Contenders for Patrick White's Playwrights' Award

Sydney Theatre Company has released the judges' shortlist of five plays in the running for the 2011 PatRick White Playwrights' Award which will be announced with a rehearsed reading of the winning play as part of Sydney Writers' Festival at The Wharf on Friday 18 May 2012 at 8pm. This winner of the prestigious PatRick White Playwrights' Fellowship will also be announced at the event.

The Award and the Fellowship are initiatives of Sydney Theatre Company and exist to foster the development of Australian playwrights while honouring PatRick White's contribution to Australian theatre.

The PatRick White Playwrights' Award is for an original, unproduced play. The winning playwright will receive $7,500 and the opportunity to work with an STC director and actors during a workshop culminating in a rehearsed reading of their play. Scripts are submitted to readers and judges anonymously with the aim of acknowledging a playwright whose play is ambitious, demonstrates skilful application of craft and reveals great potential for a stage production. STC has offered the award since 2000.

This year 114 entries were received for the Award, from which the following shortlist of five plays has been selected:

The Sun and Other Stars by Nicki Bloom

Little Borders by Phillip Kavanagh

Triangle by GLyn Roberts

Merman by Kylie Trounson

The Bay by Alexandra Wood

The Award judges are Jonathan Biggins (playwright, director and actor), Jane Bodie (playwright), Joanna Murray-Smith (playwright), and Tom Wright (playwright and Associate Director at Sydney Theatre Company).

The recipient of the PatRick White Playwrights' Fellowship will also be announced at the event on 18 May. Now in its second year, the Fellowship is a position for an established Australian playwright who has had a new play produced professionally in Australia within the last four years. The winning playwright receives $25,000 for the year-long Fellowship in recognition of their contribution to theatre. During the year (18 May 2012 through to 18 May 2013), the Fellow will participate in a range of activities including leading playwriting workshops at Sydney Theatre Company and participating in a mentoring programming for two emerging playwrights.

Over the last year the inaugural Fellow, Raimondo Cortese, whose adaptation of The Threepenny Opera played at Sydney Theatre in September 2011, has participated in a range of activities at STC including running master classes and mentoring emerging playwrights.

Limited tickets for the event, part of the Sydney Writers Festival, are available from the STC box office: Tickets $5 (02) 9250 1777 or www.sydneytheatre.org.au.