JONES, Renée Gertrude 1929-

(Renée)

PERSONAL: Born July 19, 1929, in Napier, New Zealand; married, 1949 (divorced); children: three sons. Education: Studied at Massey University; University of Auckland, New Zealand, B.A., 1979.

ADDRESSES: Home—Dunedin, New Zealand. Agent— Playmarket, P.O. Box 9767, Wellington, New Zealand.

CAREER: Playwright. English and drama teacher in secondary schools in Wairoa and at Long Bay College, Auckland, New Zealand, 1975-81; Womenspirit Collective, 1979-85; Broadsheet Collective, Auckland, 1982-84; Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand, Robert Burns fellow, 1989. Also actresss and director with Napier Repertory Players, Wairoa Community Theatre, and in Auckland. Playwright-in-residence at Theatre Corporation, Auckland, 1986.

AWARDS, HONORS: Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Award, 1986; New Zealand Literary Fund Merit Award, 1986; writer's fellowship, University of Waikato, 1995.

WRITINGS:

UNDER NAME RENÉE

Finding Ruth (short stories), Heinemann (Auckland, New Zealand), 1987.

Willy Nilly, Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1990.

Daisy and Lily, Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1993.

I Have to Go Home, Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1997.

The Snowball Waltz, Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1997.

Let's Write Plays, Macmillan (Auckland, New Zealand), 1998.

Yin and Tonic: Comic Writings, Vintage (Auckland, New Zealand), 1998.

Skeleton Woman: A Romance, Huia Publishers (Wellington, New Zealand), 2002.

PLAYS; UNDER THE NAME RENÉE

Secrets: Two One-Woman Plays (produced in Auckland, New Zealand, 1982, revised version produced in Auckland, New Zealand, 1987), Playmarket (Wellington, New Zealand), 1984.

Breaking Out, produced in Wellington, New Zealand, 1982.

(Also director) What Did You Do in the War, Mommy? produced in Auckland, New Zealand, 1982.

Setting the Table (produced in Auckland, New Zealand, 1982), Playmarket (Wellington, New Zealand), 1984.

(Also director) Asking for It, produced in Kaikohe, New Zealand, 1983.

Dancing, produced in Auckland, New Zealand, 1984.

Pass It On (produced in 1986), Victoria University Press (Wellington, New Zealand), 1986.

Wednesday to Come (produced in Wellington, New Zealand, 1984), Victoria University Press (Wellington, New Zealand), 1986.

Born to Clean, songs by Jess Hawk Oakenstar and Hilary King, produced in Auckland, New Zealand, 1987.

Form, produced in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1990.

Jeannie Once (produced in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1990), Victoria University Press (Wellington, New Zealand), 1991.

Touch of the Sun, produced in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1991.

Missionary Position, produced in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1991.

(Also director) Te Pouaka Karaehe: The Glass Box, produced in Wellington, New Zealand, 1992.

(Also director) Pink Spots and Mountain Tops, produced in Wellington, New Zealand, 1992.

Heroines, Hussies, and High Flyers, produced in Dunedin, New Zealand, 1993.

Does This Make Sense to You? Penguin (Auckland, New Zealand), 1995.

Also numerous radio, television, and other plays, including The Secret, The Snowball Waltz, Diversions for an Idle Hour, My Name Is Marma Kingi, Rugosa Roses Are Very Hardy, Dreaming in Ponsonby, Sister to Dragons, Hard and Unfamiliar Words, Husbands and Wives, Beginnings and Endings, Strings, Sheppard Street, and Journeys, and Groundwork.

SIDELIGHTS: A self-described lesbian feminist with socialist working-class ideals, Renée Gertrude Jones—who writes under the name Renée—celebrates the lives and achievements of working women in her plays. In doing so, she has earned a place as New Zealand's most prolific female playwright. By providing intelligent and provocative roles for women at a time when feminism has changed the mind-set of theater owners and audiences alike, Renée's plays have been performed by all of New Zealand's professional theaters.

One of her most famous works is an historical trilogy that opens with Wednesday to Come, set during the depression years of the 1930s. While waiting for the body of her husband, who has killed himself in a work camp, a young woman sits at a kitchen table with four other women, discussing the tribulations of their lives, and the ways class oppression has added to their struggles, while a march of the unemployed on their way to Parliament passes by their window. Pass It On takes the story to 1951, and a violent waterfront confrontation over workers' rights. Finally, Jeannie Once goes back in time to 1879, as the original matriarch of the trilogy's family arrives in New Zealand with a group of English emigrants struggling to adjust to a strange new world. Other plays, such as Groundwork and The Glass Box, address racial issues, and Renée draws on her own biracial heritage to provide insights into the clash between European and Maori values.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Dramatists, sixth edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Act, December, 1982, Michael Neill, review of Setting the Table, pp. 64-66; June, 1983, Helen White, review of Asking for It, p. 32; October, 1984, J. Thomson, review of Wednesday to Come, pp. 56-58; June, 1985, Sebastian Black, review of Groundwork, pp. 26-27; April, 1986, T. Snow, review of Pass It On, pp. 20-21; June, 1986, "Renée—New Zealand Playwright," pp. 29-32.

Ariel, April, 1999, Susan Sayer, "Hillfire and Queer Nation in Godzone," pp. 119-39.

