Po’ Boys and Oysters is about a Black lesbian couple of Haitian descent who’ve immigrated to Auckland and plan to adopt a child. Nominated for an Adam’s NZ Playwright Award in 2021, the play deals with family dynamics, a clash of class, politics and cultures and the challenges for a same sex Black couple yearning to adopt a child.

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“I rarely see someone like myself – a proud Black queer mother - represented on the stage. I wrote Po’ Boys and Oysters to give these characters a voice and provide a platform to a group that have rarely been seen or represented in our theatre,” says Estelle, who was born in the Caribbean island of Martinique and who moved to New Zealand from London with her family.

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Estelle also has the starring role in the play and shares the stage with two other strong Black actresses; renowned author, poet and African-American activist Sonya Renee Taylor, and Zimbabwean-born actress Sandra Zvenyika. Local Kiwi actors Andrew Johnson and Jack Briden round up the cast.

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Po’ Boys and Oysters will be directed by Dione Joseph, founder of Black Creatives Aotearoa (BCA), a collective of more than 500 members of Black New Zealand artists of African and Afro-Caribbean heritage who now call Aotearoa home.