Te Ohu Whakaari
Māori theatre cooperative
Te Ohu Whakaari was a Māori theatre cooperative formed by Rangimoana Taylor in the early 1980s that created and performed plays across New Zealand.
About
Rangimoana Taylor was inspired to form Te Ohu Whakaari by his experiences in an Auckland-based theatre company called Statement Theatre alongside Nathaniel Lees, and provoked into action through an opportunity from artist Darcy Nicholas who was running the Wellington Arts Centre that was funded at the time by the Department of Labour. The Depot Theatre (that became Taki Rua) nurtured a philosophy to foster New Zealand work which also influenced Te Ohu Whakaari.
Te Ohu Whakaari has lasting influence in New Zealand. Their theatrical practice combined western theatre traditions and Māori customs with story telling and movement in a unique style. Much of their work was cooperatively devised and has not been published.
Te Ohu Whakaari had a theatre-in-education programme which toured New Zealand. One of the Te Ohu Whakaari posters from 1986 is held in the collection of Te Papa Tongarewa and promotes a national tour (poster designed by Chris McBride). The poster says: "New Zealand Students Arts Council presents Te Ohu Whakaari, Young Maoris in Performance, National Tour 1986, Aotearoa – Te Waipounamu, With the Assistance of, Post Office Savings Bank QEII, Arts Council".
Members of Te Ohu Whakaari included Maringikura Campbell, Himiona Grace, Michael Grace, Apirana Taylor, Riwia Brown, Donna McLeod and Briar Grace-Smith.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Te Ohu Whakaari” as māori theatre cooperative. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as māori theatre cooperative. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q85805367. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1986.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Te Ohu Whakaari”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Te Ohu Whakaari primary sources, Te Ohu Whakaari archive and Whakaari research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Te Ohu Whakaari”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Te Ohu Whakaari” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.