Merlynn Tong
Writer-in-Residence
Merlynn Tong is an Actor and Playwright. Some of her playwriting credits include Antigone (adaptation, Queensland Theatre), Good Grief (Queensland Theatre), Golden Blood (development, Melbourne Theatre Company/Griffin Theatre Company), The Big Mac (co-writer, development, Black Swan Theatre Company), Come to Where I am (Critical Stages Touring/Paines Plough Theatre Company, UK), SITE (co-writer, development, Kate Wild, Ellen van Neerven & Sarah Winter), SKIN (Dear Australia, Playwriting Australia), Cocky Jerry Jah (co-librettist, development), Ma Ma Ma Mad (Wax Lyrical) and Blue Bones (Playlab Productions). Her one-woman-show Blue Bones, presented by Playlab Productions, that she also performed in, has won 6 Matilda Awards including the Lord Mayor Award for Best New Australian Work, Best Mainstage Production and Best Female Actor in a Leading Role. She is also the prize recipient of Screen Queensland’s Screen to Stage pitch, The First 10 Pages 2.0. Her works are published by Playlab.
Some of her recent performances include White Pearl (Sydney Theatre Company & National Theatre of Parramatta), The Shot (Queensland Theatre, The Scene Project), Harrow 2 (ABC), Reef Break (ABC/M6), Top of the Lake: China Girl (BBC & Sundance Films, Jane Campion), What I’m Here For (Elbow Room & Flowstate), The Mathematics of Longing (La Boite Theatre), The Lost Lending Library (Punchdrunk & Imaginary Theatre), Hotelling (Bleached Arts), Bitch: Origin of the Female Species (Brisbane Festival), Blue Bones (Playlab Productions), Viral (Shock Therapy Productions), Straight White Men (La Boite Theatre), Ma Ma Ma Mad (Wax Lyrical), The Theory of Everything (Brisbane Festival), The Wizards from Oz (Taiwan, Taoyuan International Children’s Festival) and Hot Brown Honey (Judith Wright Centre).