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Michelanne Forster

MICHELANNE FORSTER

  (1953 - )
Nationality:    New Zealander
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Playmarket Inc  

Michelanne began her career as a script editor/writer for Television New Zealand in the Children and Young Person's Department. She has amassed a body of work that includes short stories, children's television scripts, prize-winning plays and five books for children and one work of non-fiction. Her plays have been performed professionally by Theatre companies throughout New Zealand, and in Australia, Canada and the United States. In 2010 she premiered three new works: Tic Tic, a one-man show about Tourette Syndrome (International Comedy Festival, auckland), Don't Mention Casablanca (Court Theatre, Christchurch), and the Secret of Dongting Lake (the edge, auckland). She is currently working with composer Anthony Ritchie on a new opera for the Southern Opera Company. Michelanne teaches Creative Writing courses for Continuing education at auckland University and is on the board of the New Zealand Writer's Guild.

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below is a list of Michelanne Forster's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Always My Sister         Butcher And the Bear, The         Daughters Of Heaven         Don't Mention Casablanca         Dream Romance, A         Lanarch - Castle Of Lies         My Heart Is Bathed In Blood         Other Eden, The         Rosenberg Sisters, The         Secret Of Dongting Lake, The         Songs My Mother Taught Me         Tic Tac

Always My Sister

Synopsis:
Auckland 1847. A land of opportunity. Caught in a web of violence. Always My Sister tells the true story of Margaret Reardon, through the eyes of her sister Sophia Aldwell. Reardon, an Irish immigrant, unwillingly found herself in the middle of one of early Auckland's most notorious crimes, the 1847 triple murder at Devonport of Lieutenant Robert Snow, his wife, and child, by Margaret's common law husband, Joseph Burns. Joseph Burns was publicly hanged for his crimes on the Devonport foreshore, having travelled by cart down Queen Street sitting in his coffin, and then taken across the harbour. The case provided many firsts: Reardon was the first and only NZ woman to receive and serve the sentence of transportation to Van Diemen's Land, whilst Burns was the first Pakeha to be hanged in New Zealand. - http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/production.php?id=3978

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Basement Studio, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland    11 Jun 2014

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Butcher And the Bear, The

Synopsis:
When Bear's friend Bird hurts her wing, he must go to the village to find her some medicine. But Bird knows the Village Butcher is just waiting for his chance to get his hands on her friend. Will Bear find the medicine for Bird before the Butcher finds him? Gather your family and join a brave but bumbling bear, his best friend bird, a wise gypsy, a greedy butcher (a.k.a bear safety officer!) and a live gypsy band in a show packed with daring rescues, dangerous traps, magic, music and dancing. Set in the Waitakare Ranges, the hilarious and magical story is a contemporary New Zealand twist on a traditional Tale from the alpine Villages of Germany. the Butcher and the Bear is a fable of friendship, staying true to your word and sticking together through thick and thin.
- www.theatreview.org.nz

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, the edge, Auckland    08 Oct 2011

Organisations:
Time Out Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Folk Tale

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Daughters Of Heaven

Synopsis:
Two teenage girls conspire to murder the mother of one of them. Based on the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder, this script explores the breakdown of one moral universe and its replacement with another that is potent, powerful and, ultimately, tragic.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Victoria Press, 1992   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Don't Mention Casablanca

Synopsis:
DON'T MeNTION CaSaBLaNCa is playwright Michelanne Forster's powerful true story of the explosive love affair between her Jewish grandmother and her famous grandFather Michael Curtiz, the director of Casablanca and many other Hollywood classics. Making its world debut on the Court theatre's stage on 18 September [delayed one week because of the earthquake], DON'T MeNTION CaSaBLaNCa reveals a journey of love, determination and sacrifice as it follows Forster's grandmother Thilde and her son to Curtiz from Vienna to Hollywood, as the shadow of Hitler falls across europe. Mihaly Kertesz left europe in 1926 having made 70 films. Once in Hollywood, working for Warner Brothers as Michael Curtiz, he made an additional 101 films, including the Oscar winning Casablanca. Thilde Foerster, a screenwriter in her own right, battled with Curtiz across continents and going to extraordinary lengths to gain child support for her son by him. "My Father only gave me his blessing to write DON'T MeNTION CaSaBLaNCa after I convinced him the story about his mother was an heroic one," says Forster. "Without taking the risks she did, Thilde, her brother Ludwig and my Father could have ended up in a gas chamber like 70,000 other Viennese Jews. Kertesz may have won Oscars but my grandmother kept the family alive."
- http://www.theatreview.org.nz

Notes:
presented As A rehearsed reading in the Forge, 2009

1st Produced:
Court One, the Court Theatre, Christchurch    40439

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dream Romance, A

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lanarch - Castle Of Lies

Synopsis:
One of New Zealand's wealthiest and most powerful colonial politicians sows the seeds of his own destruction in this unusual love story. Larnach's journey ends with the destruction of his dynasty and his own suicide in Wellington's Parliament House.
Playmarket News

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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My Heart Is Bathed In Blood

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Other Eden, The

Synopsis:
the story of missionary Thomas Kendall and the Nga Puhi chief Hongi Hika. Kendall, enamoured of Maori culture, deserts his wife and european ways only to discover he is without a moral compass in a world he has idealised, but not understood.
Playmarket News

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rosenberg Sisters, The

Rosenberg Sisters, The
escaping Nazi Germany the Rosenburg sisters arrive in New Zealand and become the singing group the Rose Sisters

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    1992

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: Play Lunch - Five Short New Zealand Plays" published by University of Otago Press 1996   978-1877133015

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Secret Of Dongting Lake, The

Synopsis:
Based on a Chinese folk story, the Secret Of Dongting Lake follows our young hero Chen Yang as he leaves his life in a poor fishing village and sets sail across Dongting Lake in the mighty General Wong's army. Disobeying orders after saving a water dragon, Chen Yang is washed ashore after a fierce storm destroys the ship. Here he meets the empress of the mysterious island and her beautiful daughter. all isn't a fairytale for Chen Yang though, as he discovers on the eventual return to his village.
- http://www.theatreview.org.nz

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Concert Chamber - Town Hall, the eDGe, Auckland    04 Oct 2010

Organisations:
presented by the eDGe in association with the Oryza Foundation for Asian Performing Arts

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Youth audiences

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Songs My Mother Taught Me

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tic Tac

Synopsis:
Paul Barrett shares his firsthand experience of a lifetime with Tourette syndrome in an outrageous and entertaining evening of musical satire with the premiere of his solo show - TIC TIC. Drawing on his vast experience as a professional actor, singer and musical director Barrett singlehandedly plays a cast of dozens to tell the story of his life. Determined to build a successful career in the entertainment industry Barrett reveals how he coped with the intense demands of public performance in spite of the many vocal and physical tics that are part of his syndrome.
- www.theatreview.org.nz

Notes:
written By Michelanne Forster And Paul Barrett

1st Produced:
the BOX, Buick St, Petone, Wellington    04 May 2011

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One man cabaret

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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