What will YOU write in 2025?
For new, emerging and established playwrights living in Victoria, MWT is the place to be in 2025. Whether you have written a play or would like to, chances are we have a program, production opportunity, showcase event or online workshop that is a perfect match for your script and your skills and will help you, creator of the first and owner of the second, to grow bigger and shine brighter.
2025 has been a full and exciting year for us, with plenty of new MWT scripts showcased and more currently in development. From 12th – 18th March we presented our SEASON 2025 at The Stables @ Meat Market. A double-bill event, this season of new writing by MWT members saw the performance of the full-length play Lyceum Highway – winner of The 2025 Amethyst Award – followed by ten new monologues in the two-part production Metropolis Monologues. 11 playwrights, 11 actors, 2 directors and a talented crew came together in this theatrical tour-de-force – for photos, footage, and show summaries click here.
We are excited to announce that the winner of The 2026 Amethyst Award is ‘Who I’m Doing This For’ by Peter Farrar. Congratulations, Peter! The selection reports may be viewed here. We look forward to presenting this compelling new work at Meat Market Stables from 24th March – 1st April 2026.
Our intensive dramaturgical program Page to Stage is now in its fifth year, with our 2025 playwright + dramaturg teams about to present their four new scripts to the public in The Stage Door Readings to be held on 15th & 16th November at Theatre Works. Meanwhile the 13 playwrights who participated in Gasworks Script Lab 2025 are about to see their new scripts brought to life on stage at the Showcase Nights, to be held on 17th & 18th October at Gasworks Arts Park. On 8th August we celebrated the ten new short plays written in the The Green Room Project, a new creative partnership between MWT and Wyndham Cultural Centre, at Wyndham Cultural Centre. And our popular monthly online Workshops, providing refresher courses, new skills and an opportunity to connect with MWT playwrights and artists, will again finish in 2025 with the UNESCO Workshop Series, to be held on Zoom on 10th, 17th & 24th November. All welcome!
We’d love you to be a part of the MWT journey, so take a moment to wander through our website and find out what we can offer you. If you’re not already a member of Melbourne Writers’ Theatre, we encourage you to join. If you’d like to be added to our Playbill mailing list, click here. For all other queries, contact us.
Whichever part of Victoria you come from, whoever you are, whatever you have written and whatever you will write in 2025, MWT is here to support you and your creative aspirations.
2025 CALENDAR
Our free monthly Workshops are held on Zoom on the first MONDAY of the month from 7pm – 8pm. They are created especially for MWT members, though non-members are also welcome to come along and see what we do at MWT! After each workshop, attendees may choose to stay online for an informal chat and catch-up. Details of our 2025 sessions can be found on the EVENTS page. Below is the Calendar at a glance.
February 3
Workshop #1
The Feedback Process
Featured writer: Hayden Dun
*Zoom
This first workshop for 2025 was preceded at 6pm by the AGM.
March 3
Workshop #2
Monologues that Sing
A Q&A with Jennifer Munday & Katrina Mathers
* Zoom
April 7
Workshop #3
To Plan or not to Plan?
Facilitator: Megan J. Riedl
* Zoom
May 5
EVENT
The 2025 Theatre Quiz
Host: Ian Robinson
* Zoom
June 2
Workshop #5
What Makes this Theatre?
Facilitator: Emily Duncan
* Zoom
July 7
Workshop #6
The Winter Read
Facilitator: Jeannie Haughton
* Zoom
August 4
Workshop #7
Dialogue – Dos and Donts
Facilitator: Cathy Hunt
* Zoom
September 1
Workshop #8
Antagonist vs Protagonist
Facilitator: Steven T. Boltz
* Zoom
October 6
Workshop #9
Submitting a script for Metropolis Monologues
Facilitator: MWT
* Zoom
November 10, 17, 24
UNESCO Workshop Series
Facilitator: TBA
* Zoom
Show photos by Anna Moloney-Heath, John A. Edwards and Cosima Gilbert
P a g e
t o
STAGE
2 0 2 5
Q & A with Hayden Dun
Hayden participated in Gasworks Script Lab 2024. Here he talks about the short play he wrote in the program.
What is the name of your short play and what, briefly, is it about?
The title of my short play is ‘Second Chance’. The play follows two gay male detectives in the year 2044, who investigate the mysterious death of an elderly woman found in their best friend’s apartment.What was the inspiration for it?
The play was inspired by my experience in Melbourne’s queer, particularly gay male, community, which has a strong focus on youth, aesthetics, and drug use. In my experience, this scene embraces Botox, fillers, steroids and recreational drug use more than the general population. Additionally, I’ve always had a passion for sci-fi, so this story is a combination of two topics that interest me.You have considerable writing and performing experience in various music worlds. How have you found the workshops’ focus on a new, short-form play with its dialogue-driven script?
Wonderful. I have learned many things I would never have considered. For example, my script initially had multiple settings, but I realised with the help of our mentor that keeping the story in one location made the play much more engaging—especially for a short play. I’ve learned that giving a character a repeating catchphrase is satisfying, and that having characters echo snippets from previous lines in their responses can give dialogue more punch. These little tricks are things I now notice in successful movies and shows.
Hayden’s script was presented at Showcase Night 1 of Gasworks Script Lab 2024.
Photos:
Top: Hayden Dun in a workshop for Gasworks Script Lab 2024. *Photo by MWT
Bottom: Hayden Dun in performance. *Photo supplied by writer
Interview by Ros Varley
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