Donna Abela

Tales From The Arabian Nights

A Walk in the Park 

Olympia and Phoung

Donna Abela has written for audiences of all ages, collaborating across a range of performance genres to write over thirty works.

Her credits include A Cleansing Force (Novemberism Festival of New Writing), A Walk in the Park (Brand Spanking New at the New Theatre) Olympia and Phoung and Oliver Twist Is (The 428 project), Spirit (Griffin Theatre Company), The Greatest Show On Earth (Queensland Music Festival, co-written with Patrick Nolan), The Rood Screen (Darlinghurst Theatre Company) Tales From the Arabian Nights (Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image), The Daphne Massacre (Parramatta Riverside Theatres), Aurora's Lament, Mrs Macquarie's Cello, and Fathom (ABC Radio), Highest Mountain Fastest River (Salamanca Theatre Company), Quest (Pact Youth Theatre), One In A Million (Death Defying Theatre), Circus Caravan and 4 Speed Blenders (Jigsaw Theatre Company), and No Funny Business, More Funny Business, and Lots More Funny Business (New Theatre, head writer).
Donna cut her playwrighting teeth at Powerhouse Youth Theatre, a company she co-founded in 1987 in Sydney's culturally diverse western suburbs. For PYT he wrote Ratbags, Reek Havoc, Was Liverpool Always Full of Headbangers? and Shazam, and devised a number of unscripted works. Donna worked continuously for PYT for seventeen years as it consolidated its practice of community collaboration, and established a base at the Fairfield School of Arts. She chaired the company from 1993 to 2003, and is looking forward to celebrating its 25th birthday in 2012.
Donna has long championed writers and new writing, and has worked extensively as a dramaturge and script assessor. She was on the board of the national script development organisation Playworks, Women Performance Writers Network from 1999 to 2006, acting in the position of Artistic Director in 2002, and chairing the company in its final year.
Donna studied at UTS, UNSW, the NIDA Playwrights' Studio, and the City Art Institute. She is a doctoral student at the University of Wollongong, and teaches scriptwriting at Wesley Institute.