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NATIONAL SCRIPT WORKSHOP – CALL FOR ENTRIES

PlayWriting Australia is calling for entries for its National Script Workshop in Canberra in June.

National Script Workshop
Canberra, 25 June – 6 July 2007

PlayWriting Australia is the new national peak body for playwriting services, whose mission is to develop great new Australian writing for performance.

The workshop, which is PlayWriting Australia’s first major program, is part of a strategy to develop and present new Australian plays to a national audience.

The residential workshop offers playwrights the opportunity to develop their writing over a 2-week period of intensive work with the country’s finest directors, dramaturgs and actors. This new event is for emerging, developing and established playwrights with unproduced work at an early stage of development.

The plan

Over two weeks, up to eight teams will intensively develop an unproduced new work.

In week one, an ensemble of actors will be available for scene work, encouraging writers to experiment and explore. Week two will develop the findings from week one in concentrated sessions with writer, director and dramaturg.

Industry representatives will be invited to attend an informal session at the end of week one to meet the teams and discuss their projects.

The focus of the workshop is specifically on exploration and experimentation. It is not intended that writers will produce a performance-ready script by the end of the two weeks. The workshop is exclusively for creative dialogue between artists and will not conclude with public readings.

The selection process will concentrate on finding new work that demonstrates clear commitment to an idea with the potential for further exploration of that idea in an intensive studio environment.

Eligibility

Playwrights

As at 25 June, 2007, playwrights must be:

aged 18 or over, and
an Australian citizen or permanent resident

Plays

Eligible plays must be:

the writer’s original work
unproduced, and not scheduled for production before 9 July, 2007
received at PlayWriting Australia, with any additional information required, by 5pm, Friday 27 April, 2007

Plays that have been commissioned and/or optioned for performance by an Australian theatre company are eligible for submission to the workshop, provided that PlayWriting Australia is advised of the encumbrance at the time of application.

With the exception that the workshop is unable to support musical theatre works or work that requires musical dramaturgy, plays may be of any style and written for any cast size. It is anticipated that plays submitted for consideration will be at early stages of development.

Only one play may be submitted by each playwright.

Any creative team members already attached to the project will be taken into account and their details should be included with the submission.

Accommodation and travel

Playwrights normally resident outside the ACT who are selected for participation in the workshop will be provided with:

return travel from their normal place of residence to Canberra (limited to train or petrol allowance for NSW writers, airfares from all other states)
two weeks’ accommodation, and
daily meals or allowance as appropriate

How to apply

Please submit:

two printed copies of your play in its most recent draft, including one ‘clean’ copy on which the writer’s name does not appear anywhere (plays must not be bound or stapled and should be held together only with bulldog/foldback clips; all play pages must be numbered)
a separate page listing:
- short biographical details, including a summary of professional credits as available
- details of any support the play has so far received, including funding, mentoring or dramaturgy, and any future support currently planned
- details of any current commissioning and/or option arrangements
- details of any creative team members currently attached to the project, including their contact details, and
your full contact details including postal and email addresses and daytime phone number

Send your submission to:

PlayWriting Australia
PO Box 914
Newtown NSW 2042

Applications will not be accepted by email.

Applications must be received by 5pm, Friday 27 April.