BlakStage: Script Submissions

We warmly invite submissions of playscripts suitable for inclusion in BlakStage, an AustralianPlays.org showcase.

BlakStage provides a central access point for readers, educators and theatre-makers with an interest in contemporary Indigenous performance writing. Under the curation of Cathy Craigie, BlakStage collects significant playscripts and makes them available to readers, educators and theatre-makers in a culturally appropriate context supported by community protocols, teaching resources, playwright interviews and other content.

BlakStage is hosted by AustralianPlays.org which is owned and managed by the Australian Script Centre, in collaboration with Currency Press, Playlab and PlayWriting Australia.

Submissions are invited from playwrights, theatre companies, theatrical agents, directors and Indigenous arts organisations.

Scripts may be submitted to BlakStage at any time using our  online form . Please read the following information before submitting your script:

• About the Collection
• Eligibility
• Selection Criteria
• Submitting a Script

About BlakStage

BlakStage is an online showcase of Australian Indigenous performance writing, hosted on AustralianPlays.org, a trading name of the Australian Script Centre.

It was established with the purpose of;

• Showcasing outstanding Indigenous playscripts to the world
• Educating producers, drama teachers, students and theatre-makers in the cultural protocols associated with the use and study of Indigenous plays
• Providing a central access point where people with an interest in studying or producing Indigenous performance writing can be guided and supported
• Brokering production opportunities for the featured plays with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous theatre companies.

Playscripts featured on BlakStage are curated by Cathy Craigie.

The project has wide-ranging support in principle from Indigenous stakeholders; expressions of support have been received from Yirra Yaakin, Kurruru Youth Performing Arts, Magabala Books, Black Words, Eora College and others. The distinguished Indigenous playwright/director,  Wesley Enoch, in his capacity as an ASC board member, provided guidance in the conceptual development and implementation of the project. Project Coordinator, Dr Maryrose Casey of Monash University, author of Creating Frames: contemporary Indigenous theatre (UQP 2004), provided valuable written materials and other non-script resources.

This project is assisted by ATSIAB under its National Indigenous Arts Infrastructure Program. The Australian Script Centre is proud of its status as the first organisation to gain accreditation as an Affiliate Partner of ATSIAB, reflecting the organisation’s concerted efforts to integrate Indigenous protocols into its organisational governance, program delivery and creative control.

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Eligibility

Eligible playwrights will be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island descent and identified as such by both the community and themselves.

Submissions must be production-ready performance scripts for stage or radio, which meet the following criteria:

• You hold publication rights - in other words, the script is not currently licensed exclusively to another publisher

AND at least one of the following;

• The script has been specifically requested by the Indigenous curator
• The script has received a professional production and/or an independent production,
• The script has been through a professional script development workshop,
• The script has received a favourable written assessment by an industry-recognised professional,
• The writer has a letter of support from an industry-recognised professional,
• The script has won or been shortlisted for a major Australian prize, or
• The script is written by an established playwright.

Please note that BlakStage will consider plays with music (where most of the text is dialogue with occasional songs) but musicals, where all or nearly all the text is sung, are not eligible. We reserve the right to disqualify plays with music if the score and usage rights are not readily available.

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Selection criteria

Plays featured on BlakStage are drawn from previously unpublished plays, plays already in the Script Centre catalogue and plays published by our publishing partners, Currency Press and Playlab. Previously unpublished plays comprise a combination of unsolicited scripts and scripts identified as significant by the Indigenous Curator and requested from the relevant playwright.

Eligible unsolicited scripts received through the online submission process are assessed by the Indigenous Curator against the following criteria;

• Importance in the ecology and diversity of Indigenous writing
• Literary merit, understood to encompass writing ability, style, skilled use of language, appropriateness of form, stagecraft, characterisation, clarity of expression and sustained development of themes or ideas.
• Potential to engage the intended audience

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Any questions?

Send us an email, or telephone +61(0)3 6223 4675.
 

Submitting a script

Visit our  online form  to submit your script.

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	BlakStage is an initiative of the Australian Script Centre; proud owners and operators of AustralianPlays.org
	This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The Australian Script Centre is an accredited partner to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts under the National Indigenous Arts Infrastructure Program.