TAHI Ōtepoti

Co-presenters TAHI New Zealand Festival of Solo Performance and Dunedin Arts Festival are chuffed to have the inaugural programme live. TAHI Ōtepoti includes seven shows over four days, with a total of 16 performances. Most are at Te Whare or Rukutia and the New Athenaeum Theatre in the heart of the city, with a special series visiting the three marae local to Ōtepoti.

The programme includes five Ōtepoti-based artists, one from Tahuna Queenstown, and one from Pōneke Wellington. The shows include comedy, dance and theatre, and cover topics from identity to connection, from the postpartum experience to the experience of getting older, from love to loss and much in between.

TAHI Festival Director Sally Richards says “This programme marks a long held ambition to bring TAHI Festival South and to celebrate Otepoti’s solo theatre-makers, to create new connections and generate new audiences. We are grateful for the generous partnership with Dunedin Arts Festival, working together is our super power in the Arts, pooling our resources and making things happen.”

Dunedin Arts Festival Director Charlie Unwin says, ”TAHI Ōtepoti is going to be a fantastic few days of performance. We’re so delighted to be presenting this new festival with our good friends from up north, and we’re especially excited about the calibre of performers who will be taking the stages.

“We really encourage Dunedin arts lovers to get their tickets soon – they’re already selling well. The box office income is being shared between the presenters and the artists so this is a direct way to support our performing arts community.”

TAHI Ōtepoti is from 14-18 October 2026, with tickets priced $18-$25 (marae shows are koha). Tickets are already selling so don’t wait to book! The full programme is available at www.dunedinartsfestival.co.nz/shows.