Our final newsletter for 2018 for your perusal.

We have a special message from Lachlan with his thoughts from the forum in Western Australia, the first of our playwright forums. Our playwright in focus is Fleur Kilpatrick, winner of the 2018 Max Afford Playwrights' Award, there's an artist residency opportunity and we have an interactive way for you to dsicover the PWA supported shows you'll be able to see in 2019!

2018 was a big year for us at PWA, our First Nations Retreat returned for its third year, we concluded the Outposts program in Albury Wodonga and the National Play Festival returned to Sydney. Lachlan Philpott was appointed as our new Artistic Director, we have began our consultation with our playwriting communities around the country and 22 plays we had helped develop graced stages across Australia. As 2018 draws to a close we would like to thank all the playwrights, artists and supporters who have all been part of our programs. Thank you to the audiences who have watched PWA supported shows and for encouraging the need for new Australian work to be part of theatre culture in Australia. 

The PWA office will be closed from 24 December and reopen 2 Janurary 2019. Have a wonderful Christmas and we look forward to 2019!  

Until next year,

Lachlan, Michelle, Christie, Jorjia, Leila & Sophie

I feel like I’m in a Peter Allen song. From Paris to Sydney and then Perth in a week. But thank god I'm not.
I am excited to finally be at PWA and getting down to work with the team. I thank Christie, Jorjia, Leila, Michelle and Sophie for all the work they have done and I am grateful to PWA for allowing me to undertake my Australia Council professional development.

The highlight of my first week was the first of our consultation visits with playwrights in Western Australia. Most of the writers in the room were from Perth but we were glad to be able to support some Broome-based artists to be there too.

While the rest of Perth’s population were taking selfies in front of weird and wiry Christmas installations, Christie, Michelle and I listened to what 30 playwrights had to say about the state of play for new writing in WA, determining what role PWA can play in empowering and connecting them, finding opportunities for skills building and ways to get their work on stages.
There was a lot of talk about the need... read more

Fleur Kilpatrick won the 2018 Max Afford Playwrights' Award for her play WHALE. As part of the award win, WHALE received creative development with PWA. We chatted to Fleur following her play reading at the end of its development. Read about whether she feels the work is as direct about climate change as she hoped it would be. You'll also get the chance to see WHALE when it makes its world premiere in May 2019 at Monash University. 

The Max Afford Playwrights' Award is a biennial award offered by Perpetual and administered by Playwriting Australia. It will next be awarded in 2020.

Applications for Australia Council's Artist International Residences are now open. Artists, don't miss this unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a new arts context, market, community and culture. This experience enables artists to articulate their practice within a global context and build knowledge, networks and partnerships that support future international arts activity. Residences range from Acme in London, HIAP in Helsinki to Cité Internationale Des Arts in Paris. Click here for more info. Hurry! Applications close Tuesday, 15th January 2019, Midnight AEDT.

We are very excited to see such a diverse range of plays hitting our stages next year. Some will be return prodcutions, others will be playwright's debut. To bring a bit of fun to your summer holiday, complete this crossword to discover the complete list of PWA supported shows you'll get to see next year! Don't worry we have an answer sheet if you get stuck!

Radha and her son Siddartha are finally ready to embrace their lives in Western Sydney, when a phone call from Colombo brings the past spinning back to life. COUNTING AND CRACKING  follows one Sri Lankan-Australian family over four generations, from Colombo to Pendle Hill. PWA proudly developed one of the first iterations of this powerful new Australian play by S. Shakthidharan. To celebrate enter to win a double pass to see COUNTING AND CRACKING on Fri 25 Jan, email with the subject line ‘PWA COUNTING’. Don't miss this epic story of love and political strife, of home and exile, of parents and children.