Mīria George
{{Short description|New Zealand poet and playwright}}{{Infobox person
| name = Mīria George
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1980}}
| nationality = New Zealand, Cook Islands
| known_for = director
| notable_works = Vai (2019)
Fire in the Water, Fire in the Sky (2021)
Big Hair, Don't care (2022)
| parents = Ian George (father)
Kay George (stepmother)
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
Mīria George (born 1980) is a New Zealand writer, producer and director of Māori and Cook Island descent. Best known for being the author of award-winning stage plays, George has also written radio, television and poetry, and was one of the film directors of the portmanteau film Vai. In November 2005, she won the Emerging Pacific Artist's Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards. Mīria George was the first Cook Islands artist to receive the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency at the University of Hawai'i.
Background
Mīria George was born Rotorua, New Zealand, her schooling took place in New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Costa Rica.{{Cite book|title=Puna wai kōrero : an anthology of Māori poetry in English|publisher=Auckland University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-77558-749-1|editor-last=Sullivan|editor-first=Robert|location=Auckland|oclc=926705581|editor-last2=Whaitiri|editor-first2=Reina |editor2-link=Reina Whaitiri |editor1-link=Robert Sullivan (poet)}} Her heritage is Māori from Te Arawa and Ngāti Awa, and Cook Islands from Tumutevarovaro, Enua Manu, Ngāti Kuki ‘Ārani.{{Cite web|url=https://tawataproductions.com/tawata/tawata-productions-is/|title=VISION|date=2010-02-13|website=Tawata Productions|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407030434/https://tawataproductions.com/tawata/tawata-productions-is/|archive-date=2020-04-07|access-date=2020-04-07}} Her father was Ian George, a well-known Cook Island visual artist,{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/994638351|title=Floating Islanders : Pasifika theatre in Aotearoa|others=O'Donnell, David, 1956–|year=2017|isbn=978-1-988531-07-6|editor-last=Warrington|editor-first=Lisa|location=Dunedin, New Zealand|oclc=994638351|editor-last2=O'Donnell|editor-first2=David}} her stepmother is Kay George, also a notable artist herself.{{Cite web |date=2020-08-18 |title=Celebrating 30 years of colour |url=https://www.cookislandsnews.com/culture/celebrating-30-years-of-colour/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Cook Islands News |language=en}}
She started writing in 2001 and in 2008 studied in a Masters in Creative Writing from Victoria University of Wellington's International Institute of Modern Letters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/culture/culture-books/a-way-with-words-miria-george|title=A Way with Words: Miria George|date=2017-06-01|website=Noted|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}{{cite web|url=http://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/miria-george|title=Miria George|website=Playmarket New Zealand|access-date=8 August 2015}} She lives in Wellington with her partner Hone Kouka who is also a New Zealand playwright and director.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/92992338/at-home-with-kia-mau-festival-codirector-mria-george|title=At home with Kia Mau festival co-director Mīria George|last=Mann|first=Britt|date=2017-06-04|website=Stuff |language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}} In 2004 they co-founded Tawata Productions and Tawata Press, an organisation that supports creative work from Pacific and Māori writers by producing festivals, workshops and tours of performances.{{cite web|url=http://tawataproductions.com/about/tawata-productions-is/|title=Ngā Tangata|website=Tawata Productions|access-date=8 August 2015}}
Career
The work of Mīria George has toured New Zealand and internationally, including Canada, Hawai'i, Australia and the United Kingdom. In November 2005, she won the Emerging Pacific Artist's Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards, organised by Creative New Zealand,{{cite web|url=https://www.thebigidea.nz/node/172053|title=Arts Pasifika Awards 2005 honour six Pacific artists|publisher=The Big Idea|date=4 November 2005|access-date=15 December 2016}} and two Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for her first play, Ohe Ake.{{cite news|url=http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10353110|title=Pacific artists honoured at Arts Awards|date=25 January 2006|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=15 December 2016}} She is one of the people featured in the book Cook Island Heroes to inspire young Cook Islanders.{{Cite web|url=https://readingwarrior.com/search/miria%20george/|title=Miria George|website=Reading Warrior|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}
The political interrogation of the erosion of Māori rights, dignity, and humanity in a Pākehā-dominated New Zealand was forefront of George's best known plays called and what remains. It divided critics and audiences and created a lot of debate. It is regularly taught in schools, and is part of a movement in Māori theatre wider than marae-based traditional stories.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pantograph-punch.com/post/a-woman-leaving-an-oral-history-and-what-remains|title=A Woman, Leaving: An Oral History of 'and what remains'|last=Goodall|first=Adam|date=2016-07-08|website=Pantograph Punch|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-theatre-te-whare-tapere-hou/page-3|title=Consolidating Māori theatre, 1990s onwards|last=Derby|first=Mark|last2=Grace-Smith|first2=Briar|date=2014-10-22|website=Te Ara NZ Encyclopedia|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}
