Australian Theatre Festival NYC Reveals 2023 New Play Award Finalists

Co-Artistic Directors Mark Barford, Connor Delves and Jillian Geurts have announced five finalists for the Australian Theatre Festival NYC 2023 New Play Award.

The award is generously sponsored by Shane & Cathryn Brennan.

The 2023 New Play Award Finalists are (in alphabetical order):

'Wavelength' by Sally Alrich-Smythe,

'Yiraway (Mirage)' by Bronte Gosper,

'The Past is a Wild Party' by Noëlle Janaczewska,

'REALish' by Wendy Mocke,

'Noah's Daughter' by Hannie Rayson.

"We are excited to announce these five playwrights as finalists for the 2023 New Play Award. The fourth annual award saw an exciting number of new Australian plays submitted from all over the world. As a team we were blown away by the quality of work and applaud all the playwrights that shared their plays with us this year. Our five finalists represent a diverse range of new Australian writing that inspired us deeply and we are proud to acknowledge them in this way. The award exists to help fulfill our mission of celebrating and showcasing Australian plays and artists in New York City, and we are grateful to our award sponsors, Shane and Cathryn Brennan, for helping us to make this happen." - expressed Barford, Delves and Geurts.

'Wavelength' by Sally Alrich-Smythe

Georgia and Marcus, best friends and coworkers at a right-leaning radio station, confront a sexual assault allegation. Using spoken word poetry, the play delves into questions of consent and blame as Georgia, navigating her own past trauma, takes a stand to support the victim, sacrificing her career and friendship in the process.

Sally, a Sydney-based screenwriter, playwright, and performer, holds a Masters degree in Writing for Performance from NIDA. Currently a full-time storyliner on Channel 7's HOME AND AWAY, her TV pilot script recently received Highly Commended for The Australian Writer's Guild's Monte Miller Award (2022). Sally's theatre writing credits include The Stargazers PROJECT (2020) and HOMESICK (2019) . She has performed internationally in Russia, Scotland, and America. @Sally.alrich_smythe (Instagram)

'Yiraway (Mirage)' by Bronte Gosper

"Yiraway (Mirage)" is a tragicomedy that delves into the perils and comforts of settler Australia's illusions, set itself in the realm of theatre. As a "well-meaning" white director stages a play that distorts and romanticizes colonization, Dora, a young Wiradjuri woman in the cast, observes the unfolding spectacle while trying to keep afloat in her tumultuous home life. "Yiraway" invites the audience to confront the often performative nature of care towards Indigenous narratives, prompting amusing self-reflection in the face of such absurdity and inconsistency.

Bronte Gosper is a documentary filmmaker, playwright and actress. She recently graduated with her MA from Columbia University and is interested in the intersections of oral history and theatre, especially as it relates to Indigenous art-making. She performed in last year's ATF in Hannah Belansky's Don't Ask What the Bird Look Like. Her recent documentary entitled 'The Everywhen' will be screened soon right here in Manhattan. She is a proud Wiradjuri woman. @brontg (Intstagram)

'The Past is a Wild Party' by Noëlle Janaczewska

The Writer takes a journey through archives, sexual politics and their own queer history. 'The Past is a Wild Party' is about falling in love with a nineteenth-century poet, censorship, silences and mental health. About reading The Well of Loneliness looking for-let's call it 'technical information' about girl-on-girl sex.

Noëlle Janaczewska is a Sydney-based playwright, poet and author. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the 2020 NSW Premier's Digital History Prize for her audio work Experiment Street and a Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale for her body of work as a dramatist. Noëlle's most recent productions are Mrs C Private Detective (ABC Radio National, 2022) and The End of Winter (Siren Theatre Company, Sydney, 2022 and touring 2023). https://noelle-janaczewska.com/; @njanaczewska (Twitter)

'REALish' by Wendy Mocke

30-something Stella is having a very bad day. Barricaded inside her apartment, all Stella wants is to be left with her own thoughts - the problem is, her thoughts keep talking back. And they've brought KFC. REALish is a wild new comedy about dealing with the outside world by looking within.

Wendy Mocke is a Papua New Guinean playwright, screenwriter and a NIDA Acting graduate. Wendy's plays have been in development programs at Melbourne Theater Company, Queensland Theater Company, Griffin Theatre Company and Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Wendy is currently a Writing Fellow at Queensland Theater Company. One of Wendy's quests as an artist is to make alive what is quiet and asleep in Melanesian stories and unpack the myriad of layers within Black Pacific Islander identity. @relentlesslywendy (Intstagram); WendyMocke (Twitter)

'Noah's Daughter' by Hannie Rayson

A young woman, Charlotte (24), shows up uninvited at a Winter Solstice party at the home of Noah Ashton (44) and his family. She announces herself as his daughter. Twenty-four years ago, when Noah was a university student, he donated sperm to a fertility clinic which guaranteed his anonymity. (But this was before cheap online DNA tests made it possible for donor-conceived children to find their biological fathers.) Now Noah has a wife Emma (42) and a grown-up family, Dom, Kitty and her boyfriend Tim. And the arrival of this beautiful young woman unleashes an emotional tsunami. It is only Gordon, her non-biological father, who can see what's happening. This is a modern-day Greek tragedy.

Hannie Rayson is a multi-award-winning Australian playwright, screenwriter, memoirist and newspaper columnist. She is the author of sixteen plays which have been performed throughout Australia. Internationally her work has been staged in London's West End, Japan, Canada, Finland, and many theatres in the UK, Europe and New Zealand. Her play Extinction was developed with the Manhattan Theatre Club in NYC and adapted for radio with LA Theatre Works.

Now in its fourth year, the Australian Theatre Festival NYC 2023 New Play Award will award two new plays with distinct Australian voices.

The award offers a total cash prize of $10,000.00 USD for two unproduced, full-length plays written by Australian playwrights, over the age of 18.

This year we will award one winner with $7,500 USD and one runner-up with $2,500 USD. The winning play will be developed with ATF Co-Artistic Director Mark Barford and presented in New York City as part of The Australian Theatre Festival NYC.

In 2021, our 2020 winning play 'The Tiniest Thing' by Richard Jordan, was produced as the centerpiece of our festival program. The 2021 winner was Lewis Treston for his play 'Hubris & Humiliation', which was presented alongside our 2022 winner 'Paradise Lost' by Melissa-Kelly Franklin at our festival last year.

The winner & runner-up will be announced Monday June 26th, 2023 (NYC, EST).

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