Applications open for Emerging Playwright Commission (Australia)

This initiative places emerging playwrights at the centre of the creative process, and is specifically designed to springboard writers at a crucial point in their career. This commission is for emerging Australian playwrights aged under 35 who have created a modest body of work, but have not yet been professionally produced by a major theatre company.

Their goal is to nurture an emerging playwright’s professional growth by investing in their artistic development at the early stages of their career, and supporting them through a creative development process that results in a new, challenging and intelligent theatrical work that expresses the voice of youth, whilst contributing to the development of a rich canon of new Australian plays written especially for young people.

Benefits

• The finalists will be invited to attend a special ceremony in Canberra in November where the winner will be announced, receiving a commissioning fee commensurate with the Australian Writers’ Guild theatre rates. In 2024, this is $17,100. Two finalists will receive $1,500 each to support their writing practice.
• The commissioned playwright receives ongoing dramaturgical support, collaborates with an ensemble of young emerging artists, participates in a series of creative development workshops in Canberra with their Artistic Director and Resident Artists, and sees their script come to life in a staged reading of their work.
• The successful writer will also have the opportunity to collaborate with other young artists across the Emerging Artists Program, and participate in activities and conversations that contribute to the artistic vision of Canberra Youth Theatre.

What they are looking for?

• Works that are driven by and exclusively involve young characters.
• Works suitable to be performed by actors aged between 7 and 25 years (you do not need to write for the entire age range).
• Cast size should be a minimum of 8 actors, and be suited for an ensemble cast rather than being driven by one central character.
• Plays that will be a minimum one hour long.
• Bold ideas that are challenging, intelligent, theatrically adventurous, and give young performers sophisticated, exciting roles to perform and extend their skills.
• Stories, ideas and characters that are relevant and authentic to the experiences and passions of young people.
• A play that challenges audiences expectations about what theatre created by young people is capable of.

Eligibility Criteria

• Writers must be:
  • an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged over 16 and under 35 at the time of applying
  • an emerging artist who is in the early stages of their career and has created a modest body of work in the independent sector, but not professionally produced by a major theatre company
• They strongly encourage applications from:
  • ACT and surrounding regions based artists
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists
  • Culturally and Linguistically Diverse artists
  • Artists who identify as LGBTQIA+
  • Artists with disability

For more information, visit Canberra Youth Theatre.