Queer Playwriting Award Showcase

Come and see the next generation of queer stories from our 5 finalists

Each year Gasworks partners with Midsumma Festival for our Queer Playwriting Award, providing the opportunity for leading playwrights from Naarm to present excerpts of works in progress.

Congratulations to Anthony Nocera, winner of the 2026 Queer Playwriting Award, presented by Midsumma and Gasworks Creative Precinct for his new work My Hair is Thinning. A huge congratulations as well to all the incredible 2026 finalists!

The winning finalist will receive support to produce a full-length theatre show for Gasworks' 2027 Midsumma program.

2026 Finalists

Lyall Brooks: SELF/LESS
SELF/LESS is a modular theatrical work composed of four speculative narrative strands, each interrogating a scenario where reproductive ethics, identity, and bio-emotional decision-making intersect.
 
Sammaneh Pourshafighi: Post Pre-teen Drama Queens
Post Pre-teen Drama Queens is an experimental love letter to grief, friendship, and the lost art of writing letters.
 
Gabrielle Fallen: Amy is Not Scared
When Amy was a child in Canberra, a man lived in the bush reserve near her house. His hands and feet were covered with dirt, and he got stronger with every story told about him. Now, Amy is a prodigious dance student, guided by her friend and real-life trans sex worker Liana. One day, the man in the bush reaches out to lay claim to Amy’s stories.

Hiroki Kobayashi: OUT!
OUT! is a work of monologue that explores the complexities of queer representation, identity and coming of age through the lens of men’s professional tennis.

Anthony Nocera: My Hair is Thinning
My Hair is Thinning is about loss. Of hair. Of lovers. Of other things. In 2022, Anthony's fiancé Jamie passed away following complications related to treatment of Leukemia. Despite being twice Anthony’s age and having undergone chemotherapy, Jamie had a better head of hair than Anthony.