Lisa Warrington
Lisa Warrington | |
---|---|
![]() Warrington, c. 1994 | |
Born | Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington (1952-02-14) 14 February 1952 (age 72) England |
Occupation | Theatre studies lecturer |
Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award, Dunedin Theatre Awards 2014 New Zealand Listener Best Director award 2004, 2005, 2007 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Tasmania |
Thesis | Allan Wilkie in Australia: The work of a Shakespearean actor-manager (1981) |
Academic work | |
Notable works | Theatre Aotearoa database |
Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington ONZM (born 14 February 1952) is a New Zealand theatre studies academic, director, actor and author. She has directed more than 130 productions, and established the Theatre Aotearoa database. In 2014 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Dunedin Theatre Awards, and was three times winner of a New Zealand Listener Best Director award, including one for Tom Scott's The Daylight Atheist.
Early life and education
Warrington was born in 1952, and spent much of her early life in England, Nigeria, and Australia. She is of English and Polish descent, her parents Jozef and Patricia (née McLean) having changed their surname to Warrington from Wawrzynczak. Her sister is Australian actress, songwriter and author Carmen Warrington (b. 1957); her brother Jan was a Multicultural Arts Officer and lighting designer based in Canberra (d. 2008).[1][2]
Warrington obtained a BA (Hons) from the University of Tasmania in 1973, with a thesis titled Dunbar, the concise artist: a study of aspects of language, structure and imagery in his poetry.[3] In 1981 she followed this with an MA, also at the University of Tasmania, titled Allan Wilkie in Australia: the work of a Shakespearean actor-manager.[4]
Career
Warrington taught at the University of Tasmania[5] before being appointed as the William Evans Lecturer at the University of Otago in 1981. She initially had 30 students and was the University's only drama lecturer, with only three others in the entire country.[5] In 1990, she led the introduction of a directing programme to the University of Otago's Theatre Studies programme.[6][7] From 2011 she was appointed as Associate Professor there.[8]
Warrington is also responsible for the front door of the Allen Hall Theatre being painted red.[5]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Allen_Hall_Dunedin_01_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Allen_Hall_Dunedin_01_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Many of Warrington's academic publications deal with indigenous theatre in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly Māori as well as Pasifika practitioners and productions. With David O'Donnell, Warrington wrote Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa, a book based on interviews with practitioners over the course of seven years that, among other things, catalogues Pasifika theatre from 1984 to 2014. The book's title comes from an interview with Samoan playwright and filmmaker Makerita Urale.[9]
Warrington, a co-founder of Wow! Productions,[5] directed more than 35 productions at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre,[5] and was Acting Artistic Director of the Fortune for the latter part of 1985.[10] She was then Associate Director of the Fortune from 1985 to 1991.[7] She has directed more than 130 productions in total, including many for Wow! Productions.[11]
Warrington retired from the University of Otago on 30 June 2018, after 37 years of teaching, although she continues to work freelance and to maintain the Theatre Aotearoa database.[5][12] Warrington began the database in 2004, and as of July 2021 it contained details on 17,156 New Zealand theatre productions in New Zealand and overseas.[11][13] Her goal for the database is for it to cover all theatre productions in New Zealand from 1840 onwards.[12]
Selected productions
- Directions, directed by Lisa Warrington and Rawiri Paratene, written by Paratene, Fortune Theatre, 1981. This was the Fortune Theatre's inaugural Youth Theatre Workshop.[13]
