Judging panel announced for new play award

The judging panel for the Richard Burton Award for New Plays has been announced.

The panel will be chaired by Sally Burton and will include Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Kate Cherry, Adam Mitchell, director of Black Swan’s HotBed Ensemble, Stephen Bevis, arts editor at The West Australian and Terri-ann White, director and publisher of UWA Publishing. Entries to the award close on Friday, July 2, 2010, and winners will be announced at Black Swan’s 2011 season launch in October 2010.

The Richard Burton Award for New Plays was established to celebrate the illustrious career Richard Burton, one of the great stars of the silver screen, and encourage great storytellers from all over Australia to develop new work. The competition is open to full length, unproduced plays which have been written in the 12 months leading up to the closing date of the Award. Plays that have been commissioned by a company are not eligible for the Award, and entrants must be 21 years of age by the closing date.

Black Swan State Theatre Company will stage a reading of the successful work, and Sally Burton’s company Onward Production and Black Swan State Theatre Company will have the first exclusive rights to produce the play for 12 months from the Award being announced. With a prize pool of $30,000, the Richard Burton Award for New Plays is one of the richest in Australia.

Sally Burton said: “I am very excited to begin the process of reading, discussing and shortlisting this year’s entries to the Richard Burton Award for New Plays. I am sure the panel will have some very lively debates about the merits of each play, but I am confident that the panel members will select a deserving inaugural winner. I have high hopes that the Richard Burton Award for New plays will help to discover new work that will not only in Perth, but on stages across Australia.”

Further information and the entry form are available at http://www.bsstc.com.au/the-richard-burton-award-for-new-plays/. Entries close on Friday, July 2.