MEET THE TEAM

CREATIVE DIRECTOR / PUPPET CREATOR

Sarah Burren

Sarah was born in NZ and her work draws on a treasure trove of global experiences. Based in London and Toronto from 1980-1995, she designed and made costumes for numerous TV and theatre shows. She also did stints in Europe (primarily France) and in North America (New York, Boston, Montreal and Ottawa). She made couture garments for a range of celebrities, including Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson in the mid 1980’s when she was working for Anouska Hempel’s design studio. At the BBC she made Basil Brush’s morning attire. She returned to Auckland in 1995 and has designed for Theatre, TV, Film and spectacular live events including The America’s Cup Ball, Volvo Ocean Race, Sky City Opening and Rugby World Cup 2011 as well as designing sets, costumes and props for over 50 children’s shows. Her concept of the GLOW SHOW was a dream that started 9 years ago, and has been her main passion since. Each puppet is hand made by Sarah. “I hope you are transported, inspired, and buzzing when you experience the show and that it fills your mind with our incredible Mãori heritage.”

WRITER / COMPOSER

Midge Perez

Midge brings years of experience as a performer, producer, writer and director for stage, film & television and received a scholarship to study music and acting at a University in Hawaii. He has performed in several television, film, and theatre productions including, ‘A cold beer,’ ‘Night shift,’ ‘Rock the boat’ and ‘Crack heads’ feature film. He toured New Zealand, in the cast of Taiki E, with Te Rakau Hua o te wao tapu and the stage adaptation of Once were warriors, directed by Jim Moriarty. He also wrote and directed, ‘Fakahela,’ and ‘Guardians - Nga Kaitiaki.’ and has worked both in front of, and behind the camera on numerous television series, corporate videos & TV commercials alongside some of New Zealand’s high profile companies & production houses. He has recently been managing talent in the film industry and lecturing voice, music and acting on a bachelor of creative arts degree program. He is excited to be part of this unique theatre production.

DIRECTOR

Rokalani Lavea

Born of Samoan descent, Rokalani Lavea, a 23 yr old Polynesian creative practitioner, has already made his mark in the industry at such a young age. Having graduated with a Bachelor Of Performing Arts at MIT, Rokalani is no stranger to dance, music, screen and theatre acting. Rokalani has appeared in feature films such as “Vai” which have won awards around the world including the 2019 Berlin Film Festival. He has been supporting main in “Mirror Mirror” (2017) and “Wizard Of Otahuhu” (2018) both Theatre Productions that won ‘Best Theatre Production’ and ‘Best Ensemble’ at the Auckland Theatre Awards respectively. He has featured in countless commercials/social media campaigns, and is a very passionate advocate for Pasefika Performing Arts. He debuted his Directing career in 2019 by co-directing two sold out successful seasons of ‘Sinarella’ (2019) in Auckland. He recently returned from being apart of the latest Installation of “Niusila” held at Centrepoint Theatre, a two-man show accommodating to 24+ characters. Rokalani is excited to see what journey he will embark on in directing this years Glow Show. 

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Kodez Kauri

Kodez is a freelance audio engineer and has been working in recording studios and doing live events since 2007. He has mixed and worked with several different artists and bands including Three Houses Down, Sons of Zion, S Club 7, Aardijah, Atomic Kitten, Lomez Brown and several other local and international acts. He has also been involved with the audio department of many theatre shows like Matilda, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Shrek the Musical and most recently has come from working on Disneys Aladdin the musical. He toured in 2018 with the MATARIKI GLOW SHOW.

MARKETING MANAGER

Joshua Downs

Joshua is a passionate young freelance theatre-maker and performer. He is co-founder and a current board member of Seed Theatre Company, and though Seed, produced/wrote the original play ‘Sunrise’ with funding from the Mental Health Foundation. Other highlights include producing ‘[Title of Show]: The Musical ‘at Devonport’s Victoria Theatre, and co-writing & performing in the award winning comedy revue ‘For A Limited Time’ at the Auckland Comedy Festival.

