Emerging Writers Table

We meet together, have lunch, then sit around a table.

Writers Tables are an opportunity to share in the creative process alongside your peers. You’ll share your progress, ask for feedback, listen to what’s working and learn from one another's talents to inform your own.

There will also be guest sessions with leading industry professionals, as well as regular guided discussions with Tāmaki Makaurau based dramaturg Dan Goodwin.

What we’re looking for is passion, exciting ideas, and a desire to delve into playwriting over a durational, in-depth process. Ideally you aren’t new to playwriting, and your craft is informed by having read a good number of plays, and written some yourself. 

After the calibre of the 2024 applicants, including many of those not selected, we know that the Emerging Writers Table is a good fit for folks writing their third or fourth play, who already have a baseline technical knowledge. 

If you’re new to playwriting, tell us why the art form excites you. If you’ve ventured into writing before but gotten scared off, let us know what’s pulling you back in.

More than anything we want to support emerging artists who are excited about the craft. We don’t want to let anything get in the way of your enthusiasm or potential, and at the end of the day - the work is everything. If you can show us you’re excited to write a play, and have a great writing sample, then we’re excited to hear from you! 

While this is an ‘Emerging Writers Table’ please note you can be an emerging writer at any age, and there is no age limit.

You will write a full-length play for performers aged 16-25. 

As part of the application process, you'll tell us about the idea you'd like to write.
 
The synopsis you include in your application should clearly demonstrate that the play you want to write is suitable for this age range. This is one of the markers we use when selecting Table members. 

However, don’t underestimate the themes and questions that this age range is hungry for! 16-25 covers students from the end of high school all the way to drama school graduates.

Across the year, your work will be workshopped and performed by our Youth Company, and our actors are capable and eager to play mature roles and work with big topics relevant to their present selves and their future. They’re a talented group of young creatives who’ve auditioned to join the company. They can hold demanding work with skill, responsibility and rigour. 

• 1-5pm Saturday, 8 February 2025
• 1-5pm Saturday, 8 March 2025
• 1-5pm Saturday, 3 May 2025
• 1-5pm Saturday, 21 June 2025
• 1-5pm Saturday, 12 July 2025
• 1-5pm Saturday, 23 August 2025
• 1-5pm Saturday, 8 November 2025

We ask that you are available for all the dates. Our contact time across the 10 months is precious and limited. We set a high bar for our writers, and the research, writing, and editing process is expected to continue consistently between sessions. 

Our sessions together are vital to make sure we can come together, awhi one another in our craft, as artists and people, and make sure everyone crosses the finish line with a work they feel proud of.

Fill in our Application Form by 24 Jan 2025. 

As part of the application, you will include: 

1. A writing sample of a play text, between 2-3 pages, that you feel best showcases your work
2. A 1-page CV
3.  A synopsis of your idea