Asian performers vying for the stage have often felt stuck in the wings, in an industry where overall opportunities to get on stage, and be paid for it, are limited.
And while Covid-19 lockdowns and changes in alert levels have hit theatres hard in New Zealand too; the country's success with keeping the virus at bay has enabled creatives to further invest in paid opportunities for a diverse range of performers.
On the stage at Auckland Theatre Company is Single Asian Female . It's described as the first play centred around the Chinese-New Zealand community performed by a premiere company stage.
Kat Tsz Hung who plays the role of Pearl Wong, a first-generation Chinese immigrant and single mother, says this step onto one of the biggest stages is a turning point for the theatre scene that has long faced accusations of failing to truly represent its community.
"There have been other plays that have been produced in smaller theatres. For Auckland Theatre Company to embrace us, and allow us to be on this stage, I think it means a lot," she says.
"To see people who haven't been to theatre, share it with [regular theatre goers]. Some are sobbing, and some are laughing so hard.
"There is a cultural understanding, sitting in that space. To be like; 'oh this story means a lot to someone. Why am I laughing? Why do I find that funny?' That's been really beautiful as an actor to witness."
Getting this show on stage has been a long time coming. Starring roles like these, for actors in the Asian community, can be rare.
As a child Tsz Hung says a lack of Asian faces on TV and on stage influenced the way she felt about her place in New Zealand.
"Not being seen in the mainstream, made me feel like I don't belong. Like I'm not important."
And once at drama school she was told her look would limit her chances.
"That was a new thing for me ... realising I had limitations based on what I look like and my race," she says.
Growing up in New Zealand, Marianne Infante, had a similar experience. "As a young dramatic person, I was very lost in the industry. I couldn't see myself in any of the media that was being shared with me," she says.
"It's very hard to want to be motivated and be in the industry when you know there is going to be a lot of gatekeepers."
As the executive producer of Proudly Asian Theatre Infante's been part of a growing group of creatives within the Asian community pushing to not just create a space for their own stories ... but get themselves heard by the big players in the industry.
"People are sick of not feeling seen," she says. "We now have the ability to change that. To be the champions of our own stories."
The Single Asian Female play is evidence that speaking up can work. Just three years ago Infante says it was a vastly different sea of faces on stage at Auckland Theatre Company.
"There was definitely a bit of tension," she says. "For us we were like 'why are we still having this conversation? Why are we still asking for space, when literally 28 per cent of Aotearoa is made up of the Asian community?"
And she says it took time ... but the company has listened and taken action. It collaborated with Proudly Asian Theatre to get cultural guidance and advice around actors and contacts.
"I'm thrilled ATC opened its doors, now the conversation is happening and both sides are winning," she says.
The community is holding out hope the momentum builds to the point, where shows like these no longer make headlines for their rarity and that the industry will look beyond race when choosing its casts.
"I hope that I will be cast, not based on my race, or my culture, but based on talent. And that I can play all the extreme emotions of a classic character," Infante says.
These opportunities are able to become a reality here in New Zealand where stage performances are going ahead.
Many of those who may otherwise have gone offshore are choosing to weather the pandemic in New Zealand instead, investing their creative energies into the industry here.
In fact, Marianne Martin took the opportunity it offered to start a new theatre company - The Classic Theatre Company - in the middle of the pandemic. They staged a season of the Importance of Being Earnest late last year. They'll be opening the curtains on Alice in Wonderland at the Herald Theatre later this month.
Martin's goal is to offer local entertainers a space to nurture their talent in a financially viable space.
"I would love for the company to become something bigger," she says.
"I'd love to be able to change the New Zealand landscape for theatre because now we are still starving for entertainment."
The industry has for some time been plagued with tales of professionals struggling to get work in New Zealand with many taking to the stage for love, but not money.
And while such opportunities help build skills, connections and enables exposure, Martin hopes with time her company will be able to pay a fair and equitable wage.
"We Kiwis have an opportunity to create a stable, economically beneficial theatre scene for ourselves."
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