Out the Gate
Theatre Marae kōrerorero about the broken promise
Performance dates
29 October - 15 November 2025
Powerful, uplifting storytelling told with movement, music and words centered around lived experience
Out the Gate is Theatre Marae presented by Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu, is a theatrical conversation about incarceration in Aotearoa. Presented by an ensemble of over 16 performers and followed by a facilitated kōrerō Out the Gate asks questions and provides hope.
Written by Helen Pearse-Otene
Directed by Jim Moriarty
Choreography by Tānemahuta Gray
Performance dates
29 October -15 November 2025
Levin
booking open!
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Tickets: $30 | $15
Content advisory(16+)
This production contains explicit language including racist slurs and themes that audiences may find confronting. It includes taumaha content about sexual violence, abuse and trauma that may be triggering. It is recommended for ages 16+, whānau and caregivers should use discretion and consider the maturity of younger audience members and the potential impact on them.
7pm, Sat 1-Nov
Orongomai Marae, Upper Hutt
7pm, Wed 5-Nov
Caterton Events Centre, Caterton, Wairarapa
7pm, Fri 7-Nov
Whanganui
7pm, Tue 11-Nov
through to
Sat 15-Nov
Massey University, Pukeahu (Mt Cook), Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington)
Daytime. Thu 13 & Fri 14-Nov
Schools matinee, Massey University, Pukeahu (Mt Cook), Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington)
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About
Out the Gate will premiere at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua Wednesday 29 October, and then tour across the lower North Island, for one night only we are presenting in Porirua, Levin, Upper Hutt, Ōtaki, Palmerston North and Wainuiomata and we end with a short season in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
Out the Gate is Theatre Marae in action, created with and for the community, deliberately blurring the lines between research, performance, and public kōrero. A conversation about incarceration in Aotearoa, the work presents episodic vignettes woven together through music, waiata, choreographed movement and physical theatre.
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Background
Research
The play draws upon the Kaupapa Māori research project, TIAKI – Community wellbeing for whānau with lived experience of incarnation, funded by the Health Research Council. It is part of our kaupapa oranga hapori programming, and follows the plays The Swing and Unreel.
TIAKI has been running since 2023, co-led by Cheryl Davies (Tū Kotahi Māori Research), Associate Professor Paula Toko King (Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare, University of Otago in Wellington), Associate Professor Ruth Cunningham (University of Otago) and Te Rākau, with people with lived-experiences at the centre.
Te Rākau
Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu is Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest surviving independent Māori theatre company. Guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi the organisation have worked in schools, prisons, Marae, urban and rural communities, and youth justice residencies across Aotearoa, using Theatre Marae as a tool for change. Te Rākau is a registered Charitable Trust, with a small team of kaimahi who work all year based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
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ngā mihi
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