Apply for Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Commission (Australia)

This initiative puts emerging playwrights at the heart of the creative process. It’s designed to help launch the careers of talented writers who are ready to take the next step — those who are underway on their playwriting journey, perhaps with a production or two under their belt, but haven’t yet been professionally produced by a major theatre company.

Proposals must be for new works that are at least 60 minutes in length and written to be performed by actors aged anywhere from 7 to 25.

Funding Information

• The selected playwright will receive the full commissioning fee of $17,400 (aligned with the Australian Writers’ Guild rates for 2025), and two finalists will each receive $1,500 to support their writing practice.
• The winner will receive a full commission, ongoing dramaturgical support, take part in a series of creative development workshops in Canberra with an ensemble of emerging artists and their artistic team, then see your script come to life in a staged reading of your work.

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

Selection Criteria

• Proposals for works that are driven by and exclusively involve young characters.
• Proposals for 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.
• Submissions must not be for existing works, or works currently undergoing creative development with other groups or companies.

Application Requirements

• Applications must be submitted as a single PDF file, and include the following:
  • Your full contact details (name, pronouns, email, phone number, address, date of birth, and age at time of submission).
  • A synopsis for your proposed play (1 page max).
  • Proposed cast size, age group and character breakdown (½ page max).
  • A writer’s statement on the inspiration for the work, its urgency, and relevance for young people (½ page max).
  • A statement on why this commission is important to you at this stage in your professional career development (½ page max).
  • An indicative sample of the proposed work (no more than four pages).
  • Examples of your existing written work (no more than five pages). Be sure to include material that is indicative of the style of writing you are proposing.
  • They can only accept one application per person.

For more information, visit Canberra Youth Theatre.