Australian Theatre Festival NYC Reveals 2025 New Play Award Winner and Runner-Up

Co-Artistic & Executive Directors Mark Barford & Connor Delves have announced Dylan Van Den Berg as the winner of the 2025 New Play Award for "The Flood". Thea Jade is named runner-up for "How These Things Go".

As the winner, Dylan Van Den Berg will receive $15,000 USD, developmental support, and the opportunity to attend the 2025 Australian Theatre Festival NYC.

"The Flood" - When 15-year-old Kirra follows her gut onto Country she's only heard about, she's determined to save her sister from the mysterious illness affecting many in the dusty, dry town of Promise. Unwillingly paired with the disillusioned Jesse, the two traverse sink-holes, robot birds and violent townsfolk before stumbling on a secret that could change everything.

Dylan Van Den Berg is a Palawa playwright originally from the northeast of Tasmania. His plays have been presented by the Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company, and The Street Theatre. For his work, Dylan has received three Australian Writers' Guild Awards (AWGIES), including the David Williamson Prize, and he was a finalist for the UK's Bruntwood International Playwriting Award. He is currently completing a PhD in Aboriginal Gothic theatre at the University of Canberra.

As Runner-Up,Thea Jade will receive $5,000 USD.

Some lies we tell children to protect them. Some are because we can't face the truth ourselves. And some are simply to keep the Magic alive.

'How These Things Go' delves into the silent corners of the justice system, where in a remote witness room a young witness and her Court Bailiff wait to be live-streamed into the courtroom. Over a year, marked by the volatile seasons of Australia's capital, the girl demands answers from her Bailiff that others refuse to give her, and their unlikely friendship is tested.

Thea Jade is an emerging writer hailing from Ngunnawal Land / Canberra. She is currently studying for a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing at NIDA, where she is the recipient of the Prime Video Scholarship.

Her work has been shortlisted for The Griffin Award, Rodney Seabourn Award, and the Emerging Playwright Commission.

A proud disabled artist, in 2025, her play manic pixie meltdown, had a sold-out season through Shopfront's ArtsLab Residency, where she facilitated an all-neurodivergent cast and creative team.

"We're delighted that Dylan Van Den Berg has won this year's New Play Award. Dylan is establishing himself as a powerful new voice in Australian theatre and we hope that his thought provoking play, 'The Flood', will introduce his work to a new audience, not just in New York, but world wide. We'd also like to congratulate the runner-up, Thea Jade, for her powerful and confronting play, 'How These Things Go'. Both Dylan and Thea are worthy winners and showcase the talent and determination of Australian writers to explore bold, contemporary themes that resonate with theatre going audiences everywhere." - Shane & Cathryn Brennan.

"We are thrilled to celebrate these two bold, Australian plays as our 2025 winner & runner-up. "The Flood" is a vast, detailed and daring work that is a worthy winner of the 2025 award. Its strong commitment to theatrical storytelling and exploration of Australia's future connection to the land is both unique and inspiring. Thea Jade's "How These Things Go" takes on a new point of view for this complex topic with care, bravery and twists at every turn. We are proud to award Dylan & Thea's plays as winner and runner-up for the 2025 New Play Award, and wish to thank Shane & Cathryn Brennan for their ongoing support of the award." - Mark Barford & Connor Delves, Co-Artistic & Executive Directors

New Play Award alumni include 2021 winner Lewis Treston's 'Hubris & Humiliation', which has since received a production at the Sydney Theatre Company, receiving stellar reviews and lauded as 'startlingly good' (The Guardian, 5 stars) and 2022 winner Melissa-Kelly Franklin's 'Paradise Lost' which recently won the 2024 Jill Blewett Playwright's Award (South Australian Literary Awards).