Abstract
Lynda Chanwai-Earle is of Chinese and Pākehā ancestry, and one of the pioneers of Asian theatre in Aotearoa. After completing a degree in Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, she began writing and performing while studying for the Diploma in Drama at the University of Auckland with Murray Edmond. She was a member of the Māori theatre company Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu from 1995 to 2000. In 1996, she wrote and performed her solo show Ka Shue (Letters Home), subsequently touring it around the country. In 2020, she revived Ka Shue and toured it in the North Island. Several of her plays feature Chinese stories and Chinese actors, including Foh Sarn: Fire Mountain (2000) and Monkey (2004). Her play Man in A Suitcase (2012), based on a true murder case involving Chinese students in New Zealand, was performed in China after a season at the Court Theatre, Christchurch, with a cast including three Chinese actors from Beijing and Shanghai. Lynda completed a Master of Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) in 2006 and was awarded the tenure as Writer in Residence at IIML, Victoria University of Wellington in 2019. In this chapter, Hilary Halba and David O'Donnell interview Lynda.