Lara Bye

Lara Bye (19*-) is a South African actress and theatre director.

Biography

Born in Durban.

Youth

Training

Bye holds: A BA degree in Drama, English and Anthropology from the University of Natal; An Honours degree in Drama from the University of Cape Town; A two-year Diploma from the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris [1].

Career

Since graduating Lara Bye has worked in theatre in South Africa, Havana, Paris and Barcelona. She lectured in Physical Theatre at the University of Cape Town Drama Department in 2010.

Since returning to South Africa from Europe, Lara has worked continuously on all aspects of the theatre as producer, writer, actress and teacher. She has won theatre awards as an actress and director for her work in Dancing at Lughnasa, The Comical Tragedy and Everybody Else (is fucking perfect). Her production of Jesus Hopped the A-Train was the second most nominated production at the 2006 Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards.

She was selected by Fair Lady magazine as one of 40 South African Women who had been a source of inspiration for the year 2000 and was judged by Style magazine to be the South African "IT" Actress for 2001. These last two acknowledgements were for her performance in the critically acclaimed The Vagina Monologues.

After training the the Lecoq School in Paris Lara was invited to join The International Theatre Collective for a cultural exchange in Havana, Cuba. The company lived with a Cuban family for 7 months, running workshops, collaborating with Cuban artists and witnessing their work, as well as devising a new show based on their experiences. She returned to Europe to join Bantam Theatre Company in Barcelona for a year.