Shortlist for 2010 Richard Burton Award for New Plays Announced
Shortlist for 2010 Richard Burton Award for New Plays Announced
The shortlist for the 2010 Richard Burton Award for New Plays has been announced. The shortlist includes six plays, three of which were written by West Australian playwrights. The winners will be announced by Sally Burton at Black Swan’s 2011 season launch on 13 October 2010 and share a prize pool of $30,000, making the Richard Burton Award for New Plays one of the richest in Australia.
The shortlist includes the following playwrights and works:
Noelle Janaczewska The Story of the Moment
Tom Jeffcote Picasso’s Goldfinch
Caleb Lewis Clinchfield
Kate Mulvany Masquerade
David Sharpe The Empire of Soap
Hellie Turner The Time of Texas Wall
The winner of the Richard Burton Award for New Plays will receive $20,000, with the runner-up receiving a second prize of $10,000.
Kate Cherry commented, “Arriving at the shortlist has been a fascinating process for the judging panel, and it was a very rewarding moment when it was revealed that many of the shortlisted plays were written by younger playwrights, and three of the plays were by West Australian playwrights. These up-and coming playwrights are starting to follow in the footsteps of a generation of Australian playwrights who were at the height of their success several decades ago. It is exciting to see that the Richard Burton Award is contributing to bridging this generational gap and providing a missing link in the development of new Australian work.”
The Richard Burton Award for New Plays was established to celebrate the illustrious career Richard Burton, one of the great stars of the silver screen, and encourage great storytellers from all over Australia to develop new work. The competition is open to full length, unproduced plays which have been written in the 12 months leading up to the closing date of the Award.
Sally Burton said, “The judging panel had animated debates about each shortlisted play, and I look forward to announcing the very deserving winners next week. I hope that this inaugural Richard Burton Award for New Plays will shine the spotlight on the first of many new plays from local and interstate playwrights which deserve to be seen in Perth and on stages across Australia.”
Black Swan State Theatre Company will stage a reading of the successful work, and Sally Burton’s company Onward Production and Black Swan State Theatre Company will have the first exclusive rights to produce the play for 12 months from the Award being announced.
For more information, visit the Richard Burton Award for New Plays page.
