Playwrights need not apply

The Queensland Literary Awards deadline is fast approaching, but if you are a playwright, this year you need not apply. When the current Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman, decided that the established practice of Premiers awarding outstanding Australian writers was a waste of money, an assortment of literature advocates formed a not-for-profit association that would carry on this tradition. The efforts and passion of these volunteers in the face of cultural barbarism is nothing short of admirable. However, in the reshuffle, the Play Award has disappeared. Why have playwrights been left out of the new mix? Is it an oversight? A failure to find a sponsor for the award? An admission that the award can no longer come with a production? An indication that some hold the view that plays generally are not outstanding? Either way, the loss of an honoured award is yet another blow for our already beleaguered profession.

New Award for Australian Theatre Companies!

Half the world is at war; the other half is struggling with the rise of right-wing governments, the destruction of our environment, attempts to end social welfare, invasive surveillance of ordinary citizens... It's overwhelming, and bewildering, and makes most people feel like the struggle's too much.
So, how encouraging to see someone undeterred and trying to make a positive difference in the world!

Kudos to Niall Tangney, who has just established his Tell 'Em They're Dreamin' Award. Dismayed by the lack of action on the gender parity front - how many decades has this argument been going on? And why are we not seeing across-the-board changes in Australian theatre when it comes to representation of women playwrights on our stages? - Tangney has taken action himself.

The Award is open to all Australian theatre companies - student, professional, community, amateur. They must show that their season comprises at least 50% female or transgender playwrights. The prize is a cup of coffee and a biscuit, and if there are jostling front-runners (imagine that: two theatre companies giving women an equal voice!), two cups of tea and two biscuits is, apparently, not out of the question.

Updated profiles

As one 7-ONer said: Blogger and I were good friends. When Google took over, well, let's just say, the relationship soured.

When the Google behemoth swallowed Blogger it created some problems. As we found out when we tried to update our individual profiles. After spending far too many hours trying to fix the problem, we decided the simplest solution was to start afresh. That's why some of the posts immediately before this one are our updated biogs.

They can be accessed in the Individual Profiles widget on the right.

Donna Abela

Jump For Jordan, Griffin Theatre Company, 2014, photo by Brett Broadman

Donna has written over 30 original and adapted stage plays for youth, community, independent and mainstream theatre companies, and radio plays for the ABC and Eastside Radio. She has been commissioned to adapt stories in the public domain, develop original narratives, devise works with young or professional performers, create works based on community consultation, and to collaborate with multi-writer teams. Donna’s earliest plays were written for Powerhouse Youth Theatre in NSW, a company she co-founded and continues to support as a member of the board. Her most recent plays include Monkey: Journey to the West (Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image), Jump For Jordan and Spirit (Griffin Theatre Company), Caylee’s Ukulele (Australian Performance Exchange) Aurora’s Lament and Mrs Macquarie's Cello (ABC Radio), The Greatest Show On Earth (Queensland Music Festival, co-writer with Patrick Nolan) and The Daphne Massacre (Parramatta Riverside Theatres). Donna has worked extensively in script and writer development, working as a dramaturge and script assessor for many organisations and theatre companies, and serving on the board of Playworks Women Writers' Development Network between 1999 and 2006. She is a graduate of UNSW, UTS, City Art Institute and the NIDA Playwrights' Studio, and is currently completing a doctorate at the University of Wollongong.

Donna’s plays can be purchased via Currency Press (Jump For Jordan, Spirit in Short Circuit), The Australian Script Centre (Fathom, Aurora’s Lament, Mrs Macquarie's Cello, The Daphne Massacre, The Rood Screen, Quest, Tidal Voices, Tales from The Arabian Nights, 4 Speed Blenders, Highest Mountain Fastest River), The Federation Press (A Cleansing Force, Afterlife and Among The Missing in No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames: Monologues for Drama Students by 7on), Longman-Pearson Education (Princess and the Pea), Meriwether Publishing (Highest Mountain Fastest River in New International Plays for Young Audiences: Plays of Cultural Conflict, Circus Caravan in International Plays for Young Audiences: Contemporary Works from Leading Playwrights). 