- The Cherry Orchard, directed by Lisa Warrington, with a cast consisting of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School students, including Cliff Curtis and Michael Galvin.[5]
- When I was a girl, I used to scream and shout, by Sharman Macdonald, directed by Lisa Warrington. Circa Theatre, Wellington, 20 January 1989[14]
- Nga Puke, by John Broughton, directed by Lisa Warrington, part of Te Rakau Hua o te Wao Tapu: Contemporary Māori performing arts, at Depot Theatre, Wellington, Feb–April 1990[15]
- Kaz: A Working Girl by Leah Poulter (Premiere. Fortune Theatre, Theatre Corporate Auckland and National Library Wellington, 1990). Starring Miranda Harcourt.[11][16]
- Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1998[17]
- Bruised, by Richard Huber, directed by Lisa Warrington, presented by GetON Productions and Allen Hall Theatre. Acted by Edwin Wright. BATS Theatre, Wellington, 3–14 April; Silo Theatre, Auckland, 19–27 April 2001[18]
- Lines of Fire by Gary Henderson, script commissioned by Wow! Productions, performed at the Dunedin Railway Station in 2006.[19] Warrington later wrote about the staging of the play.[20]
- Four Flat Whites in Italy, by Roger Hall, at the Fortune Theatre, 2009.[21]
- As You Like It, directed by Lisa Warrington, by Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School third year students, at Basement Theatre, Te Whaea, Wellington, June 2014[22]
- Farley's Arcade (2015), a site specific historical promenade theatre event, at the Athenaeum, co-created with Richard Huber, Rua McCallum, Gareth McMillan, Martyn Roberts, and co-directed, Wow! Productions.[23]
- The End of the Golden Weather by Bruce Mason, featuring Matt Wilson, at Macandrew Bay Hall, Port Chalmers Library, Pioneer Women’s Hall, Oamaru Grainstore Gallery, and other locations in Mosgiel, Waitati and Dunedin, 2020.[24] Reviewer Terry MacTavish said "One of the country’s leading directors, Lisa Warrington, shows her customary finesse... ...[a] luminous, compassionate production."[25]
Selected publications
- Lisa Warrington; Alison Finigan (2014). Allen Hall 100 Years, 100+ Voices. Dunedin: Otago University Press. ISBN 978-0-473-29737-4. Wikidata Q107271268.
- Lisa Warrington; David O'Donnell (2017). Floating Islanders: Pacifika Theatre in Aotearoa. Dunedin: Otago University Press. ISBN 978-1-98-853107-6. OL 51036666M. Wikidata Q106816829.
- Christine Prentice; Lisa Warrington (1996). Playlunch: five short New Zealand plays. Dunedin: Otago University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-877133-01-5. OCLC 35668882. OL 779095M. Wikidata Q107437200. (Second edition, updated, published in 2012)[26]
- Lisa Warrington (21 July 2011). "Performance as palimpsest: Leaving a trace memory in site-specific performance". Scrapbooks, Snapshots and Memorabilia: Hidden Archives of Performance. Wikidata Q107437872.
- Lisa Warrington (2014). "Unfolding the cloth: Patterns of landscape and identity in The Conch's Masi". Enacting Nature: Ecocritical Perspectives on Indigenous Performance: 262. Wikidata Q107437905.
- Lisa Warrington (2007). Telling Pākehā stories. p. 466. ISBN 978-90-5201-359-6. ISSN 1376-3199. Wikidata Q107437908.
{{cite book}}
:|journal=
ignored (help) - Lisa Warrington (2007). We want to create work that's beautiful, funny, sad and true. p. 466. ISBN 978-90-5201-359-6. ISSN 1376-3199. Wikidata Q107437916.
{{cite book}}
:|journal=
ignored (help) - Lisa Warrington (5 November 2013). ""Generally Regarded with a Lenient Eye": Amateur Theatre in Dunedin, 1862-1868". Journal of New Zealand Studies (15). doi:10.26686/JNZS.V0I15.2012. ISSN 1173-6348. Wikidata Q107437788.
- Lisa Warrington (April 2011). "A Bit of Water and Elbow Grease: Cleaning as a Motif in New Zealand Drama". Australasian Drama Studies. ISSN 0810-4123. Wikidata Q107437791.
- Lisa Warrington (2014). "Acting the Moor: Critical response to performances of Othello in Australia and New Zealand 1834 - 1866". Australian Studies. ISSN 0954-0954. Wikidata Q107437787.