Australasian Drama Studies, October, 1984, "What Kind of Society Can Develop under Corrugated Iron: Glimpses of New Zealand Plays," pp. 31-52, M. Thompson, "Promise and Frustration: New Zealand Playwriting since 1975," pp. 122-128; April, 1987, Pamela Payne Heckenberg and Tony Mitchell, "Interview: Renée," pp. 21-28; 1988, Sebastian Black, review of Wednesday to Come and Pass It On, pp. 190-195; April, 1991, Lisa Warrington, "'A Life-Long Affair': Renée's Writing for the Theatre," pp. 70-90; October, 1992, David Carnegie, review of Jeannie Once, pp. 174-176.

Broadsheet, March, 1983, Cathie Dunsford, review of Setting the Table, pp. 45-46; April, 1983, Doreen Suddens, review of Asking for It, p. 36; June, 1983, Cahthie Dunsford and Joy Clement, review of Asking for It, p. 44; March, 1984, Elly Guthrie, review of Dancing, p. 45; March, 1984, Diane Quin, revie of Setting the Table, p. 46; July-August, 1984, Sandra Coney, review of Wednesday to Come, p. 46; June, 1985, Paula Morris, review of Groundwork, p. 44; April, 1986, Andrea Kelland, review of Pass It On, pp. 44-45; April, 1987, Julie Sargisson, review of Secrets, pp. 46-47; June-July, 1987, Pat Rosier, review of Born to Clean, pp. 42-44; October, 1987, Ali Bell, review of The Secret, pp.43-44; December, 1987, Doreen Suddens, review of Finding Ruth, p. 44; May, 1990, review of Willy Nilly, pp. 37-38; September, 1990, Lee Harris, interview with Renée, p. 36; April, 1991, Megan Fidler, review of Touch of the Sun, p. 39.

Hecate (special New Zealand issue), October, 1994, Joanne Tompkins, "What We Want and What We Get: Renée's Jeannie Once," pp. 243-250.

Illusions, summer, 2000, John Downie, review of Let'sWrite Plays, pp. 32-35.

Journal of New Zealand Literature, 1983, Sebastian Black, "New Zealand Plays, Playwrights and Theatres: First Productions, January-October, 1982," pp. 5-15; 1985, David Carnegie, "Recent New Zealand Drama," pp. 7-15; 1986, Robert Leek, "Home-Grown Drama of the Mid-Eighties," pp. 1-13; 1987, Robert Leek, "New Drama '86-'87: Various Shades of Laughter," pp. 3-29.

Listener, September 22, 1984, Rebecca Simpson, review of Wednesday to Come, p. 37; June 29, 1985, W. Blaxland, review of Groundwork, pp. 52-53; August 1, 1987, Diane Hebley, review of Born to Clean, p. 39; November 21, 1987, Diane Hebley, review of Finding Ruth, pp. 82-83; July 16, 1990, Annamarie Jagose, review of Willy Nilly, p. 112; August 13, 1990, Rosemary Beresford, review of Jeannie Once, p. 98; April 1, 1991, Rosemary Beresford, review of Touch of the Sun, p. 56; September 4, 1993, Aorewa McLeod, review of Daisy and Lily, p. 50; June 24, 1995, Gerry Webb, review of Does This Make Sense to You?, p. 55; December 13, 1997, review of The Snowball Waltz, p. 46; June, 2002, Inga Stunzer, review of Skeleton Woman: A Romance, p. 64.

New Literature Review, 1984, Sebastian Black, "Aggressive Elements: New Zealand Theatre in the 1980s," pp. 15-16.

New Zealand Books, March, 1992, Judith Dale, review of Jeannie Once, p. 8; spring, 1993, Rebecca Simpson, review of Daisy and Lily, p. 5, October, 1995, Kim Worthington, review of Does This Make Sense to You?, pp. 6-7; December, 1997, Kim Worthington, review of The Snowball Waltz, pp. 8-9; June, 1999, Denis Welch, review of Yin and Tonic: Comic Writings, p. 5.

New Zealand Herald, May 26, 1990, Pamela Cunningham, review of Willy Nilly, p. 6; November, 1990, Betty Patterson, review of Willy Nilly, p. 7; February 18, 1991, B. Rae, review of Touch of the Sun, p. 10; September, 1993, review of Song of the Shirt, pp. 13-16; October 2, 1993, review of Daisy and Lily, p. 6; November, 1993, Elizabeth Probert, review of Daisy and Lily, pp. 7-8; October 25, 1997, review of The Snowball Waltz, p. G6; August 3, 2002, review of Skeleton Woman, pp. G6-G7.

Otago Daily Times, September 11, 1993, review of Song of the Shirt, p. 20; October, 1993, Gavin McLean, review of Daisy and Lily, pp. 22-23; May 20, 1995, Peter Mann, review of Does This Make Sense to You?, p. 23; November 29, 1997, Patricia Thwaites, review of The Snowball Waltz, p. 25; June 1, 2002, review of Skeleton Woman, p. B6.

Sunday Star Times, April 27-1997, Iain Sharp, "Crash Course in Kids' Stuff," p. E4; October 26, 1997, Joy MacKenzie, review of The Snowball Waltz, p. E6.

Women's Studies Journal, April, 1984, "Feminist Writer Renée: All Plays Are Political," pp. 61-72; August, 1986, Aorewa McLeod, "An Innocent's Look at New Zealand Women Writers," pp. 2-13.