Playwrights' Advisory Board

The Playwrights' Advisory Board was an Australian organisation established in 1938 to assist the cause of Australian playwriting.[1] It was established by Leslie Rees, Rex Rienits and Doris Fitton. Its functions included negotiating productions with theatres, acting as an intermediary in the nomination and collection of royalties, advising theatres and playwrights on scripts, and holding script competitions.[2][3] Members of the board included names such as Dymphna Cusack and Sumner Locke Elliott.

The Board ceased operations in 1963.

The Board's most notable achievement was holding a competition which helped unearth Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

Competitions
  1. 1944 – winner: Sons of Morning[4] by Catherine Duncan; second: Positions Vacant by Gwen Meredith; third: They Also Serve by Dymphna Cusack[5][6]
  2. 1946 – equal first: Ha Ha Among the Trumpets by George Landen Dann and And the Moon Will Shine by Miss Lynn Foster;[7] second: Stand Still Time by Dymphna Cusack
  3. 1947 – winner: The First Joanna by Dorothy Blewett[8]
  4. 1955 – equal first: The Torrents by Oriel Gray and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler; runner up Pacific Paradise by Dymphna Cusack, Flood by Eunice Hanger and Cornerstone by Gwen Meredith; We Find the Bunyip received a special mention[9]
  5. 1957 – winner: The Shifting Heart by Richard Beynon; second: The Multi Coloured Umbrella by Barbara Vernon
  6. 1960 General Motors Holden competition (voted on by The Trust and the PAB) – no winner but four recommendations, Donny Johnson by Alan Seymour, Zelda Trio by Laurence Collinson, Hateful Face in the Mirror by John Pinkney, Wish No More by Marien Dreyer
  7. 1961 Journalists Club Award (decided by the PAB) – equal first When the Gravediggers Come by Robert Amos and The Tower by Hal Porter

1940 Recommendations

In 1940 the Board recommended the following plays for production:[10]

1953 Play List

In 1953 the Board announced it was acting as agent for the following plays:[11]

References
  1. "Will Advise Playwrights". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. III, no. 205. New South Wales, Australia. 16 November 1938. p. 4. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "The Doll and the Umbrella", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (specific issues), Sydney, N.S.W.: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 78 (4056), 6 Nov 1957 [1880], ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-697595417, retrieved 24 July 2023 – via Trove
  3. "THE DRAMA IN AUSTRALIA". The West Australian. Vol. 55, no. 16, 553. Western Australia. 22 July 1939. p. 5. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Playwrights' Parade". The Sun. No. 11, 303. New South Wales, Australia. 15 April 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Women Win Main Playwright Prizes". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. IX, no. 291. New South Wales, Australia. 8 March 1945. p. 11. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Music and Drama". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 451. New South Wales, Australia. 10 March 1945. p. 8. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Queensland Playwright Wins Prize". The Courier-mail. No. 2933. Queensland, Australia. 17 April 1946. p. 2. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Stage Play Competition". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 312. New South Wales, Australia. 11 December 1947. p. 16. Retrieved 24 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. Australian Broadcasting Commission (1939), "A.B.C. Week of Australian Plays", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC (Vol. 18 No. 10 (10 March 1956)), nla.obj-1427510079, retrieved 24 July 2023 – via Trove
  10. Australasian Radio Relay League. (March 16, 1940), "Australian Plays For Stage", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, 35 (11), nla.obj-718411736, retrieved 24 July 2023 – via Trove
  11. "Playwrights' Advisory Board", The Bulletin., John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 74 (3805), 14 Jan 1953 [1880], ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-532497033, retrieved 24 July 2023 – via Trove
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