Honours and awards
Warrington was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dunedin Theatre Awards in 2014.[27] The same year she was awarded a New Zealand Theatre Services honour medal.[28] Warrington has been created a Life Member of the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies.[29]
She received a New Zealand Listener Best Director award three times:
- 2007 for The Road To Mecca
- 2005 for Auntie and Me
- 2004 for The Daylight Atheist and Cherish[11]
In 2018, Warrington won the Rob Jordan Book Prize, awarded by the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies, for Floating Islanders (joint award with David O'Donnell).[30]
In the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours, Warrington was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to theatre and educatio.[31]
See also
- Hilary Halba – New Zealand actor, theatre director and academic
References
- ^ "Her story Archived 19 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine," Carmen Warrington: Calm and creative. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "Carmen Warrington Books". www.hachette.com.au. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Warrington, Lisa J (1973). Dunbar: the concise artist : a study of aspects of language, structure and imagery in his poetry (Thesis). OCLC 857719669. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ Warrington, Lisa Jadwiga Valentina (1981). Allan Wilkie in Australia: The work of a Shakespearean actor-manager (Thesis). Hobart. OCLC 1178545822. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g McPhee, Elena (13 July 2018). "Stage of life for taking pride in dramatic direction". Otago Daily Times Online News. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ Alison Clarke (2018). Otago : 150 years of New Zealand's first university. Dunedin: Otago University Press. ISBN 978-1-98-853133-5. OL 29404941M. Wikidata Q107426622.
- ^ a b Lisa Warrington; Alison Finigan (2014). Allen Hall 100 Years, 100+ Voices. Dunedin: Otago University Press. ISBN 978-0-473-29737-4. Wikidata Q107271268.
- ^ University of Otago (3 December 2010). "Otago academics made full professor". www.scoop.co.nz. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ Fox, Rebecca (1 February 2018). "Pasifika passion". Otago Daily Times Online News. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ Fortune Theatre Trust (2004). A Celebration of 30 Years Live Professional Theatre: the Fortune Theatre Dunedin New Zealand 1974–2004. Dunedin, NZ: Fortune Theatre Trust Board. p. 7.
- ^ a b c d School of Performing Arts. "Lisa Warrington". www.otago.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ^ a b "Her life in art: Lisa Warrington". The Big Idea. 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ a b "Theatre Aotearoa". tadb.otago.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "ATL: Unpublished Collections". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ "ATL: Unpublished Collections". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ Beresford, Rosemary (11 January 1986). "A room with no future". NZ Listener. p. 38.
- ^ "Past Shows | Wow Productions". Wow Productions | Premiere Dunedin Theatre. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
- ^ "ATL: Unpublished Collections". tiaki.natlib.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ Frame, Barbara (6 October 2006). "Railway setting transports audience". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ "Playing with Fire. Staging Lines of Fire: A Site-specific Project". scholar.google.co.nz. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Frame, Barbara (16 November 2009). "Discordant quartet in Italy". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ "Muddled approach to the golden world". Stuff. 19 June 2014. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ "FARLEY'S ARCADE: The Wildest Place in Town – Visceral, entertaining, indescribable". www.theatreview.org.nz. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ "PRODUCTION INFORMATION: THE END OF THE GOLDEN WEATHER". www.theatreview.org.nz. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
- ^ MacTavish, Terry (9 November 2020). "THE END OF THE GOLDEN WEATHER – A luminous, compassionate production". www.theatreview.org.nz. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
- ^ Otago University Press. "Playlunch: Five Short New Zealand Plays". University of Otago. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
- ^ "AWARD WINNERS FOR 2014 DUNEDIN THEATRE AWARDS". www.theatreview.org.nz. 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ McAvinue, Shawn (17 December 2014). "Theatre puts on its own awards". Otago Daily Times Online News. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ "ADSAHistory". www.adsa.edu.au. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
- ^ "2018 Joint Winners Rob Jordan Prize". Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "King's Birthday Honours 2024: The full list of all recipients". The New Zealand Herald. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
External links
- Warrington's Google Scholar profile
- Theatre Aotearoa database