Lorae Parry
New Zealand playwright and actor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lorae Ann Parry MNZM (born 1955) is an Australian-born New Zealand playwright and actress.[1]
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Lorae Parry | |
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| Born | 1955 (age 70–71) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Education | Diploma in Acting, Toi Whakaari, New Zealand Drama School, MA in Scriptwriting, Victoria University of Wellington |
| Known for | playwriting, performance |
| Notable work | Eugenia, 1996 |
| Style | Parry's plays often explore sexuality, gender, and class systems. |
Biography and education
She was born in 1955 in Sydney, Australia and in 1970 moved to New Zealand. Parry has two qualifications, a Diploma in Acting from Toi Whakaari, the national New Zealand Drama School in 1976,[2][3] and a Master in Scriptwriting from Victoria University of Wellington.
Career
A noted feminist playwright, Parry's plays often explore sexuality, gender, and class systems.[4] Her first plays, Strip, and Frontwomen, used a combination of realism and humor to promote empowerment of women and more acceptance of lesbianism.[5] The play Frontwomen was a breakthrough in history when it was the first lesbian play performed in New Zealand.[3] However, her most influential play, Eugenia, was published in 1996 and explored the nature of sexuality and gender, as well as challenging social traditions around females.[5] Eugenia is noted for its mixing of the magical and supernatural with the true historical figure Eugene Falleni, an Italian-Australian transgender man convicted of the 1917 murder of his first wife.[6] Parry constantly focuses on empowering women through theatre and through her plays, she focuses on the importance of women's lives.[7] She continues to be active in women's issues through play publishing and theatre.[5]
Parry is a performer including being part of the Crows Feet Dance Collective, a dance company for women with a lowest age limit of 40 years.[8][9] She is known for her stage impersonation of former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark.[10]
Plays
- (1986) Strip
Season of Scarlet and Gold at Circa Theatre in 2016 - (1992) Digger & Nudger Try Harder, co-written by Carmel McGlone
- (1993) Frontwomen[11]
- (1994) Cracks[12]
- (1996) Eugenia[13]
- (2002) Vagabonds[14]
- (2003) The Truth About Loven, co-written by Pinky Agnew
- (2006) The Candidates, co-written Pinky Agnew
- (2008) Kate & Mrs Jones
- (2010) Bloomsbury Women & The Wild Colonial Girl[15]
- (2010) Sex Drive, co-written by Pinky Agnew
- (2014) Destination Beehive, co-written by Pinky Agnew
- (2016) Scarlet & Gold
Film
- (1988) Send a Gorilla as Sender of revenge gram
Honours and awards
- 1994 – Awarded Stout Fellowship, Victoria University of Wellington
- 1995 – The Reader's Digest PEN Stout Research Centre Fellowship
- 1998 – Writer in Residence, Victoria University of Wellington.[16] Parry was the first female playwright to achieve this award.
- 2004 – Appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the performing arts, in the 2004 New Year Honours[17]