HOLMES A COURT OPEN AWARD WINNER
BRUCE HOOGENDOORN
THE ROLE MODEL

Scott is a retired Olympic swimming champion who’s just ruined his career as a motivational speaker by sleeping with his best mate’s girlfriend. The only way to get his life back is to change his image from a sexual predator into a good bloke. His manager decides the best way to do that is to get him to help depressed teenagers with an exercise program. Problem is, the kid he tries to help just won’t cheer up.

Bruce began writing plays in the late 90s and his plays ALICE OF HEARTS and BLUE SKY WITH CLOUDS were produced in Canberra in 2000. He has since written a number of other plays which have had staged readings by the ACT Region Playwrights, Passages Theatre Company and the Street Theatre in Canberra, including SIMON SAYS, THE TOO-HARD BASKET and THE ROLE MODEL.

HOLMES A COURT OPEN AWARD WINNER
VANESSA BATES
LAKES OF DEATH AND DREAMERS

When Morgan returns home he finds a battlefield. His brother Franky is in a wheelchair, his father has dementia and the TV is permanently set to images of war. Under a thin veneer of civility and family duty lies all the rage and hatred of the brothers’ past and one act of self sacrifice is enough to crack the surface. A blackly comic snapshot of our nation.

Vanessa’s plays have been produced throughout Australia including for Sydney Theatre Company, Vitalstatistix, Black Swan Theatre, B-Sharp Belvoir and ABC Radio. Her recent play CHECKLIST FOR AN ARMED ROBBER won a 2005 AWGIE. She has written for film and television and is a writer/arts mentor for national arts company Big hART. Vanessa is a graduate of NIDA Playwrights’ Studio.

HOLMES A COURT OPEN AWARD WINNER
SUZIE MILLER
ALL THE BLOOD AND ALL THE WATER

Angel’s dad is an Iraqi Muslim, his mum is second generation Australian Italian. His friends Ryder, Lola and Honey are Anglo Aussies, his family friends are from his dad’s culture. Despite terrorist attacks and local racial tension, Angel falls in love with Honey. But when Ryder’s big brother Jax gets out of prison, Angel must choose between two worlds. In a new multicultural world, is blood thicker than water?

Suzie Miller is a NIDA playwriting graduate and has a Masters degree in Theatre and Law. Suzie’s first play CROSS SECTIONS was produced in 2004 and then at SOH Studio in 2005. It was shortlisted for a Qld Premier’s Award in 2004 and nominated for 2005 AWGIEs. In 2006 Suzie participated in workshops with Simon Stephens and FINAL VERDICT had a professional reading at the Playworks Festival. Suzie’s play SOLD was also produced in 2006.

INDIGENOUS AWARD WINNER
JANE HARRISON
BLAKVELVET

Candy is young, Koori, a camgirl (blogger) and just another teenage girl who goes missing. A detective interviews her family, friends, teachers and acquaintances, unravelling the answer to his, and our, questions; was she everything she presented herself as being, and is she the exploited, or the exploiter?

Jane Harrison, a descendant of the Muruwari people, began writing for the theatre with the commission of STOLEN. STOLEN premiered at Playbox Theatre in 1998 as part of the Melbourne International Festival and has had annual productions, touring Sydney, Adelaide, Tasmania, WA, rural Victoria, the UK (twice), Hong Kong and Japan, with readings in Canada and New York. Jane was the co-winner of the Kate Challis RAKA Award 2002, for STOLEN. Her play RAINBOW’S END was produced in 2005 while current works in progress include a young adult novel, BECOMING KIRRALI JONES, and the play BLAKVELVET.

GREY MATTER AWARD WINNER
BILL FLEMING
GONDWANA INC.

Ben is into another craze, cryonics; cryogenic freezing, hoping for a second go at life. Felicity wants children, or is it out; and are kids but her stepping stone to a brighter better future? And the other players, some venal, some lovable, are one and all pursuing their private El Dorado. GONDWANA INC.’ takes us on a wild, cheery and occasionally chilling journey into their collective futures.

Soldier, pilot, government official, artisan - Bill Fleming has been all of these, and now he is happily retired. In his work he draws on events and experiences over the years, places visited and emotions and feelings these other ‘lives’ aroused, all coupled with a goodly sprinkling of imagination. Born and educated in Queensland, he has written plays, short stories and film scripts. He has recently completed two other full-length plays, BAIT and ALAS POOR BILL and assures us the grey matter is still active and he is not finished with writing yet.

MACQUARIE BANK REGIONAL AWARD WINNER
CATHERINE RYAN
GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL

A suitcase falls from the sky. Lands bang in the middle of a street. And the woman who emerges to make it her public private home throws a challenge to all who watch her. Where are we safe? How to survive? What do we choose to show? To see? To actually DO? It’s a surreal, bleak and humorous, yet hopeful barb to a world that’s always watching.

A graduate of VCA Drama School, Catherine works as a writer, dramaturg, director and community theatre worker. Alongside her own practice, she continues to create with Barking Owl Theatre, which she co-founded in 2001 in Central Victoria. Her writing has been produced on stage (incl La Mama Melb), radio (ABC) and as text-based public/electronic art actions. She dramaturgs for both stage and documentary film projects, and is a 2006 Affiliate Writer with Melbourne Theatre Company.

EMERGING AWARD WINNER
CALEB LEWIS
THE SEA BRIDE

The SEA BRIDE is a bold new adaptation of the traditional Selchie (mermaid) myth; it evokes the lyricism and wonder of the traditional Celtic fairy tale, reconfigured in the brutal unforgiving seascape of a wind battered rock in Bass Strait. The story offers a moving and intensely beautiful reflection on love, loss and grief in the barren islands of the Tasman Sea during the last days of sealing.

Caleb studied playwriting at Flinders University under playwright Verity Laughton. He was mentored by Nick Enright and In 2003 won the IAF Literature Scholarship to research the play KRISSY PHO in Vietnam. That year he also won Naked Theatre Company’s Write Now competition for his play, ROCKETBABY. In 2004 Caleb began a twelve-month residency with Griffin Theatre Company culminating in the world premiere of NAILED. His short film, THE HALF WINDSOR, opened in Sydney in May. He is currently working on three new plays, MAN LOVE AND THE MONKEYBOY, DOGFALL and THE SEA BRIDE.

YOUTH AWARD WINNERS
CLARE SKINNER & JADE ORMISTON
SO?

SO? raises doubts about the acceptance of conventional wisdom and its norms. SO? Is an Absurdist comedy that exploits language to challenge what we accept without thinking. It is designed to challenge and provoke. It satirizes attitudes, people and ideas within the context of two characters waiting for someone or something in an art gallery.