presents exciting and challenging ways for us to present works, and to support artists. Some works can continue mentorship online - over zoom, or morph into research projects as opposed to performances. Some may be recorded in podcast form or be funnelled into essays that support the final performance piece as accompanying resources, deepening the discussion around the works.

We know these forms are no replacement to live theatre, and our mission isn’t to fit a square peg into a round hole. Our audiences and community are the beating heart of our work - and why we do what we do. But we will go where the artists take us, until we can deliver our stories face to face again.

Stay safe, stay home, stay tuned - and if you have any questions, ideas or concerns - we’re an email away.

From the team at PAT,

Chye-Ling Huang, Marianne Infante, 

James Roque, Alyssa Medel and John Rata