View source for Paul Maunder

{{short description|New Zealand filmmaker}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2024}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Paul Maunder MNZM (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Maunder in 2023]]
'''Paul Allan Maunder''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM|size=85%}} (born 8 February 1945) is a New Zealand film director, playwright and cultural activist. He is best known for his [[Sons for the Return Home|1979 film]] of the novel ''Sons for the Return Home'' by [[Albert Wendt]], his 1983 play ''Hemi'' about the life of [[James K. Baxter]], and his work in community-based theatre.

==Biography==
Maunder was born in [[Palmerston North]] and attended [[Palmerston North Boys' High School]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pnbhs.school.nz/zorrosnotes.html|title=PBHS Website}}</ref> He played one [[first-class cricket]] match for [[Central Districts cricket team|Central Districts]] in the 1961–62 season.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/newzealand/content/player/37840.html|title=Cricinfo.com}}</ref> He studied at [[Victoria University of Wellington]], the [[National Institute of Dramatic Art]] in Sydney and the [[London Film School]].<ref name="playmarket_app1">1992 Playmarket Directory Appendix 1</ref>

Returning to New Zealand, Maunder worked for the state-owned [[National Film Unit]]. In addition to dire cting a number of the documentaries the unit was best known for, he directed three drama productions which were screened on television: ''Gone up North for a While'',  ''One Of Those People That Live In The World'' and ''Landfall'' (the film debut of [[Sam Neill]]).
 
In 1971, Maunder formed the Amamus theatre troupe in Wellington, staging improvised documentary plays on historical subjects such as the [[Great Depression]] and the [[1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute|1951 waterfront lock-out]]. The group was then influenced by the work of [[Jerzy Grotowski]] and devised a trio of plays: ''Gallipoli'', ''Valita'' and ''Oedipus'', which examined the Kiwi psyche. In 1975 they were invited to the Festival of the Open Theatre in [[Wrocław]], Poland. In the 1980s, under the new name of Theatre of the Eighth Day, the group performed a series of political plays, followed by a study on the poet James K Baxter, before embarking on a bicultural series of works, examining the clash of the Maori culture with the settler arrivals.

In 1987, Maunder was awarded a Commonwealth Study Grant to make contact with the Popular Theatre Movement in Zimbabwe. Returning to New Zealand he worked in the community-based theatre framework, setting up the Cultural Work Centre in Petone. A number of partnerships followed, for example, with the [[Tokelau]] community and with the Auckland Unemployed Workers Rights Centre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/aup/book/big-smoke1.cfm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015173822/http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/aup/book/big-smoke1.cfm|url-status=dead|title=Big Smoke – Auckland University Press<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=15 October 2008}}</ref><ref>Maunder, Paul. Rebellious Mirrors. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2010.</ref>

Since 2001, Maunder has lived in the small town of [[Blackball, New Zealand|Blackball]] on the West Coast where he works with a community-based theatre group, Kiwi/Possum Productions. The group has mounted a series of plays written by Maunder on local issues: [[1080 usage in New Zealand|1080 poison]] (''Poison and Purity''), the [[Pike River Mine disaster]] (''Goodnight, Irene''), race relations (''The Cave Above the Pa''), mine closures (''The Judgement of Ben Alder''), heritage (''Ted, Poppy and World War Two''), mental health (''A Brief History of Madness''), and the transition economy (''The Measures Taken'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kiwipossumproductions.wordpress.com/ |title=Home |website=kiwipossumproductions.wordpress.com}}</ref>{{Unreliable source|date=January 2025}} These plays tour the Coast and usually further afield. Maunder is also curator of Mahi Tupuna, the Blackball Museum of Working Class History. Maunder completed a master's thesis at the [[University of Canterbury]] in 2007, with a thesis on [[Rachel Corrie]],<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Maunder |first=Paul |year=2007 |type=Masters thesis |title=For example Rachel Corrie: the role of theatre in, and as, an activist project |publisher=UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury |hdl=10092/982 |doi=10.26021/5065 |url=https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/982}}</ref> and received a doctorate in Theatre and Film Studies in 2010 from the same institution. His PhD thesis was titled ''The Rebellious Mirror, Community-based Theatre in Aotearoa''.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Maunder |first=Paul |year=2010 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=The Rebellious Mirror, Before and after 1984:Community-based theatre in Aotearoa |publisher=UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury |hdl=10092/5381 |doi=10.26021/4523 |url=https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/5381}}</ref>

Maunder's recent publications include: ''Tornado and Other Stories Written Overtime'' (2009, Maitai River Press), ''Coal and the Coast: Reflections on the Pike River Disaster'' (2012, Canterbury University Press) and ''Rebellious Mirrors: Community-based Theatre in Aotearoa/New Zealand'' (2013, Canterbury University Press), West Coast Plays with an introduction by Carol Dauber), Te Puawai Co-operative Society, 2017  The Visit to Grandad (for children), Te Puawai (2018), Performer, a memoir (Te Puawai, 2021. He has edited the ''Labour History Project Bulletin'' since 2019.

