Lorae Parry

Lorae Parry
MNZM
Born1955
Sydney, Australia
EducationDiploma in Acting, Toi Whakaari, New Zealand Drama School, MA in Scriptwriting, Victoria University of Wellington
Known forplaywriting, performance
Notable workEugenia, 1996
StyleParry's plays often explore sexuality, gender, and class systems.

Lorae Ann Parry MNZM is a New Zealand playwright and actor.[1]

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.

The Witch Project (2019) featuring Parry

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

Honours and awards

References

  1. ^ Forster, Michelanne; Plumb, Vivienne (2013). Twenty New Zealand Playwrights. Wellington: Playmarket. ISBN 9780908607471.
  2. ^ "Graduate". www.toiwhakaari.ac.nz. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b Routledge international encyclopedia of queer culture. Gerstner, David A., 1963-. London: Routledge. 2006. ISBN 9780415306515. OCLC 62475216.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ "Lorae, Parry". New Zealand Book Council. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  5. ^ a b c Carnegie, David (1 January 2005), "Parry, Lorae", The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001, ISBN 9780198601746, retrieved 8 October 2019
  6. ^ Edmond, Murray (2004). "How gothic is s/he? Three New Zealand dramas". Australasian Drama Studies. 44: 113–129, 149. ProQuest 763426985.
  7. ^ "Parry, Lorae". Read NZ. January 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Crows Feets Dance - C is for Climate Change". DANZ. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  9. ^ "The Witch Project". The Big Idea. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  10. ^ "WRITING WELLINGTON: TWENTY YEARS OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY WRITING FELLOWS". NZETC. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  11. ^ Parry, Lorae (1993). Frontwomen. Wellington, N.Z.: Women's Play Press. p. 71. ISBN 0473021714.
  12. ^ Parry, Lorae (1994). Cracks. Wellington, N.Z.: Women's Play Press. p. 76. ISBN 0473021714.
  13. ^ parry, Lorae (1996). Eugenia. Wellington, [N.Z.]: Victoria University Press. p. 86. ISBN 0864733046.
  14. ^ Parry, Lorae (2002). Vagabonds. Wellington [N.Z.]: Victoria University Press in association with Women's Play Press. p. 92. ISBN 0864734352.
  15. ^ Parry, Lorae (2010). Bloomsbury women & the wild colonial girl. Wellington, N.Z.: Women's Play Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780958231015.
  16. ^ Birch, Dinah; Drable, Margaret (2009). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. New York: Oxford University. ISBN 9780192806871.
  17. ^ "New Year honours list 2004". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2003. Retrieved 15 February 2020.