Stuart Hoar

Stuart Hoar (born 1957) is a New Zealand playwright, teacher, novelist, radio dramatist and librettist.

Biography Hoar was born in New Plymouth and educated at James Cook High School, Manurewa, and the University of Auckland. He worked in the film industry as a sound recordist.

In 1986, his first play, Squatter, was chosen for Playmarket's National Playwrights Workshop, was produced at Mercury Theatre in 1987, and published in 1988. His next play, Exile (1990), satirised founding figures of New Zealand literature. In 1993, Hoar received the Robert Burns Fellowship, and during his residence in Dunedin he wrote Not So Poor (produced at the Allen Hall Theatre), based on Mary Isabella Lee's autobiography, and Yo Banfa, about Rewi Alley's time in China, as well as a radio play and research for his novel Hard Light. From 1997 to 2000 he lived in England, during which time Hard Light was published. His 2013 musical, The Great Art War, was written with composer Philip Norman and is set in 1950; the plot concerns a dispute between the Christchurch City Council and the Christchurch Art Gallery over the purchase of a Frances Hodgkins painting.

Since the age of 24, Hoar has written over 30 radio plays which have been broadcast internationally. He has taught playwriting at Canterbury and Auckland universities, and currently works for Playmarket as their script advisor, and is a lecturer in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey University.

Plays Squatter (1987) – first produced at Mercury Theatre, Auckland; published by Victoria University Press (1988) Scott of the Antarctic (1989) – Allen Hall, Dunedin; published in No.8 Wire:8 Plays/8 Decades (Playmarket, 2011) Exile (1990) – Allen Hall, Dunedin A Long Walk Off A Tall Rock (1991) – NZ Drama School, Wellington American Girl (1992) – Allen Hall, Dunedin; published in Three Radio Plays (Victoria University Press, 1989) The Danger of Lifts (1992) – Court Two, Christchurch Not So Poor (1993) – Allen Hall, Dunedin Yo Banfa (Gung Ho) (1993) Rutherford (2000) – Circa Theatre, Wellington The Face Maker (2002) – Circa Theatre, Wellington Bright Star (2005) – Circa Theatre, Wellington Backwards in High Heels (2006) – Court Forge, Christchurch The Great Art War (a musical, with composer Phillip Norman) (2013) – Court Theatre, Christchurch Pasefika (2010) – Circa Theatre, Wellington, 2014 Rendered (2018) – Auckland Theatre Company

Screenplays

Lovelock

Libretti

Bitter Calm (1990) – first performed at the International Festival of Arts, Wellington, 1994 Star Fire 1995) – an opera for primary and intermediate age school children, composer Anthony Ritchie Quartet (2004) – a chamber opera composed by Anthony Ritchie

Novels

Hard Light (1998), Penguin New Zealand,

Awards 1988: Writer In Residence, Mercury Theatre 1988: John Reid Memorial Award 1988: Bruce Mason Playwriting Award 1990: Literary Fellow, University of Auckland 1993: Robert Burns Fellowship, University of Otago 1993: Best Screenplay, New Zealand Writers’ Guild Awards for Lovelock 1995: Best Dramatic Production, Mobil Radio Awards 2000: Writer In Residence, University of Canterbury 2005: Writer in Residence, St Andrews College, Christchurch 2007: Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship 2007: Best Radio Play, Radio New Zealand Awards for Attitude 2010: Adam New Zealand Play Award for Pasefika