Australian Theatre Festival – NYC announces inaugural new play award winner

Australian Theatre Festival NYC Richard JordanArtistic Directors Mark Barford, Connor Delves and Jillian Geurts has announced Richard Jordan as the inaugural Australian Theatre Festival New Play Award Winner for his play The Tiniest Thing.

The New Play Award recognises a new play with a distinctly Australian voice that is big on ideas and bold in its ambition. The inaugural award received 99 submissions from Australian playwrights across the globe.

The winning play was chosen after a rigorous blind judging process where the playwright’s names were removed before reading. Richard Jordan was unanimously selected by a panel of industry experts, including Co-Artistic Directors Mark Barford, Connor Delves and Jillian Geurts.

Co-Artistic Director Mark Barford, who will direct the public staged reading of the award winning play commented, “The response to our new play award has been mind-blowing and speaks to a need in our industry to support the development of new plays and playwrights,” he said.

“I am thrilled that we have unanimously chosen The Tiniest Thing by Richard Jordan as the inaugural winner. It is a big, bold Australian play that is very relevant to today and asks questions about our relationships to our families and climate change. I look forward to working with Richard on developing the play further and presenting it for the first time in New York City this May.”

The Tiniest Thing by Richard Jordan is an eco-family drama about the politics of perception. It explores climate change denialism and generational inheritance within a fateful weekend for one Brisbane family. The Tiniest Thing asks: Do we always choose what we want to believe?

Richard Jordan is an award-winning playwright from Brisbane. His plays have garnered several awards and honours, including the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award (25 Down, 2009), the Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work (Machina, 2015), three Matilda awards (2009; 2015), a writer’s residency at Marrickville Council, Sydney (2011), a Creative Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire (2013), and a public reading at the Royal Court Theatre, London (2008).

In 2016 he established the “Incubator” Program in conjunction with Playlab in Brisbane, where he mentored 12 emerging playwrights. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing and Drama from the University of Queensland, and an Advanced Diploma in Screenwriting from the Australian Film Television and Radio School. He currently lectures in Theatre Studies at the University of New England (Australia).

The Australian Theatre Festival – NYC, is an annual celebration of Australian stories and artists in New York City. The program runs 21 – 24 May 2020. For more information, visit: www.australiantheatrefestival.com for details.

Image: Richard Jordan