2025 STORYTELLERS FESTIVAL
11 – 16 May 2025
KXT on Broadway
It’s time for the next round of great, unproduced Australian plays to be given the spotlight.
Now in its fifth season, Storytellers Festival has proven to be an incredible engine for getting new Australian writing to our stages, with a stellar alumni of programmed plays in its wake.
Storytellers Festival @ KXT on Broadway is a one-week, pop-up celebration of playwrights and new Australian writing. It’s an opportunity to showcase unproduced work, test writing that has never been heard, and come together as a playwriting community. The Festival is curated by playwright and Festival Founder Joanna Erskine, in association with bAKEHOUSE Theatre.
This year we’re looking for full length plays ready to showcase, as well as works in development that are ready to test in front of an audience.
WHO’S ELIGIBLE? Playwrights at any stage of their writing careers.
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? Works submitted must be unproduced and not have had a public season of performances.
Playwrights may submit:
A full-length play at, or close to, final draft stage, that is a minimum of 60 minutes in duration; OR
A work in development, or section of a work in development, that is ready to be tested in front of an audience.
Playwrights may submit more than one work for consideration, in separate submissions.
We are looking to program:
A diverse mix of playwrights
A diverse range of writing styles and content
Work that is ready, or almost ready for, production (full-length)
HOW WILL IT WORK? Submit your play via the 2025 Storytellers Festival submissions form by 5pm Tuesday 1 April 2025.
We'll be in touch by mid-April to let you know if your work has been selected.
If you have a director and/or performers attached to your play that you would like to work with, please let us know in your submission. If you do not have a creative team, we will allocate a director and actors to your play.
NOTE: 100% of Box Office will go to participating writers
DIRECTORS & ACTORS: a call out for directors and actors are now open. See below for details and links
ACTOR SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN each year many dozens of actors participate in the Storytellers Festival. While some works already have cast attached, there are many that are looking for actors. Click on the link below to register your availability
Submissions close 5pm 15 April 2025.
DIRECTORS: If you are interested in participating in Storytellers Festival as a director, please click on the link below to complete
the EOI.
Submissions close 5pm 15 April 2025.
Imagery: All Boys Storytellers 2023 All Boys was a part of the of KXT2024 program, played a sold-out season ALL BOYS 2024
2022 the 2022 Storytellers festival featured the work of 11 playwrights, 10 directors and 50 actors:
PLAYWRIGHTS Erica Brennan, Kate Gaul, Callum Mackay, Brian Obiri-Asare, Xavier Coy, Meg Goodfellow, Cassandra-Elli Yiannacou, Stephen Sewell, Lucy Green, Wendy Mocke
DIRECTORS Jo Bradley, Camilla Turnbull, Hayden Tonazzi, Bruce Koussaba, Jay James-Moody, Kim Hardwick, Madeleine Diggins, Sophie Benassi, Shaun Rennie, Amy Sole
ACTORS Alison Bennett, Laura Djanegara, Kieran McGrath, Christopher Moro, Marcus Rivera, Annie Stafford, Simon Thomson, LJ Wilson, Poppy Lynch, Tom Dawson, Rachel Seeto, Abhilash Kaimal, Ziggy Resnick, Ed McCullough, Callum Stephen, Eddie Orton, Damon Manns, Whitney Richards, Nancy Denis, Brian Obiri-Asare, Xavier Coy, Mandy Bishop, Luisa Panucci, Sarah-Jane Kelly, Zoe Carides, Elouise Eftos, Alex Sideratos, Gen Papadopoulos, Georgia-Paige Theodos, Sophie Kouknas, Karen Vickery, Deborah Kennedy, Maggie Blinco, Mark Owen Taylor, Charlotte Friels, Jeremi Campese, Jamie Oxenbould, Deborah Galanos, Justin Amankwah, Wendy Mocke, Dalara Williams, Maryanne Fonceca, Kurt Ramjan, Margaret Pittas, Lungol Wekina, Annie Stafford, Emma O'Sullivan, Toby Blome
ANDThe Hero Leaves One Tooth: Lyrics and music by Jake Neilson. Musical direction by Alexander Lee-Rekers
SUPPORT Thanks to Charlie Vaux; Camilla Turnbull, Jacob Parker, Sean Landis, Mitchell Bourke
Storytellers Festival is a showcase of new work. The Festival provides an opportunity to share work and invite people to hear your work, to further generate audience interest in new Australian writing, create new industry connections for writers, and encourage industry to hear work that is ready for production.
Plays that were first seen at Storytellers and have gone on to full production include:
REALish by Wendy Mocke ~ Son of Byblos by James Elazzi ~ You're Not Special by Sam O'Sullivan ~ Orange Thrower by Kirsty Marillier ~ Lilac by Jackson Used ~ Dead Skin by Laneikka Denne ~ The Princess Party by Samira Spring ~ Kangaroo by Miranda Gott ~ Omar and Dawn by James Elazzi ~ 44 Sex Acts in One Week by David Finnigan ~ The Park by Simon Thomson ~ Hairworm by Emma Wright
plays have been staged at: Sydney Theatre Company; KXT - Kings X Theatre; 25a Belvoir St Theatre; Griffin Theatre; Sydney Festival; Touring; LA; Seymour Centre; Old 505 Theatre
STORYTELLERS 2019
Those pages in the ‘bottom drawer.’ That play you wrote five years ago that still hasn’t been picked up. That monologue you loved that got cut a week before the production because it didn’t propel the story forward. Killed darlings. Buds never blossomed. Every writer has them, tucked away, whether just starting out or a veteran of the stage: Fragments of stories that didn’t make it, or haven’t made it yet; fragments that won’t exist if they are not seen or heard.
STORYTELLERS 2018
STORYTELLERS is curated and facilitated by JOANNA ERSKINE