Jan Bolwell | |
---|---|
![]() in 2020 | |
Born | 1949 |
Nationality | New Zealand |
Education | Columba College and the University of Otago |
Occupation | academic |
Employer | Dunedin College of Education then Wellington College of Education |
Known for | dance and theatre |
Jan Patricia Bolwell ONZM (born 1949) is a Wellington-based New Zealand playwright, choreographer, director, dancer and teacher of dance. She established the Crows Feet Dance Collective in 1999 and remains its director. [1]
Bolwell was born on the South Island in Oamaru but grew up in Dunedin where she was educated at Columba College. She then completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Otago, majoring in history. [1]
Having set up and run the dance curriculum for the Dunedin College of Education she was promoted to senior lecturer, before moving to the Wellington College of Education as head of performing arts from 1987 to 1997. [1]
In 2018 she directed Kate JasonSmith in I'll Tell You This For Nothing: My mother the war hero, a play written by JasonSmith about her mother's experiences in World War II, performed at BATS Theatre in Wellington. [2]
In 1995, with Sunny Amey and Keri Kaa, she won Production of the Year in the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for Takitoru. [3]
Bolwell was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for "service to dance and theatre" in the 2020 New Years Honours. [4]
The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards were the main theatre awards in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, from 1992–2014, and have been succeeded by the Wellington Theatre Awards.
Victor John Rodger is a New Zealand journalist, actor and award-winning playwright of Samoan and Pākehā heritage. Rodger's play Sons won acclaim at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards (1998) and received the Best New Writer and Most Outstanding New New Zealand Play awards. In 2001, he won the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Other plays include Ranterstantrum (2002) and My Name is Gary Cooper (2007), produced and staged by Auckland Theatre Company and starred a Samoan cast including Robbie Magasiva, Anapela Polataivao, Goretti Chadwick and Kiwi actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
Rangimoana Taylor is an actor, theatre director, storyteller from New Zealand with more than 35 years in the industry. He has performed nationally and internationally and was the lead in the feature film Hook Line and Sinker (2011). He was an intrinsic part of three Māori theatre companies, Te Ohu Whakaari and Taki Rua in Wellington and Kilimogo Productions in Dunedin.
Stephen Sinclair is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the co-author of stage comedy Ladies Night. In 2001, the French version won the Molière Award for stage comedy of the year. Other plays include The Bellbird and The Bach, both of which are prescribed texts for Drama Studies in New Zealand secondary schools.
Shona Katrine MacTavish was a New Zealand dancer, teacher, author, choreographer and pioneer in liturgical dance in the Asia-Pacific. She was known as "the mother of modern dance in New Zealand".
Emily Tess Duncan is a New Zealand playwright. She is co-founder of Prospect Park Productions, an organisation aiming “to create and produce original New Zealand theatre and collaborative projects that reach into other art forms." Duncan held the 2019 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She lives in Dunedin.
Terry Isobel MacTavish is an actor and teacher from Dunedin, New Zealand.
Olive Frances Smithells was a New Zealand dancer and health instructor.
Shona Margaret McCullagh is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer, filmmaker and artistic director. McCullagh was the founding director of the New Zealand Dance Company and was appointed artistic director of the Auckland Festival in 2019.
Massive Theatre Company, also called Massive or Massive Company, is a professional theatre company in Auckland, New Zealand.
The PlayhouseTheatre is a theatre in Dunedin, New Zealand. It was converted from a lodge into a 100-seat theatre by the Southern Comedy Players in 1962. Since the late 1960s it has been home to the Dunedin Repertory Society, who regularly perform youth productions for children.
Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington 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.
Louise Durant Petherbridge, is a New Zealand actor, director, deviser, producer and lecturer.
Lara Macgregor is an actor, director, dramaturg, photographer and performance coach in New Zealand.
Wow! Productions is a professional theatre co-operative based in Dunedin, New Zealand. They produce theatre in non-theatre spaces, described by one reviewer as "weird and wonderful venues".
Catherine Patricia Downes is a New Zealand theatre director, actor, dramaturg and playwright. Of Māori descent, she affiliates to Ngāi Tahu. Downes wrote a one-woman play The Case of Katherine Mansfield, which she has performed more than 1000 times in six countries over twenty years. She has been the artistic director of the Court Theatre in Christchurch and the director of Downstage Theatre in Wellington. She lives on Waiheke Island and works as a freelance actor, director and playwright.
Miriama McDowell is a New Zealand actor, director and playwright. She is a graduate of Toi Whakaari.
Louise Mary Potiki Bryant is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer and video artist. She has choreographed a number of award-winning performances, and is a founding member of Atamira Dance Company. She designs, produces and edits videos of performances for music videos, dance films and video art installations. She was made an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate in 2019.
Cat Ruka is a New Zealand dancer, choreographer, performance director and arts manager. She affiliates to the Ngāpuhi and Waitaha iwi.
David John O'Donnell is a theatre director, actor and academic based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has been a full professor at Victoria University of Wellington since 2019.