Lara Macgregor is an actor, director, dramaturg, photographer and performance coach in New Zealand.

Education

Macgregor studied acting in New York City with Uta Hagen, Anthony Abeson and Tony Greco and subsequently worked for ten years as an actor in the U.S. She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Directing from The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney and has directed over 40 productions throughout America, Australia and New Zealand.

Directing career

In 2009, Macgregor was appointed Associate Artistic Director at the Court Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand. She directed a number of plays at The Forge, as the Court's studio theatre was known for a time, including (in 2009) Dave Armstrong's ''The Tutor'' (a New Zealand comedy, and the first production at The Forge)' and Dean Parker's ''The Perfumed Garden'' (2010). In 2010, she was appointed Artistic Director at the Fortune Theatre in Dunedin, a position she held until late 2015. Since that year, she has worked as a freelance director at the Court Theatre, and for

Wow! Productions Wow! Productions is a professional theatre co-operative based in Dunedin, New Zealand. It performs in non-theatre spaces, described by one reviewer as "weird and wonderful venues". The co-operative began in 1996 and is run by a charitable tr ...

in Dunedin, for whom she directed Annie Baker's

Pulitzer prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning play '' The Flick''. Macgregor's productions at the Fortune Theatre include: * ''

God of Carnage ''God of Carnage'' (originally in French ''Le Dieu du carnage'') is a play by Yasmina Reza that was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents; the son of one couple has hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The paren ...

'' by Yasmina Reza (2011) * ''

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress ''Five Women Wearing the Same Dress'' is a play written in 1993 by Alan Ball. Plot The play is a comedy set at the home of the bride in Knoxville, Tennessee during the newly married couple's ostentatious wedding reception. The five bridesmaids h ...

'' by Alan Ball (2011). Also at Court Theatre. * ''The Truth Game'' by Simon Cunliffe - a New Zealand premiere (2011) * ''A Short Cut To Happiness'' by Roger Hall (2011) * ''Red'' by John Logan (2012) * ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play'')'')'' by

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), '' The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the rec ...

(2012) * ''Heroes'' by Gerald Sibleyras, translated by

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

(2012) * ''Play'' by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

(2012) * ''Love, Loss and What I Wore'' by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron (2013) * ''Tribes'' by Nina Raine (2013) * ''Book Ends'' by Roger Hall (2014) * ''

The Caretaker ''The Caretaker'' is a play in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers an ...

'' by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

(2014) * ''Ladies' Night'' by Anthony McCarten and

Stephen Sinclair 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'' a ...

(2015) * ''Punk Rock'' by Simon Stephens (2015) * ''Winston's Birthday'' by Paul Baker (2016) (Also at Court Theatre) For the Court Theatre, at The Forge, Macgregor has directed: * ''Poe'' by Jeff Clark (2009) (aka ''A True Account of the Regrettable Circumstances and Mysterious Demise of Edgar Allan Poe.'') * ''

My Name Is Rachel Corrie My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Market ...

'' by

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespe ...

and Katherine Viner (2009) * ''The Tutor'' by Dave Armstrong (2009). Also at Fortune Theatre. * ''The Perfumed Garden'' by

Dean Parker Dean Leo Parker (20 August 1947 – 14 April 2020) was a New Zealand screenwriter, playwright, journalist and political commentator based in Auckland. Known for the screenplay of iconic film ''Came a Hot Friday'' which he co-wrote with Ian Mune, th ...

(2010) * ''On the Rocks'' by

Amy Rosenthal Amy Rosenthal (born 1974) is a British playwright from Muswell Hill, London. She is a recipient of ''The Sunday Times'' Drama Award. Biography Amy Rosenthal was born in 1974, the daughter of dramatist Jack Rosenthal and actress Maureen Lipman ...

(2010) * ''Saving Grace'' by Duncan Sarkies (2010) At Court Theatre MainStage, Macgregor has directed: * ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' by Simon Stephens (2017) * '' Venus in Fur'' by David Ives (2017) * ''Elling'' by

Simon Bent Simon Bent is a British screenwriter and playwright, notable for work including BBC TV drama '' Beau Brummell: This Charming Man'' (2006), the screenplay for the feature film ''Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry'' (2000), and the Joe Orton biograph ...

(2019) At Circa Theatre, Wellington, she had directed: * ''Bone'' by John Donnelly (2008)

Acting career

Macgregor has played leading roles in many productions at the Court Theatre, including Lady Macbeth in ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' (2016), Thilde Forster in Michelanne Forster's ''Don't Mention Casablanca'' (2010), ''When the Rain Stops Falling'' by Andrew Bovell (2014) - all three directed by Ross Gumbley; M'Lynn in ''

Steel Magnolias ''Steel Magnolias'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Academy Award winner Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. The picture is a film adaptation ...

'' (2017, director Gregory Cooper), Annie Wilkes in ''Misery'' (2018, director Dan Bain) and Fran in ''Things I Know To Be True'' by Andrew Bovell (2021, director

Shane Bosher Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a sur ...

). The latter play had a season at

Circa Theatre Circa Theatre is a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that was established in 1976. They present a number of plays each year in their two auditoriums, and have a unique partnership and funding model with incoming shows unde ...

in Wellington, where Macgregor has also appeared in ''Di and Viv and Rose'' by Amelia Bullmore (2020, directed by Stephanie McKellar-Smith) and ''Burn Her'' by Sam Brooks (2019, directed by

Katherine McRae Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Chris ...

). She played Rosemary in John Patrick Shanley's ''

Outside Mullingar ''Outside Mullingar'' is a play by John Patrick Shanley, which ran on Broadway in 2014. Production ''Outside Mullingar'' premiered on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in a Manhattan Theatre Club production on January 3, 2014 (previews) ...

'' (2015, Fortune Theatre, director

Lisa Warrington Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington (born 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 A ...

). She has appeared in a number of film and TV shows, including ''

Clickbait Clickbait is a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, being typically deceptive, sensationalized, or otherwise misl ...

'' (Netflix, 2021), an eight-part thriller miniseries, and ''This Town'' (2020).

Awards and nominations

* Best Director for ''Play'' (Beckett) 2012, Dunedin Theatre Awards * Outstanding Contribution of the Year (2015), Dunedin Theatre Awards * Director of the Year, ''Punk Rock'' (2015), Dunedin Theatre Awards Wilkes * Director of the Year, ''The Flick'' (2019), Dunedin Theatre Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Lara New Zealand theatre directors New Zealand actresses New Zealand women theatre directors National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni