Mayor Pays Tribute to Poet and Theatre Director Joy Green

Mayor Pays Tribute to Poet and Theatre Director Joy Green

Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith is paying tribute to Palmerston North Poet and Theatre Director Joy Green who died suddenly last night.

Joy Green, who was a judge at the Student City Arts and Cultural Awards, collapsed during the event at The Chalet and was unable to be revived.

“Joy Green was a writer, poet, teacher and an award winning theatre director and producer. She was one of the drivers of the arts community in Palmerston North and she will be greatly missed”, says Mayor Smith.

Joy Green was heavily involved in Palmerston North’s theatre scene for the past 10 years, including producing five Manawatu Summer Shakespeare plays, working with the Massey University Drama Society, and directing performance poetry for Festivals of New Art, and winter Shakespeare productions in Te Manawa, through her own production company, ProperJob Productions.

She was a Senior Tutor for the School of English and Media Studies at Massey University and was one of the first creative Masters graduates from that institution.

She published poetry and short fiction from the early 1990s, in Europe and North America as well as Oceania, and had plays performed just as widely. In 2012, she completed a Masters on off-page poetry forms, which included a major poetry installation, ‘Anatomy’ exhibited in Square Edge. Her poetry collection ‘Surface Tension’ was published in August 2014. She was also contributor to a volume of e-poetry published last month by the Palmerston North City Library, catch and release: Poems from Manawatū.

“Our hearts go out to Joy Green’s family,” says Mayor Smith. “This is a tragic passing and we extend our deepest sympathy.”

ENDS

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