Backstage

Pandora

Get an insight into the play development process with an excerpt of a new play, Pandora, by former MTC NEXT STAGE writer-in-residence Kylie Trounson.

Feature

Welcome to NEXT STAGE 2020

While COVID has certainly put a spoke in the wheel of 2020, MTC’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program has been continuing apace behind the scenes.

Feature

Pandora's Secrets

Talking tech thrillers, Zoom theatre and the benefits of working in an office with playwright Kylie Trounson…

Meet Nathan Maynard

Twice named Tasmanian Aboriginal Artist of the Year, Nathan Maynard has been awarded a NEXT STAGE commission to work on a new play inspired by the Adam Goodes saga.

Vale Aidan Fennessy: Playwright, Director, Actor

Matt Cameron and Peter Houghton pay tribute to their friend and fellow theatremaker, Aidan Fennessy.

Ask MTC

How do you write a play?

Benjamin Law answers a collection of audience questions about how to write a play – including the mechanics of writing character and dialogue, finding inspiration, and the challenges of writing for the stage versus writing for the screen or the page.

Q&A

Meet Andrea James

It’s been an especially dramatic year for Andrea James, with the COVID-dictated cancellation of her MTC mainstage debut, and the awarding of a NEXT STAGE commission for her new play inspired by one of colonial Australia's first urban myths.

Phillip Kavanagh & Elise Esther Hearst

Phillip Kavanagh and Elise Esther Hearst joined MTC last year as writers-in-residence. They quickly became firm friends, and as they worked together, shared ideas and made each other laugh, an idea for a new play formed almost by accident...

Q&A

Welcome Merlynn Tong

Following a successful Cybec Electric reading earlier this year, Merlynn Tong is thrilled to continue developing her play as a NEXT STAGE writer-in-residence.

Q&A

Meet Emme Hoy

Joining MTC this year as a NEXT STAGE writer-in-residence, Emme Hoy has been winning accolades and awards for her writing since high school. As a resident, she’s writing a play that’s a reaction to 2020, but maybe not in the way you’d expect...