Awards and Nominations
Spirit winner AWGIE Award for Radio Adaptation 2016 
Jump For Jordan winner AWGIE Award for Stage 2015; winner Griffin Playwriting Award 2013; nominated Best New Australian Work in the 2014 Sydney Theatre Awards; shortlisted 2015 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
Caylee’s Ukulele nominated AWGIE Award for Children’s Theatre 2014
Aurora’s Lament winner AWGIE Award for Radio Adaptation 2012
Mrs Macquarie’s Cello winner AWGIE Award for Radio Adaptation 2010
Fathom nominated 2006 Prix Italia International Competition for Radio Television & Web
Tales From the Arabian Nights shortlisted Play Award NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2005; nominated AWGIE Award for Children’s Theatre 2005, 
The Rood Screen Honourable Mention 2004 New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest USA; top five finalist in 2002 Newham Lesbian and Gay Writing Out Awards UK
The Daphne Massacre shortlisted Patrick White Playwrighting Award 2000
A Summer Reign 2nd prize Australian Writers' Theatre NSW Play Competition 1992
Highest Mountain Fastest River Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Award for Drama 1992
  

Vanessa Bates

Ursula Yovich in THE MAGIC HOUR by Vanessa Bates photograph by Jon Green

Relentless energy and humour – THE MAGIC HOUR, written by Australian playwright Vanessa Bates, is full of damsels in distress, but they are bleeding, coarse, filled with rage, hope and hot desire The Guardian

…a mouth-watering confection laced with genuinely biting satire. Funny, disturbing and utterly in tune with the zeitgeist PORN.CAKE is a bold step forward in contemporary theatre. 

The Age

Bates’ script (of EVERY SECOND) is compact, nimble, wryly funny and convincingly voiced.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Vanessa Bates is an award-winning Australian playwright.

In 2014 her play The Magic Hour toured Australia. Every Second premiered at the Eternity Theatre in Sydney. Her newest play Chipper was shortlisted for the 2014 Patrick White Award and the 2013 Griffin Award. A short play The Source was produced by Rock Surfers Theatre. Vanessa was playwright on Diving Off The Edge Of The World  produced by Tantrum Youth Arts. She was also Director of the 2014 Playwrights Festival for NSW Writers Centre.

Vanessa's plays include: Chipper, Every Second, The Magic Hour, Porn.Cake, Checklist for an Armed Robber and Darling Oscar as well as monologues and short plays for several multi-playwright shows including: The Blessing, Petunia Takes Tea, Hunger, The Night We Lost Jenny, Confetti, World’s Tiniest Monkey, First Light, A Lightbulb Moment, This Train, HomeMade and WishBone.

Her work has been produced by most Australian companies including Malthouse Theatre, Theatre@Risk, Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, atyp, Belvoir B Sharp, Griffin, Deckchair Theatre, Black Swan, Vitalstatistix, Tantrum, Freewheels, Reginald Theatre (Seymour), True West/Riverside and New Theatre.

Published works: Checklist For An Armed Robber (Currency Press), Porn.Cake (online - Red Door Imprints), Darling Oscar/STC 1 (5 Islands Press), Hunger/Short Circuits (Currency), First Light/The Voices Project (Currency), World's Tiniest Monkey, Nobody Famous, Farmer Frank is In Show Business/No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames (Federation Press) Legs Up & Laughing (Murdoch Books)

Vanessa won a 2012 NSW Premiers Literary Award for Porn. Cake. She won an AWGIE award for Checklist For An Armed Robber. She has won  Inscriptions awards for Every Second and Lakes of Death and Dreamers, and City Of Newcastle Drama awards for Match and here is the beehive. Vanessa has been shortlisted for the STC/Patrick White Award (Chipper, A Little Bit Each Night) Griffin Award (Checklist For An Armed Robber, Newton’s Cradle, Porn.Cake, Chipper) AWGIE award (Porn.Cake, 900 Neighbours,) New Dramatists award(Checklist For An Armed Robber) Victorian Premier’s Literary Award (Checklist For An Armed Robber). In 2013 Vanessa was also shortlisted for a Newton John Award at the University of Newcastle for her body of work.

Vanessa worked for several years as an artist to create works with marginalized community members with national arts organization BIG hART on various projects.

Vanessa is a graduate of the NIDA Playwrights Studio.

This play (EVERY SECOND) is the first play I have ever seen and I loved it. And now I want to see more theatre.

Random Audience Member (unrelated)

Verity Laughton

The Sweetest Thing, Arts Radar, Belvoir Downstairs, 2010

Verity Laughton writes for most forms of theatre including main-stage adult drama, adaptations, a promenade community event, a musical, plays for child and family audiences, as well as for dance, for puppets, for theatre of image and a ‘neutral script’. She is currently close to completion (2019) of a Creative Arts PhD at Flinders University, researching political theatre of trauma.

