[1] Hoar was born in New Plymouth and educated at James Cook High School, Manurewa, and the University of Auckland.
In 1986, his first play, Squatter, was chosen for Playmarket's National Playwrights Workshop, was produced at Mercury Theatre in 1987, and published in 1988.
[2][1] Influenced by Brecht, Squatter explored the dismantling of New Zealand's large land holdings by the Liberal government of the 1890s.
[2] In 1993, Hoar received the Robert Burns Fellowship, and during his residence in Dunedin he wrote Not So Poor (produced at the Allen Hall Theatre), based on Mary Isabella Lee's autobiography,[4] and Yo Banfa, about Rewi Alley's time in China, as well as a radio play and research for his novel Hard Light.
[1] His most recent play, Rendered, produced by the Auckland Theatre Company in 2018, deals with New Zealand's involvement in the politics of the Middle East.