Midsumma Festival - The Glorious History of QPAS

Back to Blog List Posted Oct 27, 2026

The annual Queer Playwriting Award Showcase (QPAS) will be back on Monday 18 January 2027

Given the extraordinarily strong submissions received this year, it's worth reflecting on the history of what has now become a prestigious annual award on Melbourne's queer calendar. Four finalists have already been selected from the strongest field of submissions ever received to battle it out in the 2027 showcase. On the night, the audience will be asked to help select which play goes on to be developed as a full-length production for Midsumma 2028, and hopefully tour nationally after that.

For 2027, a total of 57 short plays were received from all over Australia and around the world: 34 from Victoria, 5 from NSW, 3 from Queensland, 2 from WA, 1 from Tasmania, 7 from the United States, 2 from the United Kingdom, and 1 each from India, Italy and the Philippines.

Although the showcase began in its current format in 2015 at Gasworks, with what was then called Playtime, its origin really dates back to 2008, when the inaugural Pink Shorts competition was held at Gasworks.

That inaugural Pink Shorts competition ran over 5 nights and was directed by Mark Wilson, who now works as a director, devisor, dramaturg, performer and writer at MTC (Melbourne Theatre Company). Noel Anderson won Best Production and Best Writing for his play Pulling Out, and has gone on to become an acclaimed playwright with many works performed locally and internationally.

In 2009, Pink Shorts moved to RMIT Theatre for a 5-night season, again directed by Mark Wilson, then in 2010 fortyfivedownstairs became its home for a 5-night season produced by Kiloran Hiscock and Molly Whelan.

Returning to Gasworks in 2015, the inaugural Playtime was presented as a partnership between Gasworks and Midsumma to identify, support and develop new talent and get queer issues out there for mainstream audiences to consider and enjoy. Marisa Cesario came on board in 2016 to nurture and develop the event into the resounding success that we see today. It was renamed Playtime Staged Readings in 2016, then in 2020 it took on its current name: Queer Playwriting Award Showcase.

The award has now become one of Australia's most respected development opportunities for emerging and established queer theatre-makers, creating a pathway from script to stage while championing authentic LGBTQIA+ stories. It has been a stepping stone in the careers of many different people, helping to launch some careers and enabling other already-successful creatives to branch out in new directions.

One of the greatest QPAS successes is Adam Fawcett's Become The One, the story of an AFL player forming a relationship with a young, queer man. This toured Victoria and Tasmania, played at Riverside Theatres in Parramatta and was developed as a 24-part web series, which you can still watch online today.

Another particularly noteworthy finalist was Emmanuelle Mattana's short play Beyond Reasonable Grounds. An early version of this script was presented in 2022, in another year that had particularly strong submissions, and the script didn't win. However, it subsequently premiered at La Mama later that year as the play Trophy Boys, which enjoyed sensational success, playing at fortyfivedownstairs as part of Midsumma Festival 2023 then going on to tour nationally and internationally to wild critical acclaim, playing at venues such as Arts Centre Melbourne, Carriageworks, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and the MCC Theater in New York City (amongst many others).

Tom Ballard was already a well known comedian and TV Presenter when he submitted his script, The Queer Kingdom (aka "A comprehensive & profoundly queer accounting fo the brief (yet glorious) history of the Gay & Lesbian Kingdon of the Coral Sea Islands"), which took out the 2024 QPAS award, then was presented as a full-length play in the 2026 Midsumma Festival.

The 2025 winner was an enthralling presentation about queer battles with the law, Much To Do With Law, But More To Do With Love by Danish Sheikh. This was presented as a full length play in Midsumma 2026, but has also been presented under various different names around the country, and was a finalist for the 2026 Griffin Theatre Award.

The Glorious History of QPAS

The annual Queer Playwriting Award Showcase (QPAS) will be back on Monday 18 January 2027

Recent Winners

More About Some of the Finalists

2023 Finalists

2022 Finalists

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