Born in New Jersey, Lally Katz lived briefly in Miami before her family moved to Australia when she was aged nine. She graduated from the University of Melbourne's Victoria College of Art in 2000.
A core member of Stuck Pigs Squealing Theatre, she is a prolific writer for the stage, beginning in 2000 with Dead Girls are Fantastic and Tabitha to Saturn: the former was produced by Elena Vereker and Janice Mueller for NMIT Theatre, Melbourne, and the latter was produced by Katz and directed by Melinda Hetzel for Guild Theatre, University of Melbourne. Her first major success was The Black Swan of Trespass (2003), based on the Ern Malley affair, which earned her awards for Excellence in Writing and Best Theatre Production from the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and the Producer's Choice Award from the New York International Fringe Festival. Her 2004 play, The Eisteddfod, won the awards for Excellence in Direction and Producer's Choice at the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival. Her 2009 play, Goodbye Vaudeville, Charlie Mudd, won the State Library of Victoria's Louis Esson Prize for Drama, which she won again in 2012 for A Golem Story.
In addition to some twenty playscripts, Katz has written occasional episodes of television (including for young-adult fantasy series The Elephant Princess and adult fantasy-romance Spirited), as well as regularly scripting short films, including Ingrid Sits Holding a Knife (2006, directed by Charlotte George), The Apocalypse Bear: Beyond the Sea (2009, directed by Nicholas Verso), and Greg's First Day (2012, directed by Scott Otto Anderson).
Further Reference
Robb, Peter. 'Out of the Box: Meeting Lally Katz'. The Monthly. August 2011. (Sighted: 22/10/2012)
Troup, Cynthia. 'Space to See Things: An Interview with Lally Katz'. Antipodes, 1 June 2006. (Sighted: 22/10/2012)