Lucy Holz takes home the 2021 Queer Playwriting Award with “Coming Out”
In its seventh year the Queer Playwriting Award Showcase presented to Midsumma Festival audiences at Gasworks Arts Park with the selection panellists, announcing on 11 May, that Coming Out by Lucy Holz will take home the award for Queer Playwriting 2021. Holz is set to work alongside Gasworks and Midsumma over the next year to deliver a full work for Midsumma Festival audiences.
“I am indebted to the award process for keeping me motivated to write and create during various lockdowns and artistic slumps. I feel so grateful for the vote of confidence from QPAS, being called funny by a panel of industry professionals is something I will hold onto in my darkest writing moments. I can’t wait to mine the knowledge of Gasworks creatives to create a show that is engaging, challenging and of course, funny”. – Lucy Holz – QPAS Playwright Award Winner 2021
“Gasworks Arts Park congratulates Lucy Holz on the creation of her new Australian play, Coming Out, which reflects the lived experience of queer women. Lucy has demonstrated a deft handle of comedy as well as an ability to balance light and shade to create an entertaining and enriching audience experience. We are really looking forward to further supporting the development of Lucy’s work and sharing it with audiences.” Marisa Cesario – Programming Coordinator, Gasworks Arts Park
This was a record-breaking year for QPAS; the highest number of applications received, highest audience attendance, and highest response rate for audience feedback.
“Midsumma is proud to once again support this program alongside Gasworks Arts Park. The shortlisted playwrights this year worked particularly hard to present their works in a difficult time when our audiences are so grateful to be able to hear and share stories again. Congratulations to all of the QPAS submissions.” Karen Bryant – CEO, Midsumma
The two other works that made up the finalists were; Mummy’s Boy by Patrick Livesey. A play about time, loss, love and mental illness. Patrick finds himself in a park looking out over Adelaide on the day his Mum is to be taken off life support. Patrick’s Mummy, Naomi Jean Fornarino, took her own life in 2015; this is her story, as told by her Boy. And, Recollection by George Ketels. Britney Spears’ Fantasy, a spent joint, a hairbrush. This is the story of Olivia, a mother, who pieces her deceased daughter's life into a perfume.
The Queer Playwriting Awards identify, support and develop original Australian theatre with a queer focus. The LGBTQIA+ community is diverse, exciting and full of stories and ideas that deserve to be heard on the stages of performing arts venues throughout the country. The ultimate aim of the Queer Playwriting Awards is to tour the work nationally to expose it to a wide range of metropolitan, regional and rural audiences.
Submissions for the Queer Playwriting Award 2022 will open June 2021. If you have any queries, contact Marisa Cesario on 03 8606 4200 or email [email protected]
