Playwright Julia-Rose Lewis has won the 2014 NSW Philip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights for her play Samson which will premiere in Belvoir’s Downstairs Theatre in 2015.
Lewis has written for Griffin Theatre Company, Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), La Boite, Brisbane Powerhouse, Rock Surfers Theatre Co, HotHouse Theatre Company and Grin & Tonic. For ATYP her monologue This Feral Life has been staged, filmed and published as part of The Voices Project.
“I’m thrilled Julia-Rose Lewis is the Parsons Fellow for 2015,” said Belvoir’s Associate Director – Literary Anthea Williams. “Julia loves people and she loves the way they talk.”
“She has a great ear for voices and creates characters that feel specific and quirky yet utterly believable. Samson is such a strong debut play that we’ve programmed it in our 2015 Season and I’m so pleased we get to work with Julia on her next professional work.”
The NSW Philip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights (formerly the Young Playwright’s Award) is given annually to an outstanding playwright who is in their first eight years of professional practice. The winner will receive a writer’s commission and creative development of their play supported by Belvoir.
Past winners of the Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award include Kit Brookman (Small and Tired), Zoë Coombs Marr (Is This Thing On?), Matthew Whittet (Old Man), and Kate Mulvany, whose play The Seed was part of Belvoir’s 2008 season and toured nationally.
The announcement of the NSW Philip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights on Sunday 30 November was preceded by the Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture, delivered by Ralph Myers, Artistic Director of Belvoir.
In his lecture, The Artistic Director: On the way to extinction? Myers discussed the trend of boards appointing administrators and producers to key artistic roles at Australian theatre companies and festivals.
For more information, visit: www.belvoir.com.au for details.
Image: Julia-Rose Lewis