Flinders playwright scores new scholarship

phil-kavanaghAfter jetting off to Sydney in September for PlayWriting Australia’s prestigious National Script Workshop, Flinders University playwright Phillip Kavanagh (pictured) will return to the East Coast in 2012 to complete two playwriting courses run by the Griffin Theatre Company.

The 23-year-old has just won the $12,500 Colin Thiele Creative Writing Scholarship, offered as part of the Carclew Youth Arts Scholarships program, in recognition of his play-in-progress Little Borders and the award-winning play Plain Jane.

The annual Carclew scholarship program provides a one-off grant for young artists who demonstrate outstanding talent and potential as future leaders in their artform or practice to pursue the professional development of their choice.

Little Borders – the creative component of Mr Kavanagh’s Master of Arts thesis – was also selected for the National Script Workshop in Sydney, an intense two-week script development which involved working with a team of actors including Russell Dykstra from the 2001 Australian film Lantana, Josh Quong Tart from Home and Away and Danielle Cormack (Underbelly, Xena: Warrior Princess).

Mr Kavanagh said he felt honoured to win the Carclew scholarship, which comes on the back of his joint win in the State Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Award for Plain Jane earlier this year.

He said he was looking forward to learning from playwright Hilary Bell at Griffin, as well as undertaking a mentorship with playwright, director and dramaturg Duncan Graham.

“This is a great opportunity for me to learn the craft from both Hilary and Duncan, and the courses will take me one step closer to my dream of carving out a career as a playwright,” Mr Kavanagh said.

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