Career
He has a recurring role as Doctor Henry Mapasua on Shortland Street. Rodger"s father is from the village of Iva from Savai"i island in Samoa. Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007), produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva, Anapela Polataivao, Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
Erotic, funny and full of machete-sharp dialogue, one of our most daring contemporary playwrights offers a new insight into the steamy side of Paradise.
Sian Robertson, Theatreview, 2007. Rodger was born in Christchurch.
In 1995, Rodger entered Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in Wellington and graduated two years later. In 1997, his play Cunning Stunts was performed at Bats Theatre in Wellington.
He gained the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers’ Residency (2006) based at the University of Hawai"i.
During 2004-2005, he studied film writing at the Maurits Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. In 2009, he was the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence in Christchurch. He is the 2016 Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago.
His play Ranterstantrum (2002) was commissioned for the bi-ennial New Zealand International Festival of the Arts.
He is also a writer and a storyliner for television soap Shortland Street. His acting roles include Stickmen (2001), Mercy Peak and a recurring role on Shortland Street as Doctor Henry Mapasua.
2008 Sons: Huia Publishers, 128 pages.,
2012 My Name Is Gary Cooper, published in Urbanesia: Four Pasifika Plays: Playmarket Play Series.
