Talia Pua is a theatre-maker, performer and designer of playful interactions.
✷ Interaction & Play Designer
I harness the power of play to design interactive experiences for community engagement, reflection and education. I’ve worked across augmented reality, desktop games and tactile interaction as a game designer, scriptwriter and project manager. Tactile interaction and play is where my heart is at.
✷ Theatre-maker
When I’m not performing on-stage, 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, which brings stories from our communities to the stage through visionary theatre.
Résumé
Employment
Game Designer, Scriptwriter and Project Manager GeoAR Games & InGame, 2020 – 2022
Project Management
Game Designer – Designing the game rules and mechanics, writing the game design document for developers and designers.
Scriptwriter – Writing all the game text e.g. instructions, facts, dialogue
Interaction and Play Developer Brightside, Auckland University of Technology, 2020 Designing a playful and interactive facilitation tool for group discussion in a workshop context.
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.
Costume Assistant Basement Theatre, Shift Aotearoa, 2019 For ‘AKL, Babel’ (dir. Amber Liberté). 3D modelling and printing a series of white buildings as part of a wearable city-scape costume.
Other Projects
Dani and the Age of Wonder (in development) – Playwright & Deviser Developed with:
Proudly Asian Theatre’s Intermediate Playwriting Class with Ahi Karunaharan, 2021
Capital E’s National Creative Residency, 2022
Oryza”s Asian Playwriting Lab, 2022
Fleurtsy and the Boys (development season) – Director 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
Achievements - Interaction and Play Designer
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
Rush Digital Award for ‘Flip Matrix’, AUT Creative Technologies Awards Night, 2019
S23M Award for trans-disciplinary practice, AUT Creative Technologies Awards Night, 2019