New Theatre has announced the shortlist for The Silver Gull Play Award for 2024. With an extremely high standard of scripts submitted, this year’s competition attracted a record number of entries. For the first time, the competition was extended to include writers over the age of 18 from both NSW and the ACT.
The judging panel read, assessed and discussed each submission multiple times. The identity of the writers was kept anonymous from the judges, so the shortlist truly reflects a determination made on merit, based solely on the quality of the writing.
After a month and a half of deliberation, a shortlist of six plays has been selected. The judges were impressed by how each writer responded to the brief for plays that speak to New Theatre’s ethos of ‘Plays With a Purpose’ and the merit of scripts demonstrates the amazing strength and diversity of playwriting in this country.
The Silver Gull Play Award 2024 shortlist:
- 6069 and Counting – James Balian and Roger Vickery
- Fortress – Erica J. Brennan
- Noah’s Ark – Campion Decent
- Rehearsing Julie – Noel Hodda
- Roslyn Gardens – David McLaughlin
- Macaroni and Dead Things – Miranda Michalowski
The standard was so high this year, that a further three plays were Highly Commended: The Mountain Remembers – Daley Rangi, The Incorrigibles – Melita Rowston and She Threaded Dangerously – Simon Thomson and Emma Wright.
The curator of the awards is New Theatre’s Literary Manager, Helen Tonkin, and joining her on the judging panel for this year’s award is: Louise Fischer (Artistic Director, New Theatre), Margaret Thanos (Artistic Associate, New Theatre), New Theatre’s Play Assessors panel (Annie Bilton, Michael Briggs, Doug Cairns, Susan Jordan, John Keightley, Sahn Millington, Rayma Watkinson), Saro Lusty Cavallari (freelance director and writer, Artistic Director, Montague Basement), Joy Minter (sponsor of the award), Patrick Howard (freelance theatre maker, Arts on Tour Program Manager), and Siobhan Lawless (actor, Co-Artistic Director, Flight Path Theatre).
About the Writers:
James Balian
James is an Australian/Armenian from Baghdad, Iraq who arrived in Sydney as a teenager. He speaks English, Armenian and Arabic. Since graduating with a BA (Communications), James has enjoyed a rich and varied creative career. Recent stage credits include co-writing two very successful plays with Roger Vickery: A Nest of Skunks (2016) and Mum Me and the IED (2018). His monologue, Crossing the Bridge, was selected for the 2018 LA Raw Bites Road-Trip Show. In 2014 he produced his play Brother Daniel at the Tap Gallery. For the Sydney Fringe Festival, he wrote and directed two plays, the Viagra Monologues and The New Deal. His film credits include writing (and directing) Saturday Night, a feature film starring Alison Whyte and Aaron Pedersen, screened on SBS and selected for the San Jose Cinequest Film Festival; Thank You Jack, a telemovie directed by Rolf de Heer; An Electric Day, a teleplay (both screened on ABC TV) and five documentaries. James is currently developing various projects for Film, TV and Stage.
Roger Vickery
Roger grew up in country towns and now lives in Sydney on unceded Gadigal land. He has won many major awards for fiction, poetry, plays, scripts and legal texts, and his work has been published/performed/screened in Australia, Ireland, UK, USA and SE-Asia. In 2023 he won the Marjorie Barnard Short Story Award, was a runner up in the Irish-based Fish International Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize. His plain English textbook on business law has sold more than 160,000 copies. His previous stage collaborations with James Balian: A Nest of Skunks and Mum and Me and the I.E.D, revolve around future refugees on the run, and PTSD in Australian Afghanistan soldiers. Both were inspired by two of his award-winning stories.
Erica J. Brennan
Erica is a writer, director, performer and a proud Gamilaroi woman living on Gadigal country. She holds a Bachelor of Performance from Theatre Nepean (WSU 2008) and a Master of Applied Theatre Studies (UNE 2019). Her writing credits include A Feat Incomplete (2013), short works Hero and Companion (2017), This is Not Mills & Boon (2017) and The Hero Leaves One Tooth (2023). Her plays have been read at Storytellers Festival in both 2022 and 2023. Her eco-noir animation project Pregnant Detective was developed with a Fresh Start Grant from the ABC. She received a Highly Commended for the Griffin Award in 2024 for Jurassic Bark, an action-adventure play reimagining the rescue of the Wollemi pine trees from the 2019 super fires from a First Nations perspective. In 2024 she was an artist in residence with the Ethics Centre for a new solo work Better She Was Never Born, unpacking the pervasiveness of pronatalism. She has also completed residencies for new works with Shopfront Theatre PACT Space Program, The Sydney Fringes Artist in Isolation Residency and First Stories Festival with Theatre Works. She is a founding member and lead devising artist for physical theatre ensemble Ninefold (est. 2012) and has performed in and directed works for a variety of companies and events.
