Australian Scripts Added to Lineup for National Showcase of New Plays
WASHINGTON, DC - The NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN), the country’s alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, proudly announces the addition of two new Australian plays to its National Showcase of New Plays lineup, hosted November 29 – December 2 in Washington, DC by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Plays by Vanessa Bates and Declan Greene will join six previously-announced American plays as the first half of a new exchange program with Sydney-based PlayWriting Australia, that country’s premier playwright-support organization. Two U.S. writers, soon to be announced, will visit Australia’s National Play Festival in spring 2013 to complete the exchange and see their work presented for Australian new-play producers.
“NNPN can’t wait to introduce American theaters to these extraordinary Australian voices,” says Executive Director Jason Loewith. “Vanessa and Declan traverse familiar terrain in wholly unexpected ways, which is why this exchange with PlayWriting Australia will bear so much fruit for both of our playwriting communities.”
“This is a thrilling opportunity for these two talented Australian playwrights,” notes Chris Mead, PWA’s Artistic Director. “Both write great comedy. And both have a very sharp eye for common contemporary challenges and possibilities. We remain appreciative of your generosity and willingness to cast your eyes across the Pacific to a country and people very different, but also very similar to your own.”
ABOUT THE SELECTED PLAYS
Every Second by Vanessa Bates. Two childless thirty-something couples are desperate to have babies. Overwhelmed by the need to create new life no matter the cost, their existence becomes a race against science, self-confidence and friendship, with test-tubes and Chinese herbs their only allies. A graduate of NIDA Playwrights’ Studio and a member of playwrights’ company 7-ON, Bates is a Playwright-in-Residence with Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company.
Moth by Declan Greene. Sebastian is a terminally unpopular fifteen-year-old suburban kid, with an overactive imagination and an obsession with anime and death. His only friend, Claryssa, is an emo Wiccan art-freak barely one rung higher than Sebastian on the social ladder. What starts as just another night drinking down at the cricket nets soon gives way to an ecstatic vision that leaves Sebastian unconscious, their friendship left in ruin. Greene is a Melbourne-based theatermaker whose work has been seen at the Sydney Opera House, the Malthouse in Melbourne, and – as part of the trash-drag duo Sisters Grimm – in site-specific performances across the country.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL SHOWCASE OF NEW PLAYS
The National Showcase of New Plays is a traveling new-play festival that presents the country’s best unproduced plays in staged reading format to an intimate gathering of theater professionals. With artistic leadership from most of our 26 Core Member and 13 Associate Member Theaters in attendance, the Showcase creates a unique, invaluable opportunity for production-ready scripts to be heard by the people most willing to produce them. In addition to artistic and managing directors, we invite a group of 100 playwrights, literary managers, playwright agents, and other colleagues from around the country to network with us on behalf of the plays and playwrights we present. The vast majority of the scripts read at the Showcase go on to professional productions within and outside the Network.
ABOUT PLAYWRITING AUSTRALIA
PlayWriting Australia is the national peak body supporting the development and promotion of high quality new Australian writing for performance. We discover creative artists, improve and enhance playwrights’ skills and foster national networks in order to see more Australian work on stage and in print. We offer playwrights, or those who want to start writing plays, investment in the creative development of their new work, as well as the opportunity to participate in one of our professional development opportunities. For theatre companies and producers we can help find and commission playwrights, support the creative development of a new play project, as well as assist in selecting the right dramaturg to better develop a new project. Each year, we receive and assess around 300 script submissions to our programmes, we support the development and promotion of up to 30 new Australian plays, employ more than 120 artists and reach audiences of over 1,500 with public performances, playwriting workshops and masterclasses. Visit www.pwa.org.au.
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