Nanu Turner-Sarah

Recognition “wonderful moment” 

Tackling challenging characters on Casa Blanca’s stage has highlighted Nanu’s god-given talents.     

Her haunting portrayal of Sofia in last year’s production of The Colour Purple won her a Zony. Zonys are this country’s regional musical theatre equivalent of American entertainment’s Tony Awards. Nanu’s was the first Zony to come RMT’s way. It was for an actress in an outstanding supporting role.

Winning that was, the performer says, “a pretty profound and wonderful moment”.  

 What made her achievement all the more impressive was that she was reprising the role for which Oprah Winfrey received an Oscar nomination  in the 1986 Spielberg-directed movie.  That’s a hard act for any actor to follow however experienced they are.

When we meet Nanu is fresh from playing Motormouth Maybelle in RMT’s latest show, Hairspray.  Like A Colour Purple it was sold out a fortnight ahead of the season’s opening.

With Hairspray she again followed in the footsteps of Hollywood royalty.This time it was Grammy award winner Queen Latifah. 

Nanu was unfazed. 

“For me it’s all about putting my stamp on the characters I play, not being a carbon copy of these super stars.”

Born to be different

Nanu’s a natural-born performer. She was also born to be different.  At birth she was categorised as male and given the gender-conforming name Logan.

However since she was at least two, very likely even younger,  Nanu’s identified as female. “She” and “her” are  the prononus she’s always used. 

“They weren’t of choice for me. It’s just who I am. I’ve been known as Nanu since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Only the teachers at school ever called me Logan.”

Taumaranui was Nanu’s birthplace. “The trains on the main trunk line ran right past the whanau homestead’s windows.”

When she was 18 months old an aunt and uncle from Murupara visited. They chose Logan to whangai.

“It was meant to be for six months but that turned into two years. I went back to Taumaranui but that lasted all of a week because I was so homesick for Murupara and my whanau there.”

 That said, the then thriving timber town wasn’t an easy place for Nanu to grow up.

Targeted, bullied   

“It certainly wasn’t for the faint hearted.  It was a small, rural place and when you are someone obviously different you tend to stand out like a sore thumb. You walk around with a target on your back.

“It was a beautiful place but for me the town was a school of hard knocks. There was physical bullying. There were times I didn’t want to be walking by myself. 

“There weren’t many people like me in Murupara but you survive and when you are old enough you leave and move somewhere nicer.”

“Rotorua was the next step for me. I was 17 and a prefect at school but I left knowing I was too big for the little smoke of Murupara and came to the nearest bigger smoke which was here.

“From time to time I have gone away but I always come back. Rotorua’s home to me.”

Journey in self discovery 

Initially Nanu had aspirations to go to university but in “nano seconds” she had settled into the hospitality industry,

“Hospitality taught me a lot. I’ve never looked back. I’ve worked in some wonderful places. Some like The Hare of the Dog and The Ace of Clubs aren’t here now.

“This was a beautiful learning time for me and the starting point of realising who I was.

“I discovered I was not the person in the body I was born in. I was someone very different.

“Between two and three I began expressing myself as a female.

“I remember telling my dad. He said ‘You are my baby, I love you. As long as you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else I support you’.

“For a man working with his hands, hunting, fishing, to be knowing and accepting like that was all the motivation I needed to be me.  

“The rest of my family remained neutral.”

Singing passion solidified

Music has always been Nanu’s stress relief valve.

“In Murupara I played in bands in primary and high school. In Rotorua I was inspired by the likes of Howard Morrison Junior and Syd Hughes. Working in a few local bands solidified my passion for singing.”

In 2001 Nanu enrolled to study for a certificate in Maori Performing Arts  at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. 

“I’d intended to do a psychology course at Waiariki Polytech but I ended up learning it would not be very beneficial to me.

“I enjoyed doing the Wananga certificate with a passion so I did the Bachelor of Maori Performing Arts – four years all up.
“I learnt a lot about stagecraft which gave me the confidence to audition for some serious acting.”

 A year at Auckland’s South Seas TV and Film School followed.

“I was one of the oldest there. I was learning and performing with these vibrant young people with so much passion and drive. It was a beautiful learning experience.

“I came back to Rotorua with a better vibe and understanding about performance.” 

Nanu’s first Casa Blanca show was Love on the Ocean Wave in 2004. Ithst was while she was working towards her degree.

“I didn’t realise how much passion I had for musical theatre until then. I absolutely loved performing for a live audience. There’s nothing like it.”

Back tracking, she reveals it was Shakespeare that first whetted her acting appetite.

Shakespeare – te reo Maori symmetry

“I got involved with Shakespeare Outside with the wonderful Val Dyson.

“I didn’t play any major roles but it was fun to do.

“To me if you translate te reo Maori in its truest form the language is very similar to Shakespearean English.

“The way he describes love is quite poetic. The rhythm and cadence are very similar to the way Maori would describe love. There’s such a beautiful symmetry between Shakespeare and te reo Maori. 

“It’s something not many people have realised or thought about.”    

From Bard to burlesque 

In a theatrical about turn Nanu switched from the Bard to sharing the stage with drag queens, fire eaters and silk dancers.

 “It was the full burlesque cabaret scene. For a period of two to three years I was travelling to Auckland where the drag queens taught me so much more about performance and what that means.

“My role was to go on stage, sing a couple of songs to give the drag queens time to change from one massive costume to another. They’d be whispering ‘We aren’t ready yet - keep going, keep going.’ 

“That led to me becoming their MC, their host. You learn on the spot. I found I was a comedian of sorts.”

Nanu credits the drag queens with elevating her on stage “aesthetic.”  

 “No one does make up like drag queens do make up.”

They taught Nanu well. Hers is impeccable. 

Her first comedic role at Casa Blanca was as Alice in The Addams Family.

“It was a nice blend of comedy and honesty. It’s one of my favourite shows of all time.”

Day jobs 

With such a jam-packed line up of theatrical commitments does Nanu ever sleep? 

There’s never been a time she hasn’t had a day job, Covid included.

She was in her 11th year at Te Puia - “Its cultural richness was really special to me” - when the pandemic brought the visitor industry to its knees.

Nanu didn’t sit around twiddling her thumbs ruing her job loss. She went straight into work at a Kiwifruit packing house. Designated an essential service, it stayed open throughout both lockdowns.

For the past four years she’s been with Wera Aotearoa Social Services. She’s a services co-ordinator. 

“I’m one of those people who wears many hats and loves it.

What’s special about working at Wera is that it’s a Maori organisation that celebrates everyone who comes in – not only Maori -  and you don’t have to be Maori to work there. 

“You are there to help people in any way you can which is a wonderful, embracing experience.”

Theatre’s Inclusivity 

It’s the same kind of inclusivity that makes belonging to RMT so special  to Nanu and Casa Blanca her happy place.

“We are very fortunate in this musical theatre to have a very inclusive society.

“When I first came into this space there weren’t many Maori.  They didn’t  feel like it was their space. That’s changed.

“I‘ve been on the committee four years before becoming vice president.  The president is also Maori.  

“There’s a general treatment of this space as a welcoming marae where we are one big, jolly family. It’s a beautiful thing.

“For me it’s my home away from home. It allows people to see me as I want them to see me.”