What will YOU write in 2024?
Whether you are an aspiring or established playwright, MWT is the place to be in 2024. Regardless of what you will write or have just written, chances are we have a dramaturgical 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.
Our intensive dramaturgical program Page to Stage is now in full swing. Click here to see the Playwright and Dramaturg pairings for 2024. Our creative development program Gasworks Script Lab, presented in partnership with Gasworks Arts Park, is also now underway and the 2024 Playwrights are in the throes of writing their new plays. Submissions for The 2025 Amethyst Award, a significant theatrical production opportunity offered by MWT in alternate years, will open on 1st August and close on 31st August. And in and around these key opportunities is our ongoing offering of monthly workshops, script readings, manuscript assessments and showcase events.
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 or have another query, about MWT or just playwriting in general, please contact us.
Whichever part of Victoria you come from, whoever you are, whatever you have written and whatever you will write in 2024, MWT is here to support you and your creative aspirations.
2024 CALENDAR
Our monthly Workshops are usually held on the first MONDAY of the month from 7pm – 8pm, and usually via Zoom. They are open to members and non-members alike. After each workshop, attendees can choose to stay online for an informal chat with the group. Details of our 2023 sessions can be found on the EVENTS page. Below is the Calendar at a glance.
February 5
Workshop #1
Outstanding Plays contain …
Facilitator: Brooke Fairley
*Zoom
This first workshop for 2024 was preceded by the AGM.
March 4
Workshop #2
Writing Great Dialogue
Facilitator: Megan J. Riedl
* Zoom
April 8
Workshop #3
Know your Characters
Facilitators: Jennifer Munday & Louise Hopewell
* Zoom
Saturday May 4 @ 2pm – 5pm
EVENT
Scripts @ The Dock
Excerpts from 8 new MWT plays are read by actors
* The Performance Space – Library at the Dock
June 3
Workshop #4
Story, Story, STORY
Facilitator: Naomi Sumner Chan
* Zoom
July 1
Workshop #5
Writing Historical Drama
Panelists: Karyn Lee Greig, Marli van der Bijl and Bruce Shearer
* Zoom
August 12
Workshop #6
The Winter Read
Group discussion of the play Prima Facie
Facilitator: Melissa Forge
* Zoom
September 2
EVENT
Monologue Soiree
5 new MWT monologues are read by actors
* Zoom
October 7
Workshop #7
Getting those Grants
Facilitator: Clare Mendes
* Zoom
November 11
EVENT
Short Play Soiree
5 new MWT short plays are read by actors
* Zoom
Show photos by Anna Moloney-Heath, John A. Edwards and Cosima Gilbert
P a g e
t o
STAGE
2 0 2 4
Q & A with Ros Varley
Ros participated in the inaugural Gasworks Script Lab program, delivered by MWT. in 2023 The program culminated in two Showcase Nights Ros’ new short play ‘Horizon’ was performed at Showcase Night #1 on 24th October.
Before participating in Gasworks Script Lab, had you ever written a play?
Yes I had written a play before this program. I’m currently seeking cultural consultation for one of its six characters as he’s an Indigenous Australian.In a nutshell, what is ‘Horizon’ about?
My new play ‘Horizon’ is, essentially, about that fundamental human condition… yearning. One character seeks love, the other looks to the ‘horizon’.What inspired you to write this play?
‘Horizon’ explores two of the characters in another new play I’m writing … about issues of inequality in housing: lack of social housing on the one hand, gentrification on the other, and is set in Port Melbourne’s Sandridge Beach area.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Scribbling away in Melbourne/Naarm’s cafes and libraries, walking Sandridge and Rickett’s Point beaches – I concoct characters totally unlike me and love the intimate bond with them as I write short stories and plays; and I’m transported to another place, and time. Apart from reading, theatre, music and circus – and closely following the path to Voice – I like having soil and compost under my fingers in my Box Hill garden.
Photos:
Ros Varley (photo supplied by playwright)
Lucy Norton and Tristan Sicari, with Natasha Broadstock, in ‘Horizons’ – 24th Oct @ Gasworks Arts Park (photo by MWT)
* For show photos and a program summary, click here.
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