7:30pm Saturday 11^th May (One Night Only)
at the Bridge Street Theatre Coniston
(home of the Phoenix Theatre Company)

24 Hour Theatre is a Black Box Theatre Production
Executive Producer | Luke Berman

Tickets are now available
$22 Adult, $17 Concession/Student, $12 Pensioner/Carers
Plays may contain coarse language and adult themes
and may not be suitable for children under the age of 14.
Click Here to book tickets

Black Box Theatre is proud to announce its first batch of writers for this year’s 24 Hour Theatre Illawarra.

We will be adding at least another two writers into the mix over the next week or two as more actor registrations come through in the lead-up to the show.

If you are an actor, and you’d like to take part in the production, click here for more information and to register your interest.

Our 24 Hour Theatre writers will be taking on the challenge of writing an original short play (8-15 minutes) over the course of one night (7 hours) and will watch as their play is rehearsed and performed all within 24 hours. This year we had a record number of writer submissions, with eighteen Illawarra playwrights applying. This is a strong testimony to the depth of our region’s creative writing pool, and the appeal of writing to the strictest of deadlines.

So here are our first six writers for 24 Hour Theatre Illawarra 2019. Four writers are returning to take on the challenge again, while Charlotte Cuff and Dylan Gee are taking on their first rapid-fire writing experience with Black Box Theatre.

DIANA MCLAREN

Diana McLaren is an Australian with an American accent. She studied Acting and Television at Charles Sturt University which is when she first began writing scripts. She has been a part of the theatre for most of her life and has been writing and performing since she was 8 years old. She took a break from the world of theatre briefly after university to work in the corporate world but quickly learned you can take the girl out of the theatre but you can’t take the theatre out of the girl. Now at the age of 27, she mainly works as a stand-up comedian but still loves to stretch her writing fingers and applying them to the theatre.

TOM PEACH

Tom first became involved with the theatre at SPAT (Stanwell Park Arts Theatre) in 2012.  He had never done anything artistic before but was dragged along by his daughter to audition for the role of “British villain”.  Since then Tom has been heavily involved with both writing, directing and acting in various productions in Stanwell Park, Wollongong, and Sydney.  He has also trained in Writing for Performance at the Open Studio course at NIDA and has founded his own theatre company, DuGarde, to showcase new writing.

His writing and directing experience includes:

·       Shakespeare’s Playlist, Actor and Director
·       NIDA, Open Studio, Writing for Performance
·       Robespierre’s Shoes, Writer and Director
·       Doctors’ Orders, Writer
·       Desire of the Soul, Writer
·       Old Viaduct Hotel, Writer and Director
·       Badda Bing Badda Bang, Writer and Director
·       The Goddess, Writer and Director

DAVID RIENITS

David is an English/Geography/History/Drama Highschool Teacher who holds degrees in English Literature, Creative Writing and Teaching. He has taught writing for the stage at both the IPAC and Roo Theatre and has had plays he has written performed at both. He has performed in productions for most community theatre companies in the Illawarra and has represented them all like a strange mercenary in the Playmates Improvisation Competition. Known as a beardy, tall glass of water who wears tweed occasionally, he has participated in three previous 24hr Theatre productions and is keen to return for a fourth.

ALEXANDER CUFF

Since 2015, Alexander has written over 10 short plays for various productions and companies across the Illawarra and Sydney. His first 24-Hour Theatre piece, Time Squad, advances to the Gala Finals of Short+Sweet Sydney 2017. Two of his other short plays, The Human Trap and For Hire, were performed in Short+Sweet Sydney 2018 and 2019 respectively, with For Hire also being staged at the inaugural Short+Sweet Illawarra festival last year. Alexander’s first full-length play, Verdict, was performed at the Roo Theatre Company and was well received by audiences.

CHARLOTTE CUFF

Charlotte has written in various creative writing competitions including earning a high distinction for a NAPLAN examination and getting shortlisted for the WhatMatters NSW competition in 2018. She has written short plays that have been put on for public viewing such as ‘My Faults Are Yours’ in Bridgeworks 2018 and ‘Piece of Cake’ for Ipac’s Young Playwrights Project. Charlotte also has an upcoming project for Phoenix Theatre’s ‘Tale From the Metropolis’ and has been touted by 24 Hour Theatre producer Luke Berman as one of the most promising emerging performance artists in the Illawarra both as an actor and as a writer.

DYLAN GEE

Dylan has loved writing since he was a ‘wee lad of six’, who loved the narrative section of kindergarten When he was ten years old he asserted to his family that he would be a famous author. Since then he has finished a Creative Writing degree at UOW and has had a go at many prose competitions, decided aggressively against poetry and put on his first short play two years ago, called Locust, in Bridge Works 2017. Dylan’s first full length play Finn McCool was performed at the Phoenix Theatre. Much to the dismay of many of Dylan’s writing friends, his novel sits at a solid 5000 words whilst his word building notes have reach over three hundred pages.

Stay Tuned for our Round 2 writer offers and Cast Announcements