Where Playscripts Go To Live and Other Art-Related Events

I remember (this is Catherine here) such a long time ago being completely devastated when my play Clark In Sarajevo was knocked backed from being published. It had done incredibly well – hell I stood at photo shoots for Literary Awards and it seemed everyone else had their plays with the lovely gold imprint to say you are “shortlisted” sitting on the table to be autographed. But in those days I was still under the belief a play would never be real unless it was a book. Oh it came close – a tiny publisher down south of Sydney, it even went to the proof stage and then they suddenly disappeared. Even more exciting a major American Theatre Magazine wanted it, I was told it was happening! It was real. It was not.

But the play fell on its feet with the dynamo of AustralianPlays.org. They had it in brochures and showcases and since then Clark In Sarajevo has had a multitude of productions from the major acting schools i.e NIDA, WAAPA, WAYTCO to tertiary acting programs all over the country. In the last couple of years it has had productions in both Singapore and Scotland as well.

Now AustralianPlays.org has a vast number of plays that can either be bought or borrowed, yes you can get a library card! Critically the majority of these plays would have been lost if it weren’t for this institution. They are international in their reach with welcoming introductions in German, French and Japanese.

Crucially they are advocates. Tom Healey the Literary Manager, amongst other capacities, chooses plays that he believes will suit a certain demographic and this is promoted through social media. There are also interviews with writers online, which may be of enormous help to actors, directors or writers and many others.

Our Ned has just had 10 of his Shakespeare for Australians plays published under the title Magic Box. It’s right there on the front of the page of the site. Go see.

Now onto a couple of other things one of my plays Deviant Art for the Degenerate was recently shortlisted for the AABB Foundation Playwriting Competition in the U.S. One of the aims of the prize is to create LGBT themed plays based on or inspired by history. (Yes AustralianPlays.org my latest draft hasn’t yet been sent to you with its new title!). It didn’t win but it made me think it’s time now to keep pushing this work further…

Finally if you are in Sydney I’ve three paintings in the Artsite Christmas Salon Collector’s Choice. It goes from the 30 November to the 15^th December.

Here’s the link to the address and to preview the works:

  

http://www.artsite.com.au/next.php

All works under $1500 and one work up at a time until sold. So if you are at all intrigued check out the stock room to see my other ones.

This one is called Precious Metal Mind (Acrylic on Canvas, 46 cm x 46cm)

A Friday Round-Up from Catherine

Very, very proud to report that some of our own are being rewarded for their hard work in the form of peer assessment from the AWG. Noelle and Donna picked up AWGIE Awards for their ABC Radio Drama  (Original and Adaptation) Plays. Also Vanessa was short-listed for the Kit Denton Disfellowship from what I've been told was a high number of submissions - subversion rules! Not only that but her terrific play Porn.Cake was nominated for Best Play so that ROCKS!

Personally I've been in that timeless zone of writing the 3rd draft of a 90 minute work. I feel it's close but the play is at the incremental stage, examining each moment intently, doubting and questioning and I won't really know what I have until I have the flesh and blood of actors blowing the breath into it...

All of which leads me to the reading of my new play 'gifted' at the Arts Platform and what a blast of energy it was, organised and cast by Augusta Supple. It was so wonderful for me to have the sensation of it for the very first time and the actors were excellent, totally invested in each moment and really allowed me to see things I hadn't before and work out where the 'hotspots' are and need attention. So generous especially for everyone to come out on a freezing cold evil wind of a day. Thank you.
http://augustasupple.com/
http://www.theartsplatform.com/the-arts-platform-2/

Finally I have had two paintings selected for the Great Unknown, a curated exhibition at Artsite Gallery in Camperdown from this Saturday 1st Sept to the 16th Sept so do get along if you having an ART impulse of a day!
http://2012.sydneyfringe.com/event/visual-arts/great-unknown-exhibition-2012