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Why are so many people drawn to Dominion Rd? The Auckland Arts Festival gives you a chance to find out with Dominion Rd Stories, a special programme of performance events in conjunction with Auckland Theatre Company. Renee Liang talks to the producers of one of the shows, Walk Eat Talk.

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Dominion Road – so many songs and stories have been written about  this one iconic Auckland street.  Long before I moved to a house on this (long) road, I’ve gone to eat and shop there, enjoying the busy international vibe and the feeling that this is one place where people from many varied backgrounds can feel at home. This year the Auckland Theatre Company – who also call Dominion Rd home – are running a series of performance encounters called Dominion Rd Stories.  One of these is Walk Eat Talk, a promenade piece that utilises the street, its many businesses and most importantly its yummy food.  I spoke to producers Yee Yang “Square” Lee (for The Oryza Foundation) and Owen Hughes (for Neko Theatre Company) about the piece.

What's your connection to Dominion Rd?

Square: In my first few years of arriving in Auckland, I often missed and craved the 24-7 availability and variety of food in my hometown of Kuala Lumpur. Being the night owl that I am, I lamented that after 10pm, so few options were available in Auckland. Then I got introduced to Dominion Road and it's melange of tasty, affordable and interesting restaurants that operated the hours I prefer to operate. I've been coming back ever since; even more so now that I live in Sandringham!

Owen Hughes: It's hard to avoid if you have an appetite for the variety of Auckland. It has the best video shop, the most adaptable car and van rental company, a really comfortable cinema with free parking, a host of ethnic restaurants, the chattiest second-hand bookshop owner, a health centre you can get into easily and an undertaker. Its length ensures you can be catered for throughout life.

Why (in your opinion) have so many artists, writers and musicians used Dominion Rd as inspiration?

SQ: Dom Rd has an amazingly rich and surprising history that would appeal to any interested creative. Since the mid-19th century, nearly every passing decade has revealed a different side of Dom Rd. I love Dom Rd as it is today, but I am very curious as to what it will evolve to in the coming decades. The 2011 Massey University Report Half Way House: The Dominion Road Ethnic Precinct has an excellent account of Dom Rd's history, particularly the Balmoral Precinct, where our project Walk Eat Talk takes place.

OH: See above it offers a cornucopia of experience to take one from womb to tomb.

How does Dominion Rd Stories and your show, Walk Eat Talk, add to that tradition?

OH: WET adds some illumination to the misunderstood notion of multiculturalism and any indigestible elements are helped down with dumplings.

SQ: Dom Rd Stories adds to that tradition by celebrating its histories, diversity and vibrancy.

How did you become involved with the ATC, and this collection of pieces?

SQ & OH: It arose after Neko Theatre Company (Yuri Kinugawa & Owen Hughes) received interest from Auckland Festival last year to pitch a similar concept based on walking the length of Queen St, with a focus on its migratory histories and cultural connections. Unfortunately we were pipped at the post by En Route (which is bound to be a fabulous experience, and more than worthy competition!). Soon after, Auckland Theatre Company  approached Square/The Oryza Foundation about any ideas for Dom Rd Stories and together, we proposed the original pitch be adapted for the Balmoral Precinct. We are Line Producing this portion of Dom Rd Stories for Auckland Theatre Company.

Tell me about your piece with Yuri Kinugawa, Walk Eat Talk.

OH: A headset guided tour of the Balmoral precinct, up, down and behind the scenes with unexpected encounters.

SQ: It is exactly that - we invite our audiences to Walk, Eat, Talk, to go on a journey of discovery, to learn about and navigate the local neighbourhood, businesses and community, in a fun and unique way.

Can you reveal some details about how you are making this happen?

OH: Yuri has walked the walk and talked the talk. Been up and down Balmoral countless times and interviewed proprietors with the aid of an interpreter. Then a bundle of research - historical, architectural and social - and a draft commentary was written. The concept involves a mix of real and set up encounters with any distinction being completely blurred for the audience. This was tested over and over, refined and then put into a limited production with 3 performances in November. Further interviews and refinements have now happened as a consequence of feedback.

SQ: Alongside the hard work that Yuri, Owen, Sums and the wonderful Participate Team at ATC have put into the project to make it happen, I would like to acknowledge the overwhelming support and dedication from the over 50 participants we have on the project, most of whom are volunteering their time and energy, plus the generosity of the local businesses in the precinct.

Is Dominion Rd a microcosm of Auckland?

OH: It could be but it is also in the vanguard of change. The effects of the changes in immigration policy over the last 15 years appear most dramatically here. The tensions, strivings and aspirations of migrants are played out in the commercial, public and social life of the inhabitants and visitors.

Dominion Rd offers one version of the future. Will that route be taken?

SQ: Yes and no, I suppose. It is a concentration of particular communities who have inherited it from previous, other, communities. Generally speaking, it reflects the multi-culturalism that defines Auckland today, yet it is bound to change again with time, perhaps along with Auckland as it changes, or maybe despite it.

Can you reveal some of Oryza's upcoming projects?

SQ: Next up for The Oryza Foundation is another collaboration with Neko Theatre Company, teaming up with Q via its Q Presents programme, to present Red Demon by Hideki Noda at Q Loft in August 2013. Red Demon is an entertaining allegory about difference in a globalised world; a perfect Auckland Central production in the beating heart of what has been called the "Asian Invasion". We're honoured to work with Yuri Kinugawa again as Director for the Antipodean premiere of Red Demon, which has had successful seasons in Tokyo, London, Bangkok and Seoul. Other than that, we've got a few other ideas brewing... :) We're also quietly excited about the evolution of one of the 10-minute plays from our 2009 production Asian Tales: Native Alienz, which is expected to return to the stage as a full-length production in early 2014...

• The Auckland Arts Festival 2013 is on from 6 to 24 March