Rangimoana Taylor is a Māori actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, theatre director and storyteller

Storyteller

- Films and television :* Narradores de Javé , a 2003 Brazilian film by Eliane Caffé* The Storyteller , a 2009 American horror film* The Storyteller, a 1988 television series by Jim Henson...

 from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 with more than 35 years in the industry. He has performed nationally and internationally including appearances on BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. A graduate of Toi Whakaari

Toi Whakaari

Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School is New Zealand's National Drama School. It is located in Wellington, New Zealand Toi Whakaari offers training in Acting, Directing, Costume Construction, Entertainment Technology, Performing Arts Management and Design for Stage & Screen.The School offers the following...

 New Zealand Drama School in the 1970s, Taylor was one of the key people who developed the influential style of Marae

Marae

A marae malae , malae , is a communal or sacred place which serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies...

-Theatre, incorporating cultural concepts and values into the performance space.

He was also one of the founders of Taki Rua Theatre in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 which became a national platform and venue for bi-cultural contemporary theatre in the country during the 1980s and 1990s.

Personal life

Taylor is the brother of leading Maori poet and performance artist Apirana Taylor

Apirana Taylor

Apirana Taylor is a New Zealand poet, novelist, performer, story-teller, musician and painter.-Biography:Born in Wellington, Apirana Taylor is of Pākehā and Māori descent with affiliations to Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Ruanui. He was a prominent member of the Māori theatre...

 and writer Riwia Brown

Riwia Brown

Riwia Brown is a playwright and the award winning screenwriter of the cult classic movie Once Were Warriors from New Zealand. The Once Were Warriors screenplay, adapted from the book of the same name by Alan Duff, gained Brown the Best Screenplay award at the 1994 New Zealand Film and TV Awards....

, the award winning screenwriter of the cult classic New Zealand movie Once Were Warriors

Once Were Warriors (film)

Once Were Warriors is a 1994 film based on New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling 1990 first novel. The film tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence, mostly brought on by family patriarch Jake...

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External references

Contains a description of the concept of Marae-Theatre in Māori culture

Maori culture

Māori culture is the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, an Eastern Polynesian people, and forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture. Within the Māori community, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word Māoritanga is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori...

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