No. 4 - September 2012 - Communications and Development ...

Photo: Deborah Marshall.Macmillan Brown Pacific Artist in Residence Victor Rodger.City’s quakesprovideinspirationfor artist inresidenceExploring the personalaftershocks of theChristchurch earthquakesand racial issues inCanterbury are two projectsthat UC’s latest Pacific Artistin Residence hopes to bring tothe stage after his tenure.Christchurch born playwright andscriptwriter Victor Rodger, who has writtenfive plays since 1998 and has worked as awriter for Shortland Street since 2000, saidhe wanted to confront issues he sawduring the quakes.“I am writing a piece about the quakeseither for film or the stage calledAftershocks. I have been really moved bywhat has happened to my hometown. Ihave friends and family on both the eastand west sides of the city who have beenaffected in different ways,” he said.“The city now more than ever really is adivide of east and west. There has alwaysbeen two halves to the city but now,physically, that’s much more pronounced.Aftershocks will really explore that east andwest divide and follows four families’experiences after the quakes. They are allinspired by different things people havegone through.”The second project Mr Rodger will writeis a piece called, Can all read and write? Thescript is inspired by an incident two yearsago in Christchurch when a group of largelyPacific Island students were awarded abusiness development award.“The guy presenting the awards wastrying to be funny and said to the crowd,‘I assure you they can all read and write.’Coming from Christchurch I wanted todevelop a piece inspired by that incidentbecause, for me, the thinking behind thatstatement is very Christchurch from myexperience of growing up here. That sort ofthing would never happen in Auckland,”he said.Mr Rodger, who is of Samoan andPakeha decent, said his work oftenreflected racial issues.“I grew up with a white mum andgrandparents so I didn’t start to embracemy Samoan side until my last year at highschool and, once I got it, it was a bit likethe matrix. A lot of my work deals withrace, racism and identity so I am reallyaware of stuff like that.”Mr Rodger was also the Ursula BethellCreative Writer in Residence at theUniversity of Canterbury in 2009 and aFulbright–Creative New Zealand Writer inResidence at the University of Hawai’i in2006.“It is nice to be back and have thatfocus. One of the things I will try and dowhile I am here is get in front of as manyPacific Island students as possible and tellthem about what I do. I was the first writerof Pacific descent on Shortland Street andI’m still the only one 12 years later. I amvery aware that the new generation are notfinding the bridge into the industry,”he said.8