Her plays include Long Tan (Brink Productions) (2017) The Red Cross Letters (STCSA) (2016), A Crate of Souls (ACArts) (2010), The Sweetest Thing (Belvoir Downstairs/Arts Radar) (2010), The Lightkeeper (Mainstreet Theatre Company and national tour), The Snow Queen (Windmill Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company) (2003/4), Burning (Griffin Theatre Company) (2001), Carrying Light (State Theatre of South Australia and Vitalstatistix)(1999)  and The Mourning After (Playbox Theatre, 1995/6, Interplay Productions, New Zealand, 2000, and the Riverina Theatre, 2001).

In other writing, Verity’s radio play, Fox for ABC Radio National, won the 2004 AWGIE for Best Radio Play. She worked as dramaturg on a Japanese-Australian co-production, World of Paper (Hello Maru-Chan) in 2003, that was subsequently restaged in Australia, in the USA at the Kennedy Centre in Washington in 2006, and at London’s Unicorn Theatre in 2007. Gondwana, a large scale puppet piece with Erth Visual and Physical Theatre, was produced at the National Museum, Canberra, 2005, and restaged in New Zealand and Sydney and Brisbane in 2007/8. She adapted Patricia Wrightson’s The Nargun and the Stars, also with Erth, for the Sydney Festival and the Perth International Festival of Arts in 2009. The Sweetest Thing was nominated for four awards, including the NSW Premier’s Award in 2012).   

A number of Verity’s plays have been published: Long Tan, The Mourning After and Short Circuits (all with Currency Press); The Nargun and the Stars and A Crate of Souls (both with Phoenix Educational); No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames (Federation Press); Burning, The Lightkeeper and The Sweetest Thing (all with the Australian Script Centre).

Verity has published poetry and short stories for adults and children. Her poem, Fox Man, was the runner up for the Blake Prize in 2011 and Kangarilla, summer 2016 was included in Black Ink's Best Australian Poems, 2017, edited by Sarah Holland-Batt.  Verity also writes for video and television. For example, she wrote the children’s audio guide for the National Galley of Victoria’s Monet’s Garden exhibition in 2013 and has written in the past for Playhouse Disney. 

AWARDS

·      
     2016: Short-listed for the Martin Lycistrates Award, The Zookeeper's Daughter
     2015: Short-listed for Sydney Theatre Company Patrick White Award, What Has Been Taken

·      2014: Long listed for Theatre 503 Award, The Ice Season.

·      2014: Highly Commended Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize (In Which the Monster Talks to his Island)

·      2013: short-listed Rodney Seaborn Prize (The Red Cross Letters)

·      2012:  short-listed NSW Premiers’ Award for Drama (The Sweetest Thing)

·      2011:  runner up the Blake Poetry Prize 2011 (Fox Man)

·      2009:  winner Inscription (Open Section) (The Ice Season)

·      2008:  nominated AWGIE Award for Davy (Radio Drama)

·      2008: nominated AWGIE (Moon Door/Respect) (Radio Adaptation)

·      2007: short-listed for The Rodney Seaborn Prize (The Sweetest Thing)

·      2006: short-listed for Griffin Prize (The Sweetest Thing)

·      2007  long-listed for the London Warehouse Festival Prize (The Sweetest Thing)

·      2004: winner AWGIE  for Community Theatre (The Lightkeeper)

·      2004: winner AWGIE for Radio Drama (Fox)

·      2001: winner Griffin Prize (Burning)

·      2000:   nominated New Dramatists’ Award (Carrying Light)

·      1999: winner Adelaide Critics’ Circle (Best New S,A. play) (Carrying Light)

Verity's website can be found at https://www.veritylaughton.com/

Verity is represented by Anthony Blair at

Cameron Creswell Management.

7^th Floor, 61 Marlborough Street

Surry Hills

NSW 2010

Tel +61 2 93197199

Ned Manning

Ned Manning is a writer, actor, teacher.

He has written for the stage, for radio, for film and for various major publications including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC The Drum. His first work of non fiction, Playground Duty (NewSouthBooks), was published in 2012 and has become compulsory reading for anyone interested in teaching and teachers.

Ned has appeared in many Australian film, TV and theatre productions. He starred in the ‘80’s cult classic Dead End Drive-In and appeared in the teen hit Looking for Alibrandi. His latest film role is in the soon to be released  The Menkoff Method directed by David Parker. His TV credits include Bodyline, The Shiralee and The Farm as well as series from The Restless Years to Offspring. 

