The Currency Press Festival of Playwrights is a multi-day writer’s festival open to all who love theatre and drama. This year, the Festival is being held from Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th August at the Australian Theatre for Young People, down at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

We’re very excited to announce Jordan Shea will be giving the Keynote, find out more about Jordan here.  His play Malacañang Made Us will premiere at Queensland Theatre Company in October and Currency will be publishing the play in November. Joanna Murray-Smith will be in conversation with Sarah Goodes just as Joanna’s adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley (directed by Sarah) opens at the Sydney Theatre Company.   Eamon Flack (Belvoir Theatre) and Alana Valentine will be chairing the panels: Adapting for the Stage and Writers vs. AI; other confirmed writers include Tracey Rigney (Was and Will Be), Ryan Enniss (Drizzle Boy), Courtney Stewart (Artistic Director, La Boite Theatre) and Joanna Erskine (Head of Education, Bell Shakespeare).

Please note that our preliminary program is subject to change.

Stay tuned for more information as we confirm panelists and update the program. If you aren’t on our mailing list, register now: [email protected].

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

The panel sessions from the 2023 Festival were recorded for our podcast series, Not in Print, and you can listen to those panels on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or your favourite podcast station. You can also read Andrea James’ Keynote address, Are you Brave Enough? here.

If you missed the 2022 Festival, or would like to revisit some of the conversations, the available panels are listed below with links to our YouTube channel.

Watch the video of the Keynote given by Patricia Cornelius.

Watch the video of The World’s Exploding, How Dare You Laugh

Watch the video of Staging the Real: Transforming Lived Experience Into Compelling Drama

Watch the video of  My Playwright Crush 1 with Debra Oswald and Elias Jamieson Brown.

Watch the video of Writing Taboos: Voicing the Unspeakable 

Watch the video of My Playwright Crush 2 with Emily Sheehan and Andrew Bovell.

Watch the video of  Talking with History: what do our plays collectively tell us about change in Australia?