Tama is a practicing Performing Arts educator with twenty years of classroom experience. He held the position of Head of Dance and Drama at Hutt Valley High for fourteen years, developed and managed all aspects of the large Performance Arts programmes, while producing well over 50 productions at all year levels. He is an active advocate for Progressive Arts Education that is centered on healthy, well supported practitioners, and holds the position of Wellington Representative on Drama NZ (the Drama subject association).

He has an Education Degree from Otago University (with a Theatre Major), Diploma in Technical Theatre Production from Toi Whakaari, and a Masters in Theatre Arts with a thesis focused on the staging and touring of community-oriented theatre. This study and subsequent employment has allowed him to establish and build skills, confidence, experience and knowledge in a wide range of Performing Arts roles and contexts, such as mentor, independent theatre director, designer and technician, facilitator of educational programmes for touring companies and writer and producer of plays, movies and documentaries.

His recent appointment as Arts Co-ordinator at Wellington High School allows him to continue to explore and test how Arts, in its broadest most inclusive scope, can be central to the spirit, health and growth of diverse educational communities.

Tama remains personally and professionally passionate about how Performing Arts can facilitate creative, social and emotional development in participants, and is particularly interested in the way performance events, in all their forms, can engage, celebrate and empower.

Lara first took to the stage in 2011 at Dargaville Little Theatre, and has been passionate about the world of theatre and performance ever since. Over the years, Lara has had her hand in many roles on stage and off such as writing, directing, acting, costume and makeup, props and sound. Having a hand in many areas of a performance has taught her that theatre is a team effort. Coming from a small town with a humble little theatre, Lara has learned that big things can start small, that we can make do with the resources that we have and still create thought provoking works of art.

After moving to Auckland and attending University, Lara began writing, and delved deep into psychology and academics. Her insight into how the brain works and the human experience has a strong influence on her art. Now that she has finished studying, Lara is eager to return to performance and music, and to get involved in building up amateur theatre in New Zealand.