STAGE MANAGER

Michael Clark

Michael Clark is a freelance theatre and events stage manager from New Zealand. He has worked regularly for many of Auckland’s established theatre companies including Auckland Theatre Company, NZ Opera, National Youth Theatre, and Red Leap Theatre, as well as with independent producers and companies managing stages across New Zealand and Australia. He completed a degree in Film, Television and Media Studies whilst working at University of Auckland’s Live Event Services, and pursued a career in live entertainment afterwards, focusing on theatre, musicals, and operas.

ALTERNATE STAGE MANAGER

Alex Marris

Alex Marris is a Stage Manager based in Auckland. He has been working in technical theatre for 3 years, and has worked in youth, amateur and professional theatre at many different capacities. Learning from some of the best stage managers in Auckland he has grown over the past few years and is now in his first year freelancing as a stage manager and producer. He is very excited to be working on the Te Moana Glow Show and loves bringing stories alive especially for younger audiences.

CHOREOGRAPHER

Elijah Kennar

Elijah is an emerging dance artist born in Samoa and raised in South Auckland, New Zealand. Since graduating from the University of Auckland’s Dance Studies program in 2016, he has performed and created dance works Nationally and internationally. He also has the pleasure of sharing his passion and practice through workshops in schools, dance programs and youth groups. He recently performed in “This Fragile Planet”; a project where The New Zealand Dance Company collaborated with The Conch and Ross McCormack, and “Leeches” with Aloalii Tapu and friends. His culture and upbringing play a massive role in who he is as an artist. When it comes to choreographing, socio-economic issues, culture identity and his own dilemmas and random revelations that relate to him as a young Polynesian are his main sources of inspiration. He also love to dabble in alternate realities where he can construct a world with similar issues but also having the solutions, to not only dance, but to hopefully bring hope, open discussions connect with the people.

CAST

Rebekah Head

Rebekah has been working as an actor, singer and puppeteer across New Zealand and internationally since 2014. She is a graduate of the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (Bachelor of Performing Arts). Rebekah was a puppeteer at Auckland's Whoa! Studios between 2017 and 2019 developing and performing many of their live stage shows. In 2018 she played Jazz in Whoa! Productions Television series Custard's World where she had the incredible opportunity of being mentored by Peter Linz (Ernie, Sesame Street). Rebekah played Glinda in the NZ company premiere of Wicked (Showbiz Christchurch) and reprised the role in Invercargill (Invercargill Musical Theatre) where she won an OSTA for Best Leading Female in a Musical. She will be reprising the role again in New Plymouth 2021. Other puppetry highlights include Black Dog (Little Dog Barking); The Ugly Duckling (The Court Theatre); Peter and the Wolf at the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SILO theatre) and most recently Puppeteering for Fat Freddys Drop Special Edition music video. 

Bella Robertson

Bella is of Samoan descent and was born and raised in Tamaki Makaurau. She graduated with her Bachelor degree in Creative Arts at MIT in 2018 and spent two years studying at PIPA – The Pacific Institute of Performing Arts. Bella is particularly passionate about music composition, Māori & Pasifika theatre, Film and comedy. Her television credits include work with Tikilounge Productions (FRESH TV, Housiewives) She has worked with a few companies including Auckland Theatre company (Myth makers tour, Storyworlds) and with F.C.C in the Wellington season of Club Paradiso (Victor Rodger, Robbie Magasiva) This year she is a returning puppeteer for the Glow Show 2020! 

Laughlan J Campion

Locky was born and raised in Whakatu (Sunny Nelson) and moved to Wellington when he was 19 to study at Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aoteaoroa, NZ Drama School. He graduated last year with a Bachelor in Performing Arts and now lives in Tamaki Makaurau, pursuing a career in acting. In his spare time he loves playing basketball, dancing and cooking up a storm in the kitchen. He’s looking forward to performing this amazing show to you all!

Conil Tod

Conil Tod grew up in Palmerston North and studied Performing Arts at UCOL with Jamie Dorner for a year, then moved all the way to the big city to study performing and screen arts at Unitec for a whopping 3 years in Auckland, where he lives now. Conil has a great passion for live performances- he has just recently finished the successful nationwide tour for the Ugly Shakespeare Company. Conil is very eager to be working as a puppeteer for the Glow show. This is his first experience performing with puppets and is excited to bring his cheeky and vibrant energy to the work. Conil has frequently been referred to as “New Zealand’s, budget Chris Pratt”. No real point to this, just thought we should mention it.