Sally McKenzie
{{Short description|Australian actress}}
{{about||the American author|Sally MacKenzie}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{infobox person
| name = Sally McKenzie
| image = Sally-McKenzie-Wiki-GNU-Free-Documentation-License.jpg
| caption = Sally McKenzie in 2017
| birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| birth_date = {{birth_date and age|1955|02|08|df=yes}}
| alma_mater = National Institute of Dramatic Art, Queensland University of Technology, Flinders University
| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|director|dramatist/playwright|screenwriter}}
| years_active = 1976–present
| children = 2
}}
Sally McKenzie (born 8 February 1955) also credited as Sally MacKenzie, is an Australian actress, director, playwright and screenwriter. She graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1977.{{Cite web |last=Oddy |first=Julian |title=Sally McKenzie |url=https://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/mckenzie-sally.php |access-date=2018-12-28 |website=Doollee.com: Database of playwrights and theatre plays}} She was awarded a Master of Fine Arts from the Queensland University of Technology in 1996.{{cite web |last1= |first1= |date=2025-02-18 |title=Sally McKenzie Qld 2017 |url=https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/sally-mckenzie-qld-2017/ |website=Winston Churchill Trust}}
Early life and education
Sally May McKenzie was born on 8 February 1955{{Cite web |date=2025-02-22 |title=Sally McKenzie |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571607/ |website=IMDb}} in Lindfield a suburb of Sydney. McKenzie grew up in South Australia. From the age of 11 she took drama classes run by Morna Jones{{cite web |date=2025-02-22 |title=Biographical cuttings on Morna Jones |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2584312 |website=National Library of Australia}} who established the Patch Theatre. During her teenage years McKenzie performed with the Pioneer Players, the Arts Theatre, Theatre 62 and the Bunyip Children's Theatre. She began an arts degree at Flinders University but only completed 2 years before moving to Sydney to study acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).{{Cite web |date=2025-02-23 |title=Sally McKenzie's Brief Bio |url=https://www.thecoalface.com |website=The Coalface}}
Career
McKenzie graduated from NIDA in 1977.{{cite web |date=2025-02-22 |title=All alumni |url=https://www.nida.edu.au/alumni-and-industry/all-alumni |website=NIDA}} In 1978 McKenzie performed under the direction of Peter Schumann with the Bread & Puppet Theater at the Adelaide Festival and understudied all the female roles for the Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) touring production of King Lear in which Warren Mitchell played Lear and Geoffrey Rush played the Fool.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=King Lear |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/5979 |website=AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database}} In 1979 she was part of the Early Childhood Drama Project{{cite web |date=2015-05-10 |title=The Early Childhood Drama Project (ECDP) 1975 to 1982 |url=https://laboite.com.au/about/history/1970/article/the-early-childhood-drama-project-ecdp-1975to-1982/ |website=La Boite Theatre}} the professional arm at La Boite Theatre Company where she performed in numerous productions including The Hills Family Show.{{cite web |title=The Hills Family Show |url=https://laboite.com.au/about/history/1970/the-hills-family-show/ |website=La Boite Theatre}}
In 1980 McKenzie was a member of the TN! Theatre Company inaugural ensemble performing Jenny Diver in The Threepenny Opera under the baton of Georg Tintner.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=The Threepenny Opera |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/29690 |website=AusStage}} In 1981 she played Lavinia Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra for QTC{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=Mourning Becomes Electra QTC |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/29720 |website=AusStage}} a role she reprised for the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) directed by Michael Blakemore.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=Mourning Becomes Electra MTC |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/30645 |website=AusStage}}
Several productions with MTC followed including the title role in The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=The Good Person of Setzuan |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/29924 |website=AusStage}} and the role of Beatrice-Joanna in The Changeling under the direction of John Sumner.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=The Changeling |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/29937 |website=AusStage}} She performed in the Australian premiere of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill with the Nimrod Theatre Company in Sydney.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=Top Girls |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/11906 |website=AusStage}} During this time under the direction of Bud Tingwell, McKenzie played Lynn in a 2-hour 500th special episode of Cop Shop for which she won a 1983 Penguin Award for Best Single Performance by an Actress in a Serial.
In 1985 McKenzie played the role of Lady Macbeth for the QTC.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-17 |title=Macbeth |url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/31672 |website=AusStage}} She appeared in 20 productions for this company including several premiere productions of plays by David Williamson under the direction of Aubrey Mellor. McKenzie returned to study in 1995 and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts in 1996.
As a playwright McKenzie's plays include Scattered Lives, Martha's War on War, i dot luv dot u☺ and WAY.{{Cite web |date=2025-02-18 |title=Sally McKenzie |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/7802666 |website=AusLit}} A review of WAY in Stage Whispers said: "Sally McKenzie grips the audience's attention for a complex seventy-five minutes with an astonishing sustained theatre performance. If you love theatre, see this".{{cite web |date=2025-02-18 |title=Way |url=https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/way/ |website=Stage Whispers}}
As a screenwriter and director works include documentary Actingclassof1977.com which looks at actor training in Australia in the late 1970s.{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/stay-in-touch/mel-gibson-talks-about-bipolar-struggle/2008/05/14/1210444527205.html|title=Mel opens up, but ever so fleetingly |first1=Elicia|last1=Murray|first2=Garry|last2=Maddox|work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=May 15, 2008|access-date=May 15, 2008}} The film features Steve Bisley, Mel Gibson and Debra Lawrance and first aired on the ABC in June 2008.{{Cite web |date=2018-12-28 |title=The Acting Class of 1977 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650476/?ref_=ttpl_ov |website=IMBd Internet Movie Database}} McKenzie won an Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE Award for Best Documentary Public Broadcast in 2014.{{cite web |date=8 September 2014 |title=47th Annual AWGIE Awards Winners Announced |url=https://awg.com.au/News-Details?newsId=697&title=47th-Annual-AWGIE-Awards-Winners-Announced/ |accessdate=1 August 2023 |website=Australian Writers' Guild}}
In 2018 McKenzie was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts Fellowship Medal for her research and subsequent paper 'Developing Australian Playwrights and their Plays'.{{Cite web |date=2019-12-17 |title=Churchill Fellows Findings in 2019 |url=https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/news_item/churchill-fellows-findings-in-2019/ |access-date=2025-02-18}} For this paper she interviewed writers for both screen and stage living in the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom. The interviewees included Tony Kushner, Christopher Hampton, David Henry Hwang, Mike Leigh, Robert Lepage, David Lindsay-Abaire, Hannah Moscovitch, Judith Thompson and Enda Walsh.{{cite web |date=2025-02-18 |title=To research screenwriting tenets within playwriting contexts and institutions with playwriting courses |url=https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/project/to-research-screenwriting-tenets-within-playwriting-contexts-and-institutions-with-playwriting-courses/ |website=Winston Churchill Trust}}
Filmography
=Film=
=Television=
Theatre
Awards
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni
Category:20th-century Australian actresses
Category:21st-century Australian actresses
Category:21st-century Australian dramatists and playwrights
Category:Australian television actresses
Category:Australian stage actresses
Category:Australian women dramatists and playwrights