CONGRATULATIONS, DAME MIRANDA
HLT congratulates workshop tutor Dame Miranda Harcourt, who was recognised in the 2023 New Year's Honours. She was named a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to the screen industry and theatre. Miranda led her first HLT workshop in 2001 and has returned regularly since then to share her extensive knowledge with actors from all over Auckland. As she has been reported as saying, the Honours aren’t simply about career achievements, but more importantly about service to the community. Miranda's community service has included working in the prison system as a drama therapist and starting a literacy programme for inmates at Wellington's Arohata Women’s Prison. She says also hugely important are her representation of Women’s Refuge and advocacy for the international charity So They Can.