Victor Rodger is a journalist, actor and award winning playwright
in 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...

 whose theatre work deals with race, racism and identity. Of Samoan

Samoans

The Samoan people are a Polynesian ethnic group of the Samoan Islands, sharing genetics, language, history and culture. Due to colonialism, the home islands are politically and geographically divided between the country of Samoa, official name Independent State of Samoa ; and American Samoa, an...

 and Pākehā

Pakeha

Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...

 heritage, Rodger's play Sons won acclaim at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards

Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards

The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards are the theatre "Oscars" in New Zealand and honour the best stage talent and productions in the capital Wellington....

 (1998) and received Best New Writer and Most Outstanding New New Zealand Play awards.In 2001, he won the Sunday Star-Times Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Rodger's father is from the village of Iva

Iva

Iva can mean:* Iva, the name of a tree which grows on mountains, and means strong .* Iva, South Carolina, a town in the United States* Iva, Samoa, a village* Iva , a 1993 film by Izu Ojukwu...

 from Savai'i

Savai'i

Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...

 island in Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

.

Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007), produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva

Robbie Magasiva

Robbie Magasiva is a Samoan New Zealand actor who has starred in several films and as a member of the Naked Samoans comedy troupe. He has also appeared on television and theatre, and was the co-presenter of New Zealand's Tagata Pasifika with famed athlete Beatrice Faumuina. Magasiva is also known...

, Anapela Polataivao, Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand

Jennifer Ward-Lealand

Jennifer Ward-Lealand, ONZM, is a New Zealand actress who has appeared on many films and television shows such as The Ugly and Shortland Street as well as the Australian comedy series Full Frontal....

.

Erotic, funny and full of machete-sharp dialogue, one of our most daring contemporary playwrights offers a new insight into the steamy side of Paradise. Sian Robertson, Theatreview, 2007.

Rodger was born in Christchurch. In 1995, Rodger entered 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 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...

 and graduated two years later. In 1997, his play Cunning Stunts was performed at Bats Theatre

Bats Theatre

BATS Theatre is New Zealand's leading venue for the development of new theatre practitioners and plays. Most of the productions at Bats Theatre are New Zealand works...

 in Wellington.
He gained the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers’ Residency (2006) based at the University of Hawai'i. During 2004-2005, he studied film writing at the Maurits Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

.In 2009, he is the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

.

His play Ranterstantrum (2002) was commissioned for the bi-ennial New Zealand International Festival of the Arts.
He is also a writer and a storyliner for TV soap Shortland Street. His play Sons was published by Huia Publishers

Huia Publishers

Huia Publishers is an award-winning independent publishing company based in Wellington, New Zealand. The company was established in 1991 by Robyn Bargh to bring Māori voices in New Zealand literature by promoting Māori writers, Māori language and Māori perspectives.Many of the company’s books...

 in 2008.

His acting roles include Stickmen

Stickmen (film)

Stickmen is a 2001 New Zealand film directed by Hamish Rothwell and starring Robbie Magasiva.- Synopsis :Thomas , Jack and Wayne are the best of mates. Each of them lives their life the way they play pool. Thomas is either absolutely brilliant or absolutely crap. Jack is always slick, cool and...

(2001), Mercy Peak

Mercy Peak

Mercy Peak was a New Zealand drama television series that ran for three seasons on TV One between 2001 and 2004.-Cast:*Sara Wiseman as Nicky Somerville*Jeffrey Thomas as William Kingsley...

and a recurring role on Shortland Street

Shortland Street

Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in...

 as Dr. Henry Mapasua

Henry Mapasua

Henry Mapasua was a fictional recurring character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Henry was portrayed by Victor Rodger who also writes for the show...

.