Gary Henderson

Phone: 04 463 6854
Fax: 04 463 6865
Email: modernletters@vuw.ac.nz

Gary convenes CREW 353 Writing for Theatre | He Tuhinga Whakaari.

About

He is a playwright, theatre director and highly-regarded teacher of writing for theatre, based in Oratia, West Auckland. His work has been published by Playmarket in New Zealand and Bloomsbury Methuen Drama in London.

Gary's plays have won numerous awards and been professionally produced around New Zealand, in South Africa, Australia, Great Britain, Canada and the United States. He has also directed the work of other New Zealand playwrights and mentored many emerging writers in the development of their scripts. He was the 2013 recipient of the Playmarket Award in recognition of his significant artistic contribution to New Zealand theatre.

In 2015 Gary directed the premiere of his new sci-fi thriller Shepherd at The Court Theatre in Christchurch, and later that year his play Stealing Games was toured throughout NZ by Capital E National Theatre for Children.

In 2016 a French translation by Xavier Mailleux of his classic play Skin Tight (Te Tenir Contre Moi) was produced by Théâtre L'Instant in Montreal, and in 2017 a largely Te Reo Māori version of Mo & Jess Kill Susie(E Kore A Muri E Hokia) was created and toured by Ruia Taitea Creative.

In 2016 and 2017 Gary worked as dramaturge with Red Leap Theatre on their development of Kororāreka: The Ballad of Maggie Flynn by Paolo Rotondo. Also in 2017 Gary was dramaturge for two new scripts in Te Pou Theatre's Koanga Festival, and his own play An Unseasonable Fall of Snow played at the Actors Pulse Studio in Sydney.

His other plays include Home Land, Peninsula, and Lines of Fire - a site-specific work performed in the Dunedin Railway Station - and for radio The Moehau and News Bomb. He also collaborated with percussionist Chris O'Connor, NZTrio and Auckland's Massive Company to create My Bed My Universe.

The August 2021 premier of The Things That Matter - Gary's adaptation of Dr David Galler's best-selling memoir about the New Zealand healthcare system, commissioned by the Auckland Theatre Company - was postponed due to a change in COVID alert levels.

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Course information

Read more about CREW 353 Writing for Theatre | He Tuhinga Whakaari, including timetable and fee information and a downloadable course flier.