Her radio work includes writing episodes in Skinwriting for Radio New Zealand National.{{cite web|title=Skinwriting 2: Miria George and Jaimie McGaskill|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/teahikaa/audio/201757055/skinwriting-2-miria-george-and-jamie-mccaskill|website=Radio New Zealand National|access-date=8 August 2015}}
In 2016 George received a three-month Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer's Residency at the University of Hawai'i. Her focus was to develop a new work called Fire In The Water, Fire In The Sky addressing effects of colonisation, Christianity and climate change in the Pacific.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fulbright.org.nz/news/miria-george-receives-fulbright-creative-new-zealand-pacific-writers-residency-2016/|title=Mīria George receives Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency 2016|last=fulbright|website=www.fulbright.org.nz|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-07}}
In a review of her play Sunset Road, Theatre Scenes noted "(the play) weaves history and imagination, to tell a story inspired by George’s whanau. The journey from Areora, Atiu, Cook Islands to 76 Sunset Road, Rotorua is beautifully re-told through the somewhat innocent eyes of the twins Lucia and Luka... they give consistently magnificent performances, both in an out of the spotlight".{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatrescenes.co.nz/review-sunset-road-tawata-productions/|title=REVIEW: Sunset Road (Tawata Productions)|last=theatrescenes|website=www.theatrescenes.co.nz|language=en-US|access-date=2024-04-29}}
As co-director of Tawata Productions, George has been part of producing many events in the landscape of New Zealand theatre. This includes the annual Kia Mau Festival founded in 2015 and Breaking Ground founded in 2010 (previously known as the Matariki Development Festival), an international Indigenous playwrights' festival. In 2017 as part of the Kia Mau Festival, 160 indigenous artists and practitioners took part.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stage-and-theatre/112796629/gather-round-the-stage-this-winter-for-indigenous-theatre-at-kia-mau-festival|title=Gather round the stage this winter for indigenous theatre at Kia Mau Festival|last=Wenman|first=Eleanor|date=2019-05-20|website=Stuff |language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.circa.co.nz/package/matariki-development-festival/|title=Matariki Development Festival|date=2015|website=Circa Theatre|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407043844/https://www.circa.co.nz/package/matariki-development-festival/|archive-date=2020-04-07|access-date=2020-04-07}} George won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2017.{{Cite web|title=Mīria George Wins the Bruce Mason Award|url=https://www.playmarket.org.nz/about-us/news/miria-george-wins-the-bruce-mason-award/|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Playmarket|language=en-US}}
In the book Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa it states, "George has played a prominent role in bringing the politics of Māori and Pasifika issues to the stage."
Bibliography
= Plays =
- Ohe Ake, The Awakening (play) (2004)
- And What Remains (play) (2006){{cite web|url=http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=331|title=Implausible Leap of Faith Required|last=Atikinson|first=Laurie|publisher=The Dominion Post|date=30 August 2006|access-date=15 December 2016}}
- He Reo Aroha (play), co-written with Jamie McCaskill (2010){{cite web|url=http://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/miria-george|title=Miria George|publisher=playmarket.org.nz|access-date=15 December 2016}}
- Urban Hymns (play) (2009)
- Sunset Road (play) (2012)
- The Vultures (play) (2016){{cite web|url=http://www.fulbright.org.nz/news/miria-george-receives-fulbright-creative-new-zealand-pacific-writers-residency-2016/|title=Mīria George receives Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency 2016|publisher=Fulbright New Zealand|access-date=15 December 2016}}
= Poetry =
= Film =
- Vai (2019) director, writer. Vai is portmanteau feature film made by nine female Pacific filmmakers, filmed in seven different Pacific countries: Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Kuki Airani (Cook Islands), Samoa, Niue and Aotearoa (New Zealand).{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/films/vai|title=Vai|website=New Zealand Film Commission|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}
- fire in the water, fire in the sky (2021) director, writer. fire in the water, fire in the sky is a short film, filmed on Matiu Island in Aotearoa (New Zealand).{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzfilm.co.nz/news/five-new-zealand-films-screen-edinburgh-international-film-festival|title=Five New Zealand Films to Screen at Edinburgh International Film Festival|website=New Zealand Film Commission|language=en|access-date=2024-04-29}}
References
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Category:New Zealand women dramatists and playwrights
Category:International Institute of Modern Letters alumni
Category:21st-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights