Ms Lisa Warrington, of Dunedin, ONZM for services to theatre and education
Lisa Warrington was Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Otago, building up a successful theatre programme at the university, fostering numerous well-known New Zealand theatre practitioners. She revived Allen Hall as a working theatre space, reinstated the Lunchtime Theatre programme, and helped keep professional theatre alive in Dunedin as one of the directors at Fortune Theatre. She directed 37 plays for Fortune, and directs original productions in Dunedin with theatre co-operative WOW! Productions. She was a guest director for Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School, and has directed in other centres. She has published three books, notably co-authoring ‘Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa’. Ms Warrington set up the Theatre Aotearoa database in 2004 as a more permanent record of theatre activity nationally.