Applications have now closed for the 2012/13 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award.

The Queensland Premier’s Drama Award is one of a kind playwriting award in Australia as it guarantees a professional main stage production of the winning play, and publication of the script. Since it’s inception in 2002 by former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie the award has run on a two year cycle. One year is spent seeking applicants, determining finalists, developing the finalists’ plays and producing professional play readings and the second year sees the chosen show featured as part of the Company’s mainstage season and receive further development, a full rehearsal period and professional full-scale production. Queensland Theatre Company has creatively developed and commissioned over 15 plays during the award’s history including:

• Road to the She Devil’s Salon by Sven Swenson
• Conurb by Simon Ratcliffe
• Goat Head Burs by Gayle Wilkinson
• The Valley by Hugh Watson
• Flutter by Kathryn Ash
• The Kaufman Letter by Bruce Clark
• Welcome to Dreamland by Phillip Chappel
• Constance Drinkwater and the final days of Somerset by Stephen Carleton
• Mano Nera by Adam Grossetti
• The Tram by Antony Funnell
• Stay by Michael Riordan
• The Estimator by David Brown
• Dangerfield Park by Sven Swenson
• Ned’s Story by Katherine Lyall-Watson
• 25 Down by Richard Jordan
• Belongings by Rebecca Clarke
• Unreliable Bodies by Philip Dean
• Fractions by Marcel Dorney

We’re excited to announce that three very different theatre works have been chosen as finalists of the 2012–13 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award;

1975 by Stephen Carleton
1975 is ultimately a play about family. The central character’s quest is a personal one to determine his own patrilineal identity, but his journey is a metaphor for the role North Australia has in determining the nation’s identity, and Australia’s place in this region of the world.

The Empty City by David Megarrity
Based on the Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book 2008, The Empty City by David Megarrity and Jonathon Oxlade is an unforgettable adventure in multimedia and music for children aged 4–10 years old and their families.

Trollop by Maxine Mellor
Mythical trolls are ugly, mean creatures typically living in caves or under bridges. Today’s trolls are deliberately provocative and offensive to others, causing disruption and argument. A trollop is a woman who is dirty, slovenly, untidy, and promiscuous.