In theatre he has worked for the STC, Griffin and The Q Theatre amongst others.

He has written a number of plays for young people including Shakespeare for Australian Schools (AustralianPlays.org), a collection of plays unravelling the works of Shakespeare for school students that were initially commissioned by Bell Shakespeare. Other plays for young people include Alice Dreaming (Cambridge University Press), Women of Troy (AustralianPlays.org), The Bridge is Down (AustralianPlays.org)

Ned’s first play, Us or Them (Currency Press), was the Griffin Theatre Company’s first professional production.  Close to the Bone (Currency Press), developed with his students at the EORA Centre for Visual and Performing Arts, was the first Australian play to deal with the issue of the Stolen Generation. Luck of the Draw (Currency Press) was the first play by a non indigenous writer to be performed by Kooemba Jdarra in Brisbane. Other plays include Milo (Currency Press), Last One Standing (AustralianPlays.org), Kenny’s Coming Home (AustralianPlays.org).  Belonging/ShortCircuit (Currency Press) and contributions to 7ON’s No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames (Federation Press)

His latest play, Tsunami, is one of PWA’S 2014 supported State Exchange projects.

Last One Standing

Ned’s teaching career has encompassed government and non government schools as well as tertiary institutions.  His playwriting program, Finding Your Voice, has been taught in a wide range of educational institutions helping a wide range of students express themselves through writing short plays. In November 2014 an audio installation, Stories in the Wall, emanating from Finding Your Voice will be mounted at Arts Centre Melbourne. The program has been included in Regional Arts Victoria’s 2015 Education and Families Program.

Noëlle Janaczewska

Yellow Yellow Sometimes Blue, 2018. Photo by Teniola Komolafe

Noëlle Janaczewska is Sydney-based playwright, poet, essayist, and the author of The Book of Thistles (UWA Publishing)—part environmental history, part poetry, part memoir. She is the recipient of multiple awards, fellowships and residencies, including the 2020 NSW Premier’s Digital History Prize, a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, the Griffin Award, ten AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild Industry Excellence) Awards and a Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale University for her body of work as a dramatist. Noëlle’s recent productions and publications include: Experiment Street (ABC Radio National, 2019); Yellow Yellow Sometimes Blue (Q Theatre /Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Sydney, 2018); Seoul City Sue (ABC Radio National, 2018); audio scripts for the National Museum of Australia and the British Museum’s Rome: City and Empire exhibition, and Good With Maps (Siren Theatre Company, multiple seasons 2016 – 2021). Noëlle’s latest book is Scratchland (UWA Publishing Poetry Series, 2020). 

Read more at noelle-janaczewska.com or check out her food blog at eatthetable.com

Noëlle is represented by Cameron Creswell. Contact them at info@cameronsmanagement.com.au

Catherine Zimdahl

Agent: RGM ARTISTS

Phone (+61 2)9281 3911

8-12 Ann Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia

Website: http://catherine-zimdahl.squarespace.com/

Catherine Zimdahl is a playwright, screenwriter and visual artist. Her plays include Gifted, Step Up Stare Down, Deviant Art for the Degenerate (film adaptation nominated for IF Best Unproduced Screenplay), A Day Too Great, HereNowThenThere, Clark in Sarajevo, Family Running For Mr Whippy, Left Breathless A Question, The Fox, A World into A Child, A Child into the World and Moonfleet. Her film credits include Sparks and Life on Earth as I Know It.  Catherine’s plays have been produced around Australia by the Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, the Griffin Theatre Company, Windmill National Children’s Theatre and ABC Radio, amongst others. Awards include Griffin Playwriting Award, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, New Dramatists Exchange and AACTA Awards for Best Short Film and Best Screenplay.  Catherine studied screenwriting at the Australian, Film, Television and Radio School where she was the recipient of the Qantas Travel Award graduate prize. Her feature film script The Ego Trip is currently in development.

As a visual artist her painting “A Tear Magnified to the Power” was shortlisted for the Cliftons Asian-Pacific Art Prize in 2013.  Her most recent solo exhibition was “Sensorium (On the Internal Combustion of the Senses)” a selection of abstract paintings. Over the years her artworks have been represented in many curated group shows.  She is interested in working in multiple mediums and is currently creating a graphic novel “My Charitable Works” – a project that will work as the basis for a performance text and will also have both an online life and paper version artifact.