The extraordinary contribution of teacher, director and playwright Denise Walsh to Logan Park High School and theatre throughout New Zealand will be marked with an unusual honour.
On Monday, at 6pm, a plaque naming the school's performing arts auditorium after Denise Walsh, who died in May, will be unveiled. The move makes Walsh one of only a handful of New Zealand playwrights to have a theatre named in their honour.
Principal Jane Johnson said the ceremony would include one of Walsh's many award-winning one-act plays.
Walsh's husband Peter Neville and the couple's Thai daughter, Masi Noppamas Pataragul, would attend. Mrs Johnson said Walsh had made a major contribution to youth drama, not only at the school but regionally, nationally and internationally.
''We will be celebrating and honouring all of Denise's wonderful achievements, for which she was deservedly made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013,'' Mrs Johnson said.
Joining the school as a typing and shorthand teacher shortly after it was founded in 1974, Walsh quickly set about establishing a drama programme and was appointed teacher in charge of drama in 1979.
''Drama became a fully fledged option right through the school, with its own academic status, thanks to Denise's work nationally,'' Mrs Johnson said.
Walsh was a leader in the push for drama to be accepted as a stand-alone subject, became involved with the New Zealand Theatre Federation, and took a hands-on role in many theatre festivals and events. She took teams of young actors to international theatre events.
In addition, Walsh designed the gardens at Logan Park High School, overseeing them for 30 years.
''She had a wonderful aesthetic vision, and we have these wonderful gardens to show for it.''
All interested people are welcome to attend the unveiling ceremony at 6pm on Monday.
- by Brenda Harwood
