What will you write in 2023?
Whether you are an aspiring or established playwright, MWT is the place to be in 2023. We have dramaturgical programs, production opportunities, an innovative new Monologues series and some inspiring monthly Workshops we’d like you all to read about, find out more about and get involved in!
2022 was a big year for MWT. In November we presented four new plays developed through our Page to Stage dramaturgical program in The Stage Door Readings, an inspiring weekend of readings held at Theatre Works. Submissions for Page to Stage 2023 opened on 1st March and will close on 30th April. In November we also hosted our 2022 UNESCO playwright-in-resident Mykhailo Krupnik, from Odessa in Ukraine, who shared his expertise in writing children’s plays and musicals while a war raged on around him. At our 11th April workshop we will be presenting a reading of Mykhailo’s new full-length play, ‘Melbourne Cat. Secret Weapon’. And in December we presented our first-ever December Play, an online script event which, in 2022, showcased the new play Child of History by Rob Antoniades.
In 2023, we are continuing with these programs while launching some new initiatives designed to bring to light the writing of MWT members. We’d love you to be a part of this journey, so take a moment to explore 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. Wherever you come from, whoever you are and whatever you like to write, MWT is here to support you and your creative goals.
2023 CALENDAR
Our monthly Workshops are held on the first TUESDAY of the month from 7pm – 8pm, and usually via Zoom. After each workshop, there will be an opportunity for the attendees to have an informal catch-up and chat. Where workshops and events are presented on-site, they will also be livestreamed. Details of our 2023 sessions can be found on the EVENTS page. But here is the Calendar at a glance.
February 7
Workshop #1
Show Don’t Tell – the Power of Sub-Text
Facilitator: Naomi Sumner Chan
*Zoom
This first workshop for 2021 will be preceded at 6pm by the Annual General Meeting. All MWT members are welcome to attend.
March 7
Workshop #2
Finding an Authentic Monologue Voice
Q&A Panel session with playwrights Alison Knight & Louise Hopewell
*Zoom
April 11
Workshop #3
Melbourne Cat. Secret Weapon.
A rehearsed reading of the new play by Mykhailo Krupnik.
*Zoom
May 2
EVENT
The Yarra Monologues
Part 1: Readings of New Scripts by Actors
*Richmond Theatrette & live-streamed
June 6
EVENT
The MWT Theatre Quiz
A theatre trivia event – all members invited!
* Zoom
July 4
Workshop #4
Showreel Night – readings & recordings of new MWT play excerpts
*Zoom
August 1
Workshop #5
The Winter Read
A discussion of a selected play
*Zoom
September 6
EVENT
The Yarra Monologues
Part 2: Reading of New Scripts by Actors
*Richmond Theatrette & live-streamed
October 3
Workshop #6
Six Weeks Out – how to Produce
*Zoom
November 11 – 12
EVENT
The Stage Door Readings
Page to Stage 2022
*On-site and live-streamed
December 6
EVENT
The December Play
*Zoom
Show photos captured by assorted photographers, including John A. Edwards, Cosima Gilbert and Anna Moloney Heath.
P a g e
t o
STAGE
2 0 2 3
Q & A with Cerise de Gelder
HOSTAGE was presented by MWT at Gasworks Arts Park on 4th – 8th October 2022. We asked Cerise de Gelder, the writer of HOSTAGE, some questions about her work.
Question:
How did you write HOSTAGE? What did your process involve?
‘Hostage’ started as a ten-minute play with a mixed gender cast performed as a part of Birnam Wood’s Play Six in 2017. Originally, it was one of a group of plays called ‘600 Seconds’ in which something of importance is going to transpire in ten minutes – in this case one person is possibly going to die. Someone suggested it would make a good full length play, and I liked the idea of a shrinking cast where someone disappears at the end of each scene but we don’t know who it’s going to be. Then I decided it would be much more fun to make the whole cast female.
Question:
HOSTAGE has an all-female cast. Is it important to you to explore female stories and experiences?
I think we can all agree that in the past strong female roles for women have been thin on the ground in theatre/TV/movies, particularly for older women. This is gradually changing as we all start to realise that women have intriguing lives and personalities too – what a revelation! As an older female writer, the varied and complex relationships between women is obviously something that I’ve experienced firsthand and always find fascinating to explore. The workplace dynamic is a particularly interesting one for me as I worked for over thirty years in a predominately female profession.
Question:
The lead character in HOSTAGE is Julia, played by Charmaine Gorman. Who, or what, inspired this feisty woman?
Julia is a potpourri of many of the spiky, powerful, fearless, funny, wonderful older women that I’ve had the honour of knowing in my life – women who have seen it all, done most of it, and lived to tell the tale. She’s a hard nut to crack but she’s the friend I’d like to have beside me in any crisis.
Photos:
Cerise de Gelder (photo supplied by playwright). Hostage (credit: Cosima Gilbert).
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