La Boite's HWY Festival Of New Work Returns

THE FUTURE OF THEATRE IN THIS CITY.
La Boite's HWY Festival of new work returns 12 - 24 March with a program of performances, workshops and masterclasses, conversations, podcasts and much more. This years program is set to celebrate a diverse array of artists in the throes of developing new work.
Now in its third year, HWY has become a celebration of exciting, ambitious, and powerful theatre practice in Brisbane, as well as being a unique opportunity to meet, collaborate, and engage with a range of incredible local artists and industry.
Prize Fighter, which tours nationally in 2018, our 2018 Season show The Mathematics of Longing, and our sell out production Single Asian Female, which opens its season at Belvoir in Sydney this week, all began as creative developments in previous HWY programs.

Writer of Single Asian Female, Michelle Law, described La Boite HWY as being "pivotal in the developmental stages of Single Asian Female".

"Having a rehearsed reading before an audience provided me with the feedback I needed to make the play a fully formed work" tells Law.

This year, the HWY Performance Program becomes a testing ground for six new Australian plays, one live art experience, and a new theatre work inspired by an ancient text. La Boite's HWY Pitch Sessions are also making a return, so swing by and join the discussion as four artists pitch ideas for brilliant new works that do not yet exist.

Also on offer are a range of affordable workshops, masterclasses, and conversations, curated so that you can flex your creative muscle in a masterclass or workshop, then slip into the performance of a rehearsed reading or a critical conversation the same evening. HWY Skills Labs will feature a number of workshops across two focus areas this year; Technical Production and Performance, facilitated by leaders of the industry including Wil Hughes (Sound Design & Composition), Craig Wilkinson of optikal bloc (Video Design), Thomas Larkin (Audition Technique) and Saffron Benner (Dramaturgy).

"I am incredibly proud of this program, it has been a joy to put together and all of us at La Boite hope you'll join us in experiencing everything the 2018 HWY festival has to offer" La Boite's Creative Producer, Sanja Simic.

La Boite's 2018 Artists-in-Residence will be present and active in HWY this year. Ngoc Phan (A Streetcar named Desire, La Boite Theatre Company; Splendour, Now Look Here) and Krissy Kneen (award-winning author of the memoir Affection, Text Publishing Australia 2009 and Seal Press USA 2010) will both present the latest drafts of their works during the festival. Green Room Award recipient Jodee Mundy (The Carers Project: A sanctuary in the City, City of Melbourne, Imagined Touch the deafblind live art project, Arts House and Imagined Touch the installation, Sydney Festival) will facilitate a story-telling masterclass for the Deaf community and AUSLAN speakers.

La Boite's Associate Artists, Digi Youth Arts, will challenge assumptions with a bold new work that highlights what it takes to be an Indigenous young person in Australia today.
You'll also have an opportunity to hear from La Boite's brilliant 2018 Assistant Creatives - Maddie Nixon, Aleea Monsour, and Anna Whitaker - who'll be hosting the inaugural HWY Podcast each Saturday of the festival.

HWY TICKETS ON SALE NOW. DISCOVER LA BOITE HWY 2018 HERE: laboite.com.au/la-boite-hwy-2018/
HWY Performance Program: $12 each
HWY Masterclasses: $25 each
HWY Skills Lab: Technical Production $80 x 4 workshops / $25 each
HWY Skills Lab: Performance $80 x 4 workshops / $25 each
HWY Festival Pass: $99 (includes the entire HWY Performance Program)
HWY Masterclass for Teachers: $200 (includes a ticket to Return to the Dirt by Steve Pirie the same evening)
HWY Conversations: FREE

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Sound Design - Top 3

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2. Tony Gayle - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

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3. Kai Harada - Ragtime

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