Canberra Youth Theatre’s award to launch a theatrical star
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When it comes to putting the voices and stories of youth centre-stage, Canberra Youth Theatre (CYT) is prepared to put its money where its mouth is.
It has selected three finalists from over 50 submissions from across the country to be considered for the CYT’s prestigious Emerging Playwright Commission.
The commission, which is generously supported by law firm Holding Redlich, offers an emerging playwright $16,800 to develop a full-length script suitable to be performed by actors aged anywhere between 7 and 25. The other two finalists will also receive $1,500 each to support their writing practice.
Madelaine Nunn from Victoria is an award-winning actor, writer, and two-time AWGIE nominee who has worked across theatre, film and radio since graduating from the VCA in 2015. Madelaine is a co-founder of Three Birds Theatre, and Associate Artistic Director at Rollercoaster Theatre. Her work is a comedic sci-fi thriller that delves into the existential questions surrounding artificial intelligence, meaningful human relationships, and the unsettling possibility of our own redundancy. Set in a not-too distant future, The Experiment follows a group of teenagers who are selected by tech giant ‘NeuroTek Industries’ to participate in a prestigious summer program, which they soon realise is part of an elaborate and ground-breaking experiment. Their task? To uncover the AI hidden among them.
Sonia Dodd (NSW) is a Malaysian-Australian creative, originally from Newcastle. She holds a Bachelor of Communication (Theatre/Media) from Charles Sturt University and is currently finishing a Graduate Certificate in Psychological Science online. Sonia is an Associate Producer with Darlinghurst Theatre Company and also works as a freelance independent producer, actor and writer. How to Destroy the Beep Test in 5 Days is a boisterous dramatic blueprint for a student uprising: to overthrow the most unethical, torturous, and universally-loathed assessment of physical endurance ever known (to Australian schoolchildren), the Beep Test. Have you ever met anyone who speaks fondly of the Beep Test? No one enjoys it. No one wants it. Why is it even a thing? It’s time to destroy it, once and for all.
Gabriel Fallen from Victoria is a trans non-binary theatremaker, writer, and performer currently studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) at the Victorian College of the Arts. Acrylic Paint is a teen comedy-drama that follows thirteen arts students over a semester in a budget-friendly “self-guided” model of arts education. The students debate, gossip, and occasionally share their deepest secrets through their art, baring their souls in a space without an adult presence.
Luke Rogers, Artistic Director and CEO of CYT, said that after months of “reading, assessing, discussing, appreciating and very much enjoying the creative visions of over 50 of Australia’s most exciting playwrights, we are delighted to announce the three finalists for our 2023 Emerging Playwright Commission. It’s a privilege to witness the incredible talent rising up in Australian theatre, and to play a part in nurturing the voices that will shape our culture for generations to come.”
Through Commission, CYT made a commitment towards the long journey of creating new work, working with the winning playwrights to develop their play over a number of years with the young artists in the company. “This atmosphere of collaboration and creativity yields enriching experiences for everyone involved, and year-on-year, is producing incredible new works for the stage. Canberra Youth Theatre is leading the way with professional remuneration for emerging playwrights, making a serious contribution to the national conversation, with intelligent, challenging theatre for, by, and about young people.”
This year, CYT has brought two commissioned works to the stage, You Can’t Tell Anyone by Joanna Richards, and Rosieville by Mary Rachel Brown.
The winner of this year’s Emerging Playwright Commission will be announced in December.
Main image of Rosieville cast by Andrew Sikorski.
