What happens when the demands of motherhood collide with the need to create? For Chilean-born theatremaker Romina Meneses, becoming a mother has raised profound questions about identity, expectation and the place of art in her life. Now, she's turning those questions into MATRESCENCE, a new solo documentary theatre work that challenges the idea that women should have to choose. Ahead of a development residency at The Hannah, we caught up with Romina to talk about migration, motherhood and making space for both.
Finding her feet, and her voice, in Aotearoa
When Romina Meneses arrived in New Zealand from Chile in 2018, she spoke very little English. Having trained as an actor and worked in theatre in her home country, finding herself disconnected from her craft was a difficult adjustment.
"It was a tough time because I had to work in whatever I could find, and it took me a while to get back to my field."
After gaining permanent residency and moving to Wellington, Romina completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Practice at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington in 2024. It was a turning point, giving her the time and space to reconnect with her artistic practice.
Her resulting work, We, The Outsiders, was a documentary theatre production drawing on the real-life experiences of migrant workers living in New Zealand with English as a second language. It began as a university project and went on to tour Aotearoa and reach the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
"The MFA opened so many doors to me," she reflects.
It also brought her to The Hannah for the first time, where she interned as a production assistant on Heartbreak Hotel, observing the creative process of acclaimed theatremakers Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken.
"How they work, how they rehearse was fascinating," she recalls. "They are the biggest reference for me in theatre in New Zealand."
That experience planted a seed. One day, Romina hoped to return to The Hannah to develop work of her own.
When everything changes
In 2025, just as Romina was finding her place within Wellington's theatre community, she became pregnant.
After years spent rebuilding her artistic career in a new country, the prospect of motherhood brought an unexpected question: what would happen to the creative life she had worked so hard to establish?
"I was very afraid because it took me a while to come back to my field, to start teaching, to start doing theatre, and getting to know the people."
Initially, she had pitched an entirely different project for her residency at The Hannah. But becoming a mother changed everything.
"I became a mum and I thought, no, that's not the show I want to do!"
Instead, she found herself drawn to the very experience she was living through: the profound transformation of becoming a mother, while simultaneously trying to hold on to her identity as an artist and migrant.
"I think the seed comes from questioning my identity as an artist, as a new mum and as a migrant, and how I would be creatively alive in this very domestic setting that is postpartum."
The result is MATRESCENCE, a solo documentary theatre work that follows Ella (meaning 'she' in Spanish), a migrant theatremaker and new mother attempting to make a show while navigating the exhaustion, contradictions and disorientation of early motherhood.
Part testimonial, part creative crisis and part documentary, the work asks what happens when the act of making art becomes inseparable from the experience of living it.
From one mother's story to many
Romina began the creative process during parental leave, keeping a journal and recording her thoughts as she navigated the early months of motherhood.
But as the writing accumulated, she realised that the work needed to reach beyond her own experience.
"Slowly I started to realise that the work wasn't going to be about myself. And I needed to go outside my cave to find some answers."
She began interviewing other mothers and created an online questionnaire for migrant mothers living in Aotearoa. Around 45 women responded, sharing their experiences through written answers and voice recordings.
For Romina, whose documentary theatre practice is rooted in real stories, the unfiltered quality of these experiences is particularly powerful.
"I love having testimonies that are not fabricated. It's just the beauty of the words as they come."
Alongside these personal accounts, she has been speaking with academics and postpartum specialists, researching the experience of becoming a mother within the New Zealand context.
Coming from Chile, where children are often raised within close-knit networks of extended family, neighbours and community, Romina found the cultural differences striking.
"Motherhood is, I think, a universal, very isolating period, but I think it's even more in New Zealand. That's the feeling I had."
What began as a deeply personal exploration has become a much wider investigation into care, culture, belonging and the structures that support — or sometimes fail to support — new mothers.
A mother, an artist, and everything in between
At the heart of MATRESCENCE is a tension familiar to many creative parents: the expectation to be fully present as a caregiver while still yearning to contribute, produce and participate in the world beyond the home.
For Romina, the contradictions are everywhere.
"There are the expectations that you have to be a good mom, but you also have to be productive. There's so much information out there – an excess of things. It’s hard trying to find yourself and not to judge yourself in all that noise."
But rather than seeing motherhood and art-making as competing identities, Romina is interested in how they might coexist.
"I feel that being an artist, it's part of how I am as a mum. And I want my daughter to know that she was with me during rehearsals and she was with me when I was writing and she was with me when I was creating."
It's a powerful statement, and one that challenges the assumption that becoming a mother must mean putting other ambitions aside.
Romina isn't searching for a neat resolution. Instead, she's embracing the uncertainty.
"For me, it's like there are no straight answers."
The show's title comes from the concept of matrescence: the physical, psychological, emotional and social transformation that accompanies becoming a mother. Much like adolescence describes the transition from childhood to adulthood, matrescence gives language to a period of enormous change that is often poorly understood.
Romina first encountered the term through a book recommendation.
"I didn't know this concept of matrescence. When I started reading about it, it was, yeah, that's the period I'm going through."
The discovery was both illuminating and frustrating.
"It makes so much sense. And also at the same time I was so angry that I didn’t already have this information!"
For Romina, giving this experience a name has opened up new possibilities for understanding motherhood, particularly the invisible work that sustains families and communities.
"I hope that with this show, we create some awareness about how important care work is. We keep societies alive, basically. And it's invisible."
Finding a theatrical language at The Hannah
This November, Romina returns to The Hannah, this time as the creator of her own work. Her first solo show will bring together journal writing, interviews, anonymous testimonies and research, as she explores how these stories might come alive on stage.
The development residency will be an opportunity to experiment with audiovisual elements, recorded voices and physical design, including knitted pieces created with the help of Romina's Latino community.
"We will use the space to try to find the language that we want to create with this show."
The residency will culminate in a special work-in-development showing, followed by an informal audience conversation. For Romina, this exchange is an important part of the creative process, particularly because she wants the work to resonate beyond those who have experienced motherhood themselves.
"It's not just about mothers. It's not just for mothers. I would love to have a lot of men in the audience as well."
She hopes the work will spark wider conversations about care, identity and what it means to raise a family, particularly when familiar networks of support are far away.
Audience reflections will help shape the next stage of development, ahead of a planned premiere at BATS during Wellington Fringe.
For now, MATRESCENCE remains a work in progress, and that's precisely what makes this showing special. At The Hannah, audiences have a rare opportunity to witness a new theatre work finding its form — and to contribute to the conversation shaping what it might become.
MATRESCENCE — Work in Development Showing | Saturday 28 November, 7:30pm
Join Romina Meneses at The Hannah Playhouse for a special development showing of MATRESCENCE, followed by an informal audience Q&A.