Regional Playwriting

What is playwriting? How do I structure a play? What’s a Dramaturg?

Express Media, in partnership with Country Arts SA and Carclew , are both proud and excited to present Toolkits: Regional Playwriting!

This brand-new series in a 12-week, step-by-step program brings together play theory, practical exercises, script study, group workshopping, and one-on-one mentorship to guide young regional writers through the ins and outs of playwriting. With live broadcasts looking at a new topic each fortnight, and feedback weeks in between, Toolkits is first and foremost a practical initiative. 

This year, 8 young regional writers will join us for a comprehensive journey into the world of playwriting. Together we will explore the building blocks of creating a new work: the initial spark, the individual writer’s voice, specific playwriting techniques, and redrafting tools. 

Toolkits: Regional Playwriting will be facilitated by Jessica Bellamy, a playwright and teaching artist. Jessica trained at National Institute of Dramatic Arts, and has worked with companies in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, regional New South Wales, Singapore, and the Philippines. Plays include Thick Beats for Good Girls (Checkpoint Theatre, Singapore), Shabbat Dinner (Griffin Theatre, Sydney) and Compass (Australian Theatre for Young People). She was Artistic Director for Outback Theatre for Young People’s The Echo in our Walls between 2015-2017. She has taught playwriting and playbuilding for Arts Centre Melbourne, NIDA, Back to Back, and at many schools. 

Participants also have an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the best working contemporary playwrights and theatre makers in the country (to be announced), talking craft in live sessions both for general audiences and the class cohort. 

The Toolkits Regional Playwriting stream is open exclusively to those living in regional, rural and remote Australia. Priority will be given to applicants living in regional South Australia.

If you are an aspiring young playwright living in regional Australia, we want to hear from you!

Become an Express Media Member!

Applying to Toolkits: Regional Playwriting is free for Express Media members – along with a number of other perks, events, and opportunities. If you’re not already a member, you can easily sign up here.

Note: Express Media is committed to access, so if you would like to sign up and are experiencing financial hardship, please contact us via info@expressmedia.org.au to be awarded one of our sponsored memberships.

Applications are now closed


Jessica Bellamy is a playwright and theatre maker based in Melbourne. She has worked with companies in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, regional New South Wales, Singapore, and the Philippines during her career. Jessica is the co-writer and performer of Thick Beats for Good Girls (Checkpoint Theatre Singapore) as well as writer and performer of Shabbat Dinner, which has had three Sydney seasons. Recent collaborations include (After)Hero with Monash University Student Theatre, and collaborations with Albert Park College, Local Peoples, and Sydney Living Museums. She won the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award for Sprout (2011). Jessica has devised theatre with groups including Sipat Lawin Ensemble, Everything is Everywhere, Teen Makeouts, and Clockfire Theatre Company. She has run workshops or residencies for Arts Centre Melbourne, Dreamhouse Theatre, atyp, NIDA, OTYP, Back to Back Theatre, and in many schools.

Fleur Kilpatrick is an award-winning playwright, a director and arts commentator. She holds a postgraduate diploma of directing and a Masters in playwriting from the VCAM. She is a lecturer at Monash Centre for Theatre and Performance and the co-founder of Lonely Company, working to support emerging playwrights create sustainable careers.

Fleur’s plays have won the 2019 Helen Noonan Award (Whale), 2018 Max Afford Playwrights Award (Whale), 2016 Jill Blewett Award (Blessed, Poppy Seed Festival) and 2015 Melbourne Fringe’s Emerging Playwright Award (The City They Burned, Melbourne Fringe, Brisbane Festival). In 2019, she directed her adaptation of Slaughterhouse Five to critical acclaim and Whale premiered at Darebin Speakeasy. In 2018 her new play Terrestrial toured South Australia with the State Theatre Company of South Australia and her play Yours the Face received a new production in Sydney. Writing credits include Insomnia Cat Came to Stay (Quiet Little Fox, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth Fringe, Brisbane Festival, TINA), Yours the Face (Quiet Little Fox, Adelaide Fringe, Perth Fringe,Flight Festival) and Welcome to Nowhere co-written with Daniel Keene, Angus Cerini, Zoey Dawson and Morgan Rose (Monash University).

Fleur appears fortnightly on 3RRRs Smart Arts with Richard Watts.

Tasnim Hossain is a playwright, dramaturg and director. As a playwright, she has worked with ATYP, Shopfront Youth Arts and Canberra Youth Theatre and has written and performed solo work independently around Australia. She has worked with Q Theatre, BMEC, Arts OutWest, CuriousWorks, Performance Space and Playwriting Australia as a dramaturg. She was the assistant director on Banging Denmark for Sydney Theatre Company and The House at Boundary Road, Liverpool at the Old 505 Theatre and has also directed readings for several new works. She has been a STC and Contemporary Asian Australian Performance’s Directors Initiative participant, a Griffin Theatre Studio Artist, a MTC’s Women in Theatre program participant, and Resident Playwright at ATYP. She was also a co-creator, co-writer and performer in Carpark Clubbing, a web series for ABC iView, and is currently serving on ATYP’s board.


 

Have a question? Need help with your application? Send an email to Express Media’s Creative Producer Jesse Oliver at creativeproducer@expressmedia.org.au.

Toolkits is generously supported by The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund. 

Toolkits: Regional Playwriting is presented by Express Media in partnership with Country Arts SA and Carclew.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund Strategic Initiatives, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.