Unsolicited Scripts

You’ve spent hours hunched over your keyboard, drinking endless cups of coffee and wondering how you’ll ever complete your play. You’ve already shed blood, sweat and tears but now the greatest hurdle awaits you: getting someone to produce it.

For playwrights without representation and a body of work behind them, sometimes getting someone to even read your script can be challenge. Like most theatre companies in Australia, Sydney Theatre Company has limited resources which prevent us from being able to read every script submitted directly to us. However, there are pathways via which you can make us aware of your work.

PlayWriting Australia - PostScript 

Sydney Theatre Company is proud to participate in PostScript, a new initiative from PlayWriting Australia which gives unknown, unproduced or overlooked playwrights an opportunity to have their unsolicited script read and assessed by a representative from a leading theatre company. These assessments are stored in a shared database which can be accessed by literary managers and artistic directors nationwide. To find out more about how the scheme works visit: www.pwa.org.au/Skills/PostScript

The Patrick White Playwrights’ Award 

Once a year, STC invites playwrights to submit their unproduced plays to the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award. Although we make no commitment to produce the winning play, the award is prestigious and is an opportunity for unknown playwrights with outstanding scripts to gain recognition. For more information visit: www.sydneytheatre.com.au/about/Patrick-White-Playwrights-Award

While STC predominantly produces work by playwrights who are advanced in their careers, we are constantly scouring the independent sector for exciting new writers. If you are an unproduced playwright and are convinced that your script is ready to be staged, you may wish to consider producing your play independently. This is an effective way of demonstrating your potential and enabling you to make the transition from unproduced to emerging playwright.

Established Playwrights

If you are an established playwright from Australia it is more than likely that we are already in contact with you. If you think that you have been overlooked for any reason, we would love for you to get in touch. In the first instance it is advisable initiate contact via your agent.

International Playwrights

If you are a playwright who has had your work produced by a major international theatre company we are probably aware of your work. If you would like to bring a particular play to our attention, please make contact with us via your agent.

For more information about STC’s initiatives for playwrights and the development of new work click here.

Opportunities for emerging playwrights, directors and theatre makers exist within Next Stage.

Next Stage is Sydney Theatre Company’s artform development arm which presents a number of full productions each year. The season is specifically intended to provide a platform to emerging artists, smaller companies and experimental work. 

The Next Stage Season and the four annual Rough Drafts (see below for more information about these) are programmed by the same committee of STC artistic staff that determines our Main Stage Season. We hope that this will strengthen the connection between Next Stage and the Main Stage by helping us to build relationships with theatre makers whose work may later graduate to the Main Stage.

We will generally invite pitches from theatre makers who we consider to be of interest but will also consider pitches submitted by agents or emerging artists. There is no formal pitching process.

If you are an emerging playwright or director you will have already begun showcasing your talents, in which case it is likely that members of the STC artistic team will be familiar with your work. We collaborate with artists who have a proven track record so strongly recommend that practitioners invite us along to see their shows. Get in touch with us via nextstage@sydneytheatre.com.au

Rough Drafts are a strand of our Next Stage program. Essentially, Rough Drafts are week-long creative developments which give theatre makers the opportunity to try out new ideas, new ways of working and new collaborations.

The emphasis of the exercise is on process rather than product; it’s about giving artists a space in which they can experiment… and perhaps even fail!

Participants will be encouraged to be autonomous in their use the time and resources but will be asked to agree upon a loose structure for the week with the Company beforehand. Some practitioners may decide to research a fledgling idea while others may prefer to work on a script that they have written in advance of the Rough Draft week. 

Some Rough Drafts may be led by a director or creator whereas some may be led by a playwright, musician, puppeteer...
 
Although a playwright is an essential member of the creative personnel, Rough Drafts are not just about developing scripts; they are about creating theatre.

The same submission guidelines exist for Rough Drafts as for the rest of the Next Stage program.

For more information about STC’s initiatives for playwrights and the development of new work click here.

STC Ed is programmed by the Education Manager in consultation with the Artistic Directors and the Artistic Team.

The program consists of productions which relate to the NSW school syllabus and / or have a strong relevance to young people. While many of the shows in the season are self produced, we also co-produce and present the work of established theatre-for- young-people companies.

We collaborate with professional practitioners of a high calibre and should not be considered as offering an apprenticeship for STC’s Main Stage or Next Stage programs. Although the theatre makers that we work with need not have worked in the education sector before, they must demonstrate a serious interest in and commitment to making theatre specifically for a youth audience.

Pitches submitted by agents or emerging and established artists will be considered although no formal pitching process exists. If you are an artist interested in working with STC Ed we recommend that you keep us informed about your work and notify us of your upcoming productions. You can contact us at: education@sydneytheatre.com.au