7-ON Welcomes 2013!

We are now eight years old. Each of us agrees that being part of this company has had so many benefits, both hoped for and unforeseen. It’s astonishing what you can accomplish as a group: however diverse you may be as individuals, if there is a core integrity to what you all believe in, then you can make it happen.

So, what have we made happen? Apart from the various pieces of theatre we’ve created together (The Seven Needs; Long Shadows; 13.11.35; Zed; Platonic), and the books we’ve co-created (Short Circuits; No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames), we’ve fought passionately for causes that, as a united voice, have made an impression: the equal representation of women playwrights on our main stages; restoring ABC radio drama; the importance of supporting writers past their first play.

And we continue to scheme and rub our hands about how to take over the world …  

Every year we agree on a focus for 7-ON, something around which to build these schemes and plans. For instance, 2012 was The Year of Publishing, which resulted in No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames.*  2013 is our Year of Connections. As individuals, as playwrights who have been slogging away in the business for a collective 200 years (!), we have worked with a lot of extraordinary artists, and seen a lot of stuff created by people with whom we’d give our eye-teeth to collaborate. We plan to revivify connections with artists around Australia and beyond it, and we will be inviting people to connect with us as a creative force.

So ‘connecting’ is 7-ON’s New Year’s Resolution. But we thought it would be interesting (and we hope, inspiring) to other writers out there for us to list our personal writing-related resos. So here they are:

VANESSA: “I resolve to dive more bravely into the ocean of story, myth and imagination and to stop stressing about authenticity (except in a theatrical sense). I am also going to cut down on the wine. After careful sustained research over the last 12 months I have come to the conclusion that it actually doesn’t help. Much.”

VERITY: “My resolution - I resolve to pursue an Outrageous Writing Adventure each month of 2013. Re alcohol. I've tried with. I've tried without. Without is better. On the other hand, a G and T at sunset on the deck at Boston Island is a Very Good Thing. Situation unresolved.”

NOËLLE: “To complete at least some of the plays, poems and essays sitting there unfinished in the cloud. And curb my digital appetite—I don’t need an iPad mini. Not really. And let's hope that commissioning and producing lots more new performance writing is on the resolutions list of others.”

NED: “To keep pushing the rock up the hill and defy Sisyphus.”

DONNA: “To write more in less time, work smarter not harder, from a wilder place. To sit down a lot less, and avoid developing a Buddha belly. And to get my office out of my bedroom.“

CATH: “My resolution is to continue with my major philanthropic activity.”

HILARY: “To turn off the Internet AT THE WALL during my writing hours. And to focus more on character (at least, for the two current projects): do more groundwork and then get out of their way. And to change my email address.”

Happy new year, everyone, and if you want to share your writing resolutions – spiritual, practical, or whatever – we’d love to hear them.

* For those who missed the blog-post about it, No Nudity is a collection of 21 monologues written specifically for drama students, taking into account the Department of Education’s parameters (thus the title) and providing guiding notes for each piece. The project was our response to what we saw as a need for new, quality, appropriate and challenging performance pieces for young actors. For sale from this site! See the picture of the cover on the right.