The Invitation to success

WESTERN Australia’s newest playwright Michelle McCormick has won “Best Play” in the 2014 National One-Act Playwriting competition with her maiden script, The Invitation.
Michelle flew in from London, where she was holidaying with her family, just in time to attend the presentations at Noosa Arts Theatre on Saturday.
Michelle said she was thrilled with her win as she had always considered herself an actor.
“This has actually given me a lot of confidence to write something else,” Michelle said.
“I’ve never written anything in my life before. This is one of the best things that have ever happened to me,” she said.
Tewantin’s Bendigo Bank branch sponsored the event and board member Rick Cooper was on hand to present Michelle with $3000.
In second place, was local playwright Frank Wilkie with his dark piece, The Devil’s Dance, and third place was Michiko Parnell, with her comedy Instructions for Two or More Players, which took out the Nancy Cato Audience Choice Award.
Adjudicator Andrea Moore also found much to like about the cast of mid-life crisis comedy Instructions for Two or More Players, awarding Best Male and Female Actor tributes to Paul Barrs and Julia Verburgt, respectively. Kate Cullen won Best Director for the same play.
Special acknowledgments were made by Moore with Adjudicator Awards to Liza Park for her direction of The Invitation, and to her female lead Karina Seale.
The competition attracted over 70 entries from across Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. For the first time, the top three finalists were chosen by a panel of Brisbane-based industry experts.
Noosa Arts Theatre president Liza Park said entries for next year’s competition, the 38th year it has been held, have already started arriving, and that it was a testament to the affection the public hold for the festival, that it has grown from an initial three performances per year, to 11 performances now, to accommodate the demand for tickets.
Entries are open for the 2015 One Act Playwriting competition. Details available at www.noosaartstheatre.org.