Queer Playwriting Award Showcase

In 2004, a group of radical queer activists boarded a seaplane they’d christened The Gayflower, flew 200 nautical miles off the coast of Queensland and landed on a tiny patch of sand and grass in the middle of the ocean. It was here that Emperor Dale Parker Anderson I would plant his rainbow flag and officially declare the claiming of “The Gay & Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands'' – a gay nation independent of homophobic Australia, where there was marriage equality for all, the currency was the pink dollar and the national anthem was Gloria Gaynor’s I Am What I Am. I want to write a funny, joyous play that tells the story of this fascinating queer protest – its history, its characters and its politics – and interrogates what it means for Australian queers today. Would we all just be better off escaping to our own separate queer paradise?

More Info: Tom Ballard - Coral Sea Overview.pdf 

'Day For It' is a two-hander that follows the geographic and relational journey of Peta and her daughter Kelly as they complete the Wilderness Coast Walk in north-eastern Victoria. With Kelly facing an imminent move across the country, they figure now is as good a time as ever to get a bit closer, whatever that means. Told chronologically across 7 days, Peta and Kelly will have to navigate the rugged landscape of Croajingolong National Park and this unprecedented amount of time together. In a twist of a typical coming-out story, the two characters will explore Peta’s newfound lesbian identity and the ramifications it has for Kelly’s idea of her nuclear family. A comedic drama with a big heart (think 'Please Like Me' and 'Fun Home'), 'Day For It' will unpack late-in-life queerness, early-in-life queerness, parental trauma, and emotional attachment in a muddy, uphill homage to the complexities of intergenerational relationships.

Poppy is in her first queer relationship. Tash is her girlfriend. Tash makes coffee, wears button downs and is generally the best feminist in any room she enters. Poppy is being introduced to Tash's two closest friends; Archie and Lilta. Poppy is out of her depth. They are playing a drinking game. The drinking game is called Sexcapades.

Sexcapades explores the queer themes of belonging, gate-keeping, labelling, bi-phobia, hetero-phobia, gender roles, feminism, the power of language, masculinity and femininity.

The reading of Sexcapades by Rosemary Cann and its associated project development is made possible by the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.

A road trip featuring two brothers, one stranger, and a stroppy mare called Peaches.

Men on the Verge is a darkly comedic play about two disconnected brothers, an enigmatic stranger, and a stroppy mare called Peaches. Inspired by Pedro Almodovar's iconic 1988 film 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown', the play explores how men navigate their mental health, emotions, and identity in our current period of great social change. The story follows Quinn (45), an acerbic and eccentric drama queen who convinces his equally depressed brother Keegan (40), a married man with kids, to embark on a road trip up the East Coast to return Peaches, a horse belonging to Quinn's former lover who recently abandoned their long-term relationship without explanation. Like all good road trips, things don’t go according to plan! When they pick up mysterious drifter Carey (30), the situation soon worsens for the brothers, forcing them both to confront the reasons behind their depression and find a way forward.