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Griffin Theatre Company has announced the finalists for the 2013 Griffin Award, shortlisting new works by Donna Abela, Vanessa Bates, Rosemary Johns, Kate Mulvany and Robert Reid. The prestigious Griffin Award recognises an outstanding play or performance text that displays an authentic, inventive and contemporary Australian voice, with the winner receiving a $10,000 prize. In addition to the main award, each shortlisted playwright receives $1,000.
 
There were an unprecedented 162 entries in this year’s Griffin Award, of which all were assessed and read twice by a panel of Griffin Theatre Company’s artistic staff and resident artists.
 
The shortlisted plays are:
Chipper by Vanessa Bates
Eating Alone by Robert Reid
Jump For Jordan by Donna Abela
The Birthday Book of Death by Rosemary Johns
The Rasputin Affair by Kate Mulvany
 
In addition, the reading panel highly commended the following plays:
As I Lay Dreaming by Catherine McKinnon
Big Heart by Patricia Cornelius
Cassandra Is A Waitress by Meredith Penman
Moths by Michele Lee
She Dances Like a Bomb by Glyn Roberts
 
The shortlist will be judged by The Australian’s theatre critic John McCallum, writer and producer Annette Shun Wah, BDO East Coast Partnership Chairman Helen Argiris, and Griffin Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Lee Lewis and Associate Artist Jane Bodie.
 
The winner will be announced at a special event on 14 June during Griffin’s annual Festival of New Writing, where an excerpt from each shortlisted play will also be read.
 
The Griffin Award has a long history of recognising new talent and cementing the careers of Australian writers. Previous winners include Rick Viede (A Hoax, 2011, Whore, 2008) Aiden Fennessy (Brutopia, 2010), Lachlan Philpott (Silent Disco, 2009), Debra Oswald (Mr Bailey’s Minder, 2004), Brendan Cowell (Rabbit, 2003) and Vivienne Walshe (2012) for This is Where We Live which opens at the SBW Stables Theatre on 19 June as part of Griffin Independent.

Visit: griffintheatre.com.au