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 The Robert Burns Fellowship is a New Zealand literary residency. Established in 1958 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Robert Burns, it is often claimed to be New Zealand's premier literary residency. The list of past ...

at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. She lives in Dunedin.

Early life and education

Duncan was born in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

but grew up in

. She completed her BA at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

and her Honours degree from

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

. She studied acting at the

Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by the actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Str ...

and at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

summer school. In December 2016, she completed her PhD in Theatre Studies at the University of Otago, with a thesis on heterotopic playwriting.

Career

Duncan began writing for theatre in 1999. That year, her one-act play ''Lips'' was runner-up in the New Zealand Young Playwrights’ Competition. ''Sweet Meats'', "inspired by the slave poetry of the Romantic period," was performed at the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2004."Emily Duncan,"
Playmarket website. Retrieved on 13 May 2019 Her first full-length drama, ''Palliative Care'', premiered at the Otago Festival of Arts in 2008. ''Eliose in the Middle'' won the 2013

Playmarket Playmarket is a not-for-profit organisation providing script advisory services, representation for playwrights in New Zealand and access to New Zealand plays. Playmarket was founded in 1973 to encourage the professional production of New Zealand ...

Plays for the Young competition and appears in the 2015 anthology ''Here/Now: 8 Plays by Award-Winning NZ Playwrights''. In her ''Landfall'' review of the anthology, Helen Watson White called attention to the “atmosphere of emotional unease” in Duncan's play and appreciated the work for being “simple, direct, and chillingly plausible." ''Eloise'' received its premiere performance at the

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...

in September 2018. ''Hold Me'', which follows three individuals through four time frames, was performed in September 2016 at BATS Theatre in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. Duncan received a New Playwright of the Year nomination in the 2016

Wellington Theatre Awards The Ngā Whakarākei O Whātaitai / Wellington Theatre Awards are the main theatre awards in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington established in 2015 after the previous awards sponsor ended their support. They are awarded annually. The previ ...

for this work. In 2017 she was the Inaugural Artist in Residence at

St. Hilda's Collegiate School Saint Hilda's Collegiate School is a secondary school for girls in Dunedin, New Zealand. History Founded as an Anglicanism, Anglican school in 1896 by the first bishop of Dunedin, Bishop Samuel Nevill and staffed by the Community of the Siste ...

in Dunedin. While there, she wrote ''In Our Shoes'', which was shortlisted for the 2018 Adam NZ New Play Award. Her 2014 play ''Le Sujet Parle'' received its first public performance at the 2019 Dunedin Fringe Festival.

Terry MacTavish Terry Isobel MacTavish (born 1950) is an actress and teacher from Dunedin, New Zealand. Early life and family MacTavish was born in Taiwan in 1950, where her parents MacDonald MacTavish, a Scottish Free Church minister, and Shona Dunlop Mac ...

praised Duncan's “stunning script” and the play's “shocking relevancy.” In 2016, Duncan and Helena-Jane Kilkelly formed Prospect Park Productions. Prospect Park has overseen recent productions of many of Duncan's plays, as well as the three-part podcast ''Dark Dunedin: Heaven Looks On''. In 2020, Duncan won the

Bruce Mason Playwriting Award The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award is an annual award that recognises the work of an outstanding emerging New Zealand playwright. The winner is decided by the votes of a panel of leading New Zealand artistic directors and script advisors. The ...

for her "sharp, sophisticated, passionate, quirky, evocative and unsettling" writing.

Works

Plays

*''Lips'' (1999) *''Sweet Meats'' (Dunedin Fringe Festival, 2004) *''Palliative Care'' (Otago Festival of Arts, 2008) *''Eliose in the Middle'' (2013; published 2015; first produced 2018) *''Le Sujet Parle'' (2014; Dunedin Fringe Festival, 2019) *''When You Were Mine'' (2015) *''Hold Me'' (BATS Theatre, Wellington, 2016) *''Shaken'' (2016 Wellington Short + Sweet Festival) *''Fallen Angels'' (Young and Hungry 2017 Festival of New Theatre, Wellington) *''In Our Shoes'' (2018)

Original podcast

*''Dark Dunedin: Heaven Looks On'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Emily 21st-century New Zealand women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand women dramatists and playwrights Writers from Dunedin University of Otago alumni 20th-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights Massey University alumni Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni 21st-century New Zealand dramatists and playwrights Victoria University of Wellington alumni 20th-century New Zealand women writers