In the [[2023 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|2023 New Year Honours]], Maunder was appointed a [[Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit]], for services to the arts and the community.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2023 |title=New Year honours list 2023 |date=31 December 2022 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=31 December 2022}}</ref>

==Filmography==
* ''[[Gone Up North for a While]]'' (1972) [[National Film Unit]]
* ''[[The Seal Hunters]]'' (1973) Short film<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.garrygillard.net/film/unease.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721143830/http://www.garrygillard.net/film/unease.html|url-status=dead|title=Cinema of Unease<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=21 July 2011}}</ref>
* ''[[One of Those People that Live in the World]]'' (1973)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=Diana |title=Cinema: Jack Winter's Dream |journal=Art New Zealand |date=Summer 1979–80 |volume=14 |url=http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues11to20/cinema1402.htm |access-date=26 October 2021}}</ref>
* ''[[Landfall (1975 film)|Landfall]]'' (1975)
* ''[[Sons for the Return Home]]'' (1979)

==Plays==
Most of Maunder's plays are on subjects related to politics, class, activism, the history of the labour movement or the NZ experience.

{{Incomplete list|date=August 2008}}
* ''I Rode My Horse Down the Road'' (with Amamus) 1971, [[Downstage Theatre|Downstage]]
* ''The Wall Street Banks in London Have Closed'' (with Amamus) 1972, Downstage
* ''{{'}}51'' (full length, year unknown) documentary on the [[1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute]]<ref name="playweb">{{Cite web|url=http://www.playmarket.org.nz/bookshop/order_a_script/_author/id_1125/maunder_paul.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015080045/http://www.playmarket.org.nz/bookshop/order_a_script/_author/id_1125/maunder_paul.html|url-status=dead|title=Playmarket: Buy NZ books and NZ plays online – Order a Script<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=15 October 2008}}</ref> 
* ''Strangers'', Downstage
* ''Gallipoli'', 1974 [[Unity Theatre, Wellington|Unity Theatre]] and national tour 
* ''Valita'', 1976 Unity Theatre 
* ''Oedipus'', 1977 Unity Theatre 
* ''Pictures'', 1980 [[City Gallery Wellington|Wellington Art Gallery]]
* ''Electra'', 1981 Mitchelltown Amphitheatre 
* ''State of Play'', 1982 [[Taki Rua|The Depot]]
* ''Hemi'' 1983 Depot Theatre, Wellington.<ref name="playmarket">1992 Playmarket Directory p61</ref> 
* ''State of Play'', (full length – no date or production listed)<ref name="playmarket"/> 
* ''Ngati Pakeha'', (1-act) 1983 – Depot Theatre, Wellington<ref name="playmarket120">1992 Playmarket Directory p120</ref>
* ''Desire in a New Age'', (full length, year unknown)<ref name="playweb"/>
* ''Prophets from the Margins'', 2002<ref>[http://www.victoria.ac.nz/seftms/theatre/staff/Publications/davidodonellpub.htm Victoria University] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017090949/http://www.victoria.ac.nz/seftms/theatre/staff/Publications/davidodonellpub.htm |date=17 October 2008 }}</ref>
* ''Death (and Love) in Gaza'', 2006 – [[BATS Theatre]], Wellington<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatreview.org.nz/review/?id=313|title=Reviews – Theatreview|website=www.theatreview.org.nz}}</ref>
* ''Big End'', 2007 – no known production yet<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.courttheatre.org.nz/newwork.htm|title=Court Theatre readings}}</ref>
* ''Poison and Purity'', 2010 Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge, Hokitika, NBS Theatre, Westport
* ''Goodnight, Irene'', 2011 Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge Theatre, Hokitika, [[Dunedin Fringe Festival|Dunedin Fringe]].www.theatrevie.org.nz
* ''The Cave Above the Pa-'', 2012 Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge Theatre, Hokitika. www.theatreview.org.nz
* ''The Judgement of Ben Alder'', 2013 Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge Theatre, Hokitika, NBS Theatre, Westport, Motueka Players, SYmposium of APplied Theatre, Auckland. www.theatreview.org.nz
* ''Ted, Poppy and World War Two'', 2014 Regent Theatre- Greymouth, Old Lodge, Hoktika, NBS Theatre, Westport, Lyttleton Boating Club, Riverside Community Hall, Riverside.www.theatreview.org.nz
* ''A Brief History of Madness'', 2015 Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Seavie Hall, Seaview, NBS Theatre, Westport, Mapua Hall
* ''The Measures Taken'', Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge, Hokitika, NBS Theatre, Westport, Oddfellows Hall, Reefton. www.theatreview.org.nz
* ''Helen and the Ferals'', Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge, Hokitika, Mapua Community Hall
* ''Whenua/DP4 Lot 173'', Regent Theatre, Greymouth, Old Lodge, Hokitika, House performance, Motueka

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maunder, Paul}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:New Zealand film directors]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century New Zealand male writers]]
[[Category:New Zealand male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:New Zealand cricketers]]
[[Category:Central Districts cricketers]]
[[Category:Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit]]
[[Category:University of Canterbury alumni]]