[6] As both script-writer and workshop facilitator, Pearse-Otene has in-depth experience of applying ensemble movement and chorus to the work of Te Rākau as well as integrating waiata and kapa haka, through "Marae Theatre".
[6] Although the work of Te Rākau uses marae features such as pōwhiri, it is performed in a range of venues: kāinga, schools, prisons, youth justice residential and community centres, as well as mainstream theatres throughout New Zealand.
[7] As an actor, Pearse-Otene played Faith in 1981 by John Broughton, a production directed by Toni Waho at Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North.
[8] The following year Pearse-Otene performed in Duty Free by Ngarupiki Reid, directed by Tanea Heke, which had a fortnight season at BATS Theatre.
[6] The Undertow involves a 180 year journey through six generations of one Wellington-based family in a quartet of plays: The Ragged, Dog & Bone, Public Works and The Landeaters.
[6] Pearse-Otene carried out extensive research for the play including settlers’ and Armed Constabulary diaries, newspaper articles, and ngā kupu tuku iho (oral histories) of local iwi.
2002 – Te Waka Toi o Ngati Toa was a youth project for a large cast focussing on themes of abandonment, violence, sexual abuse and addiction through 18 scripted sequences, rap, breakdancing and beat-boxing as well as traditional haka and waiata.