Immersive Playwriting Workshop with Mary Rachel Brown

Mary Rachel Brown is a Sydney-based playwright and screenwriter with twenty-five years of industry experience which she uses in a series of playwriting workshops. She is an Australian Writers Guild Award winner and the inaugural Suzie Miller Fellow at Griffin Theatre Company. She is currently under commission with Griffin, and her Play The Dapto Chaser is in Ensemble Theatre’s 2026 season.

About this workshop:

Playwriting helps us understand ourselves and the world we live in. It is a fun way of investigating the human condition. Good plays put us in touch with what is surprising, devastating, interesting, and joyful about being alive now. The core job of a playwright is to imagine the lives of others, their strengths and weaknesses, their failures and victories. When we truly engage in this creative act, we gain curiosity and empathy.

Through a series of writing exercises, workshop participants will gain hands-on experience in how to employ craft skills in their creative writing. The workshop will cover the following playwriting fundamentals.

· Brainstorming and developing ideas

· World building

· Structure

· Creating authentic characters

. Character-led writing: How to unearth and establish your characters’ wants and needs.

· Dialogue

· Pressure testing the conflict and stakes in your work

· Formatting

· Re drafting

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A note from Mary:

“I have a passion for play development and have been teaching writing for the last 20 years. For the last 4 years, I have taught playwriting for NIDA’s MFA in Dramatic Writing. Other organisations I have taught for include Australian Theatre for Young People, Canberra Youth Theatre, Merici College, The NSW Department of Education, Playwriting Australia, Griffin Theatre Company, The Canberra Theatre Centre, and The Sydney Fringe. Alongside my Griffin Commission, this year, I am designing and running The Old Fitzroy’s New Writing Course, working at NIDA, and script-assessing for The Australian Writers Guild.

On a personal level, I am deeply motivated to share my skills because of my lived experience. I was a dyslexic kid who sat in the back row of remedial English. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I could become a published, award-winning playwright with a body of professionally produced work. I know first-hand how powerful it can be to find your creative voice, and I love being in the business of unearthing and encouraging writers.”

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Testimonials

Joe Hepworth – Course Leader & Head of Dramatic Writing NIDA

“Mary Rachel Brown has a wonderful way of working with writers and students, that is both empathetic and process driven. She supports writers to grow in confidence capability, whilst also moving projects forward.” 

Declan Greene – Artistic Director Griffin Theatre Company

“Over Mary’s two-year writer’s residency at Griffin, the workshops she ran for early-career playwrights helped immeasurably in the development of their work. She is patient, caring, and incredibly generous in the sharing of her craft with young writers.”

Fraser Corfield – Former CEO of Australian Theatre For Young People

“I would absolutely recommend Mary Rachel Brown. She is an exceptional workshop facilitator who has a natural affinity for sharing her extensive knowledge and experience of play writing with young people. Mary combines professionalism and focus with a wonderful warmth and sense of humour. She’s part of that elite group of Australian writers who communicate in person as well as they do on paper.” 

Lucy Clements – Artistic Director The Old Fitzroy Theatre

“Mary Rachel Brown is one of Australia’s finest playwrights and an exceptional teacher. She has a rare ability to make writers feel safe, challenged and inspired all at once – and her impact on emerging voices is profound. She is a gift to us here in Sydney, and we feel privileged every time we collaborate with her as a playwright, director, dramaturge and tutor .”