Every Duffy kid has a favourite part of the school year. For Caleb Teaupa, growing up in Wellsford, it was always the same one “I remember loving the Duffy shows.”

He remembers the excitement of sitting down with his friends to watch the show. He didn’t know it then, but that feeling would end up shaping where his own story went.

A full circle moment

Caleb finished training at Toi Whakaāri and the first job he landed was with Duffy Theatre.

The same show he grew up watching. This time, he was in it.

“(It was a) full circle moment being Duffy,” he says.

Caleb spent the year touring the country, performing for children in the same halls he once sat in himself. “I got to travel the country and perform for children, just like myself when I was a little boy. So yeah, it was very special, very special.”

Reading never left the stage

Ask Caleb what reading has to do with acting, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“Being an actor, reading is extremely important.”

Every script he’s handed must be read, then read again. Understanding a character means understanding why a line is written the way it is, what it means for the story, and what it means for his performance. It’s comprehension and critical thinking, the same skills tamariki are building every time they open a book in class.

And memorising a script isn’t only about repetition. Caleb talks about getting outside, moving through different environments, feeling the words in his body as much as his head. It’s the same instinct Duffy Theatre is built on: stories land harder when you don’t just read them, you experience them.

What’s at stake

Reading isn’t an extra for Caleb and he is direct about what happens when kids don’t get that chance.

“It breaks my heart. It makes it a lot harder for them to get by.”

Reading is tied to basic life skills, the ones adults rely on every day without thinking, from an email to a script. For Caleb, Duffy Theatre is one of the ways tamariki get to see that stories matter.

Watch Caleb’s story