His career proved a stellar one from early on. In 1998 he picked up awards for Best New Play ("Bare") and Best New Playwright at the Chapman Tripp theatre awards. Toa received invaluable assistance from Michael Robinson who workshopped the play through many drafts before directing it at The Silo theatre in Auckland. The two-hander saw Ian Hughes and Madeleine Sami playing an array of 15 characters. "Metro" magazine called it "an instant classic". In 1999 he won the Sunday Star Times Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. The play toured internationally and enjoyed a sell out season at the Sydney Opera House.