Prize-winning performance makers
- Author: Ebony Preen
- Posted: 7th December 2011
A coming of age tale and a love story set near the end of the world has won two UNSW Theatre and Performance Studies graduates major Sydney playwright awards.
The Philip Parsons Young Playwrights Award
Zoe Coombs Marr is the winner of the Philip Parsons Young Playwrights Award, given each year to a NSW writer under 35.
Coombs Marr, who graduated from a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Performance Studies/Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2009, will receive a $10 000 commission for the rare opportunity to write a new play for the Belvoir Theatre.
The commission is awarded to a playwright whose work demonstrates an original and compelling theatrical voice. Coombs Marr was presented the award for her one-woman show And That Was the Summer That Changed My Life, which premiered last year at the Next Wave Festival.
Anthea Williams, the Literary Manager for the Belvoir Theatre and also a graduate from UNSW’s Theatre and Performance Studies program said the play was "the most heart-warming and hilarious coming-of-age tale I've ever had the pleasure to read".
Coombs Marr is also one third of the highly acclaimed theatre company post. Their works have been performed extensively at festivals and theatres all over Australia, including Next Wave Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Festival, TINA Festival (Newcastle), Urban Theatre Projects and Performance Space.
Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award
25 year old Jessica Bellamy has won the 2011 Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award for her play Sprout. The $20,000 award attracted 72 submissions from across Australia.
Sprout is a love story set in Australia near the end of the world, which asks its audience to consider what sort of links bind us in a world that is falling apart. The play premiered at the Old Fitzroy Theatre in October 2011.
Bellamy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Performance Studies and holds a Graduate Diploma of Dramatic Art in Playwriting from NIDA. She is a Griffin Playwriting Australia Associate Playwright for 2011-2012.





