Writing Place was part of the Creative Producer Regional Youth program.
Over 9 days, 14 emerging regional writers aged 18-26 from across Australia gathered to learn, connect and write, mentored by leading Australian playwrights Caleb Lewis, Mary Anne Butler and Emily Steel. During Writing Place each participant created a short monologue for teenage performers. With the support of Arts South Australia, invited industry and local guests will join the participants and mentors for a behind-the-scenes reading of the works on Monday 9 September. The scripts were published as a collection titled ‘This Was Urgent Yesterday’, which can be purchased from Currency Press.
A joint project of Country Arts SA, Carclew and Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) supported by the Regional Arts Fund and the Australia Council for the Arts.
Background on Writing Place
We need to tell more stories that celebrate and explore the complex, dynamic, courageous, frustrating, joyful and sometimes mundane heart that is regional Australia. The best people to tell those stories are regional writers.
Writing Place was established in response to consultation with young people and teachers from regional South Australia who expressed concern over the lack of scripts for teenagers that reflect the lives and circumstances of regional young people in the here and now. The little new work that does exist for teenagers in Australia tends to by written by or focused on metropolitan and East Coast experiences. There is a need for performance work that reflects the landscape, attitudes and experiences of regional Australia.
Writing Place was inspired by Australian Theatre for Young People’s National Studio, an annual program in NSW which has been developing young playwrights for over a decade. Alumni of National Studio, established in 2008, are now seeing their work presented on mainstages across Australia. Drawing on Australian Theatre for Young People’s experience and using the combined knowledge and expertise of Carclew and Country Arts SA, Writing Place is a deliberate investment in an emerging generation of regional Australian storytellers.
Banner image: four young writers sit around a table in a valley at sunset – Photo taken by Eloise Holoubek