Colin McColl

Colin William McColl (born 1948) is a New Zealand director in theatre, opera and television. He is a leading figure in the world of professional theatre in the country, winning numerous awards as well as working internationally with major national companies. McColl's career spans more than 30 years in the performing arts where he has also been an actor and a producer. He has won Best Director at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards three times, received the prestigious Arts Laureate Award in 2007 and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010. McColl was born in Naenae, Lower Hutt.

Career As a theatre director, McColl has directed more than 50 plays. He is the only New Zealand director who has been invited to showcase a production at the official Edinburgh Festival. Award-winning productions include A Doll’s House (1993), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (2000) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2002).

McColl was educated at the Canterbury Academy of Dramatic Art. based on stories by Katherine Mansfield. In 2003, he became the artistic director of Auckland Theatre Company, where his many productions include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Where We Once Belonged adapted from the novel by Sia Figiel, End of the Rainbow, Doubt, The Duchess of Malfi, Equus, Waiting for Godot, Uncle Vanya, Daughters of Heaven and Pohutukawa Tree by Bruce Mason. Award-winning actress Rena Owen, who played the lead role in the 2009 production of The Pohutukawa Tree spoke of McColl as the top director in New Zealand. McColl's other productions include Arthur Miller's The Crucible

International McColl has been a director for the Norwegian National Theatre, the Dutch National Theatre, as well as leading theatres in Australia and Europe. His production of Hedda Gabler at the Edinburgh Festival was received with great acclaim.

Opera He has directed opera including Quartet (2004) for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, La Boheme, The Italian Girl in Algiers, The Marriage of Figaro and The Prodigal Child.

Honours and awards McColl has been a director of numerous award-winning productions including multiple Best Director awards at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the theatre, film and television.