Genevieve McClean

Genevieve McClean has worked in theatre since the early nineties when she was picking up acting work while studying in Auckland.  Three years in Dunedin certified her status as a practitioner: writing for theatre; performing poetry; singing with acclaimed indie-band: Mink; acting; designing for the stage; directing theatre and dabbling in post-structural theatre/film projects.  

Her degree (jointly from Auckland and Otago) is in theatre studies, and English literature, completed later at Auckland in 2003. 

After graduating from Toi Whakaari in 97, she acted in several screen and stage projects, winning a TVNZ award nomination for the devised screen-play for the film Kombi-Nation which she also acted in.  In 99 her solo play Word met with praise in reviews from the Wellington fringe.  She worked on the original collaborative production of SeeYd with Tim Spite and Scot Macky which won a Chapman Tripp award for most Original production in 2000.  She has appeared on and off screen over the last 15 years as an actor mostly in theatre and independent film, with practitioners such as Duncan Sarkies and Jonty Hendry , and screen credits include Thinking about Sleep , Stringer ,  and Toy Love.

       Genevieve travelled to Europe with a role in a German TV co-production Das Liebe Entgegen, and then joined a Czech physical theatre company, for a research tour in Spain.  Directed by Viliam Docolomansky,  the company is now called Farm in a Cave.  Based in Berlin for 18 months, she shot footage for her feature doco 'The Other End', and performed poetry at various locations mostly in Germany.  Her most recent acting work was for a short film called Horses which was included in the homegrown series in the New Zealand film festival in 2009.  

       She visited America as a spoken word artist in 2006, touring with Corey Frost, and has performed as a poet and word performer at many venues around New Zealand. She regularly makes appearances as a spoken word artist in Auckland.  She has been involved with metonymy as a literary artist, collaborating with artist Anita Glucina in the making of poetry-sculpture. For three years Genevieve taught on the Interdisciplinary Arts immersion course at Unitec.  Now in Auckland she makes film through her company Fat Blossom, and produces The Projector Project: a forum for Poetry Film.  

       Genevieve lives in Auckland with her partner John and three year old Finn.