Talia Pua is a theatre-maker, performer and designer based in Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand

✷ Designer

With a degree in Creative Technologies from AUT, I am interested in design that inspires play and engagement. I’ve worked across augmented reality, desktop games and installation as a game designer, scriptwriter and project manager. In 2023, I delved into the world of set design to merge my two passions: design and theatre.

✷ Theatre Maker

When I’m not performing on-stage as an actor, you’ll find me behind the scenes hustling as a director, playwright and set designer. In 2020, I co-founded independent theatre-company Hand Pulled Collective, with Natalya Mandich-Dohnt, which brings stories from our communities to the stage through powerful visual theatre.

Résumé

  • Dani and the Age of Wonder – Playwright & Deviser, 2021-present (in development)

    Previously developed with: Capital E’s National Creative Residency, (2022), Oryza’s Asian Playwriting Lab (2022), and Proudly Asian Theatre’s Intermediate Playwriting Class with Ahi Karunaharan (2021)

    Fleurtsy and the Boys – Director, 2022

    2022 Development Season

    Writer: Renee Liang; Producer: Natalya Mandich-Dohnt

    This Room is an Island (contemporary dance) – Writer and Dramaturge, 2022

    Black Box Theatre; Choreographer: Yin-Chi Lee

    For more theatre projects, click here.

  • Do it Over (Music Video) - Art Director, 2024

    Written and Performed by ADV, Directed by Chye-Lyng Huang, Procrastination Productions

    Game Designer, Scriptwriter and Project Manager,
2020-2022

    GeoAR Games & InGame

    Interaction and Play Developer
Brightside, Auckland University of Technology, 2020

    Designing a playful and interactive facilitation tool for group discussion in a workshop context.

    Time in Motion - Designer, 2020

    Commissioned and exhibited at MOTAT’s Night Lights

    An interactive installation where players create scenes using image-based tokens on a rolling film reel contraption.

    Curatorial Intern
L’Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak, Nouméa, New Caledonia, 2019

    This two week internship involved designing a proof of concept for a virtual visit for one of the current exhibitions at the Tjibaou Cultural Centre.

  • For a full list of my performance credits, please visit my agent’s page here.

  • Playmarket’s Playwrights b4 25 2022 Winner for ‘Pork and Poll Taxes’

    Adam New Zealand Play Award Finalist 2021 for ‘Pork and Poll Taxes’

    Playmarket’s Asian Ink, 2020, for ‘Pork and Poll Taxes’

  • Best Design Awards 2020 Finalist for ‘Tangita i Tāngita‘‘,
Student Public Good category

    Best Design Awards 2019 Gold Pin Winner for ‘Continuum‘,
Student Public Good category

    S23M Award for trans-disciplinary practice,
AUT Creative Technologies Awards Night, 2019

  • Creative Technologies from Auckland University of Technology, 2017-2019