Theatre - Writing University of Melbourne

Overview

The Theatre - Writing program at University of Melbourne is unique in Australian theatre culture, focusing on the diversity of voices and cultures present in contemporary writing in Australia and overseas.

Through a combination of writing workshops, critical seminars and discussions you will develop skills in writing for the diverse contexts of live and digital performance alongside gaining a deeper understanding of the relationship between the writer and the cultural contexts in which they write. You will be equipped with the skills to develop your own writing voice in multiple forms, as well as the academic writing skills to articulate your own practice in the context of contemporary cultural and performance theory.

The program focuses on the development of a full length play - at the end of the year, each writer presents a rehearsed presentation of a full-length play to industry and public. You will also produce four other smaller performance writing projects including: writing from improvisation with acting and directing students; writing for digital mediums; adaptation of existing texts; and writing for live art projects.

A core principle of the program is collaboration, in developing this skill you will collaborate with other VCA postgraduate disciplines and engage with writers, directors, designers, choreographers, performance-makers and actors on a range of projects in an intensive training environment. 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course, graduates will have developed:

• Advanced skills and expertise to conceptualise, realise and present original writing for performance and/or performance oriented projects in diverse forms
• Their capacity to evaluate, discriminate and make informed choices as part of writing practice within aesthetic domains
• Expert skills in collaborating with other theatre artists and diverse communities
• Demonstrated knowledge of problem solving abilities and flexibility of approach
• Advanced skills in articulating ideas and processes inherent in their creative work within the context of relevant artistic discourse and research.