Gasworks Script Lab 2025

A partnership between Gasworks Arts Park
and Melbourne Writers’ Theatre,
GASWORKS SCRIPT LAB
was presented for the third time in 2025.
Designed to identify and nurture
talented playwrights living in the City of Port Phillip
and in all corners of Victoria,
the 2025 program welcomed the following playwrights:

Emerging Stream

Keelan Armstrong
Michelle Adams
Lochlan Gibbons-Tighe
Rachael Vassallo
Shahrin Shamin
Matthew Chan
Bek Schilling

Experienced Stream

Megan Scolyer-Gray
Anita Barar
Noemie Huttner-Koros
Michel Paul Tuomy
Stephen Najera
Hiroki Kobayashi

To read about our 2025 Playwrights, click here.

Like to see the new plays that were written in this year’s program?

Tickets for the Showcase Nights, to be held on Fri 17th & Sun 18th Oct, are now on sale!

To purchase yours, click here or on the ticket link below.

And here are the SHOW PROGRAMS for each night, showing which Writers, Scripts and Actors will be presented. Exciting!

Showcase Night 1
Emerging (short plays)
Fri 17th Oct

Showcase Night 2
Experienced (excerpts from full-length plays)
Sat 18th Oct

We look forward to sharing these new scripts with you.

Gasworks Script Lab 2025

Gasworks Script Lab is open to all Victorian-based writers living in the City of Port Phillip and beyond. Ideally, program participants will be Australian citizens or permanent residents who are committed to developing and presenting their writing at a local/national level. The program features two streams – Emerging and Experienced – as defined below:

EMERGING: for new/aspiring writers who have never written for the stage but are interested in exploring the craft of playwriting

EXPERIENCED: for writers with playwriting experience and 1 or more theatrical production credits (‘credits’ includes both performances and public script readings) who are currently working on a new full-length play

We are able to support up to eight Emerging writers and six Experienced writers in the 2025 program. Selection is competitive, meaning that not all applicants can be guaranteed a place. Selections will be made by a panel from Gasworks Arts Park and Melbourne Writers’ Theatre and all applicants will be notified of the outcome by 10th June. In 2025 the facilitator of the Emerging stream will be MWT playwright/producer Clare Mendes. Award-winning writer and theatre-maker Laura Lethlean will return as this year’s facilitator of the Experienced stream. MWT resident director Karyn Lee Greig will lead the workshopping and direction of plays created in both streams.

Key Dates

Gasworks Script Lab is a multi-stage writing program. There is an expectation that participants will attend all workshops and meet deadlines, which will involve working on scripts at home between sessions. Completed scripts from each stream that are deemed ready for presentation will be shared with the public at the Showcase Nights on 17th & 18th October.

Workshops for EMERGING writers
Sat 21 June, 2pm–3.30pm: Introductory Workshop | Zoom
Sat 12 July, 11am–1pm: Writing Workshop #1 | Gasworks Arts Park
Sat 26 Jul, 11am–1pm: Writing Workshop #2 | Gasworks Arts Park
Sat 23 Aug, 10am–2pm: Script Development with Actors | Gasworks Arts Park
Fri 17 Oct, 6.30pm–8.30pm: Showcase Night #1 | Gasworks Arts Park

Workshops for EXPERIENCED writers
Sat 21 June, 2pm–3.30pm: Introductory Workshop | Zoom
Sat 12 July, 2pm–4pm: Writing Workshop #1 | Gasworks Arts Park
Sat 26 Jul, 2pm–4pm: Writing Workshop #2 | Gasworks Arts Park
Sat 23 Aug, 2pm–6pm: Script Development with Actors | Gasworks Arts Park
Sat 18 Oct, 6.30pm–8.30pm | Showcase Night #2 | Gasworks Arts Park