Campion Decent
Campion is a playwright and dramaturg. His most recent play, Unprecedented premiered at HotHouse Theatre in 2023 and was subsequently shortlisted for the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the 2024 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Earlier work (including The Campaign, Unholy Ghosts, Embers, Baby X, Shootings, and Three Winters Green) has been produced by, among others, Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Independent, HotHouse Theatre, ABC Radio National, Playbox Theatre, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, Tasmanian Theatre Company and White Box Theatre. Campion has been awarded an AWGIE and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Drama Script (Embers), the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award (Unholy Ghosts), and Best New Writing at the Tasmanian Theatre Awards (The Campaign). As a dramaturg and/or script assessor Campion has worked for the Australian National Playwrights’ Centre/Playwriting Australia, Griffin Theatre, HotHouse Theatre, Malthouse, NIDA and STC. He has also worked in the arts in a variety of other roles, including Artistic Director of HotHouse Theatre, Literary Manager at STC, Artistic Director of Next Wave Festival, and Festival Director for SGLMG. He is a graduate of the NIDA playwrights’ studio and holds a BCA from the University of Wollongong, an MA (Theatre Studies) from the University of NSW, and a PhD from La Trobe University.
Noel Hodda
Writing produced includes the plays The Secret House (Griffin; Hole In The Wall; Playbox; National Theatre Drama School), Half Safe (Riverina Theatre Co; Griffin Theatre Co), Photographs (Charles Sturt University), On The Public Record (University of Wollongong), Across The Water (Valley Artists), Never a Moment’s Peace (East Coast Theatre Co) and The Sculpture Garden (Valley Artists) and for television episodes of the acclaimed ABC medical drama GP. The short film Norma was adapted from his play of the same name. His play Later (now known as Across The Water) represented Australia at the prestigious Banff playRites Colony in Canada where it received universal praise from the selection committee. His play In This Light premiered at Flight Path Theatre in 2022. He has been dramaturge on numerous institutional and private projects. Noel has also enjoyed 45 years as a professional actor after graduating from NIDA in 1980. He was a founding year member of The Riverina Theatre Co. and is an Honorary Life Member of Griffin Theatre Co. of which he is an ex-Board Member, Chair of the Board and Director of D-Week.
David McLaughlin
David is a Sydney based actor and writer. He trained in performance at Theatre Nepean and has a BA in English literature and drama. He has devised and performed two solo shows, The Cabin and Talking Deads for the Mardi Gras and Midsumma Festivals, and has collaborated on various other comedy shows, including Tangara for the Sydney and Melbourne Comedy Festivals and Monster/Woman for the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Roslyn Gardens is his second full length play, with a third in development.
Miranda Michalowski
Miranda is a writer and performer living on unceded Gadigal land. She is passionate about telling heartfelt, funny and strange stories about women and queer characters. In 2021, Miranda was selected as one of 20 young writers for the esteemed ATYP National Studio. Her first play, Young Bodies/Somebody’s, debuted at Flight Path Theatre in 2022 and is published by Playlab, with recent productions on the Central Coast and in Brisbane. Miranda’s second play, Saturday Girls, was shortlisted for the Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award and debuted at Belvoir Downstairs in 2023, leading to a mentorship with acclaimed playwright Suzie Miller. Miranda was recently selected for ATYP’s 2024 Fresh Ink program. She is currently developing comedy projects across stage and screen, including a magical realist play about pregnancy, The Kid.
Congratulations to the shortlisted writers, who will share in a total prize pool of $7000 courtesy of sponsor Joy Minter. New Theatre is looking forward to presenting rehearsed readings of excerpts from the shortlisted plays, directed by Joseph Tanti, at the awards night on Monday 14 October, when the winner will be announced. For more information, visit: www.newtheatre.org.au for details.
Image: The Silver Gull Play Award Shortlisted Playwrights – courtesy of New Theatre