Meet our 2026 Engine Room Residents

Auckland Theatre Company are delighted to announce that Sepelini Mua’au, Jthan Morgan, Talia Pua, and Grace Newton have been selected as the 2026 Engine Room Residents at Auckland Theatre Company.  

The Engine Room supports early to mid-career theatre practitioners to deepen their practice within the context of a producing theatre company. In 2026, Engine Room Residents span disciplines including theatre direction, musical theatre, and production design. Residents will be part of the process of staging productions at the ASB Waterfront Theatre: through design, planning, rehearsals, production week to opening night. 

Sepelini Mua’au will assist three directors in the company’s 2026 season as Engine Room Resident: Direction. Sepe is a theatre maker, director and actor, with recent work including co-directing the critically acclaimed The Handlers which won Production of the Year at the Wellington Theatre Awards.

Sepe will assistant direct Helen Clark in Six Outfits by Fiona Samuel, directed by Sophie Roberts; Sons of Vao by Vela Manusaute, directed by Anapela Polata’ivao; and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, directed by Benjamin Kilby-Henson. At the conclusion of his residency, Sepe will take on the role of Resident Director of Macbeth. 

“I’m deeply grateful to have been selected this year; it’s an exciting privilege and a daunting prospect. The Engine Room residency offers a rare chance to work at the highest level of theatre making in Aotearoa, alongside artists I deeply respect. I’m ready to stretch my practice, work at a new scale, and learn from ATC’s rigorous creative standards.” 

Jthan Morgan, is Engine Room Resident: Musical Theatre, and will observe rehearsals of the Auckland Theatre Company & Auckland Live co-production of Cabaret by Joe Masteroff, John Kander & Fred Ebb, directed by Benjamin Kilby-Henson. Jthan is a Wellington-based theatre director, performer, and drag queen known for creating Māori drag girl group The Tiwhas! and winning Costume Designer of the Year at the 2025 Wellington Theatre Awards.

The Engine Room Resident: Musical Theatre Assistant Director is supported by Auckland Live. 

“Through this residency I hope to be able to soak up as much knowledge as I can, while spreading joy and having a positive impact on those around me; ultimately leaving the residency with a stronger confidence in my practices in off-stage production roles. Mauriora.” 

The Engine Room Residents: Design will collaborate with Dan Williams across three large-scale productions in the company’s 2026 season, gaining an understanding of the design process from early concept development to fabrication to realisation in the theatre.  

The first Engine Room Resident: Design is Talia Pua, who will work with Dan Williams on Set Design for Helen Clark in Six Outfits by Fiona Samuel and Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Talia is a Malaysian-Chinese theatre maker and co-founder of Hand Pulled Collective whose award-winning work spans playwriting, performance, and set design for companies including Silo Theatre and Indian Ink.

“This is such a rare golden opportunity to be able to learn from an experienced designer like Dan, across two very different productions, at a large scale. I'm looking forward to levelling up my practice by being an unapologetic sponge and soaking in as much knowledge as possible. As well as building meaningful working relationships with collaborators for a life-long career in the arts.” 

The second Engine Room Resident: Design is Grace Newton, who will work with Dan Williams on Set & Costume Design for Cabaret by Joe Masteroff, John Kander & Fred Ebb. Grace is a multi-disciplinary stage designer who won the 2023 NZ Fringe Most Promising Emerging Artist Award, with recent credits including Silo Theatre's D.R.A.G and the film A Minecraft Movie.

“I'm delighted to be an Engine Room Design resident next year and so excited to intensively soak up all the learning I can from Tāmaki's best and brightest theatre practitioners.” 

Auckland Theatre Company received Expressions of Interest from 30 theatre practitioners from across Aotearoa. Expression of Interest were reviewed by the ATC team, and 12 practitioners were invited to apply for the programme. The Application process included submitting a full application and participating in an interview with a panel of Jason Te Kare, Jane Yonge, Sam Phillips and Dan Williams. The appointments were made after a final interview with Artistic Director & CEO Jonathan Bielski. 

The Engine Room Programme has been previously run in 2016, 2020/21, and recently in 2025. Previous Engine Room residents include Ahilan Karunaharan, Benjamin Kilby-Henson, Sananda Chatterjee, Whetu Silver, Samuel Phillips, Nī Dekkers-Reihana and Katrina George. 

The 2026 Engine Room is generously supported by the Friedlander Foundation, Excellence Partner of Auckland Theatre Company.