Listed in Producer/Project Management, Theatre, Writing
About
Brendan Hogan is a multi-award-winning playwright and theatre-maker from Yackandandah, who is passionate about writing for young people and communities.
He was the winner of the 2018 and 2019 Martin-Lysicrates Prize for his plays, Farewell Mr Nippy and The Incomplete Works of Willow Baker (formerly Play Number Four), both of which are currently in development. Gamers for Life was a finalist in 2022 and Arty Fyshal in 2023. The Incomplete Works of Willow Baker was highly commended for the 2023 Griffin Award. His works have also been finalists for the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award (2021) and the Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize. His most recent work, All The Shining Lights, was commissioned by HotHouse Theatre and had its world premiere in November, 2022. The Last Boy on Earth, was performed by the Yackandandah Young Players as part of HotHouse Theatre's 2019 season .His published works for children include, Scaredy-Cat (MICF, 2015), How to Beat a Bully (2016), The Last Boy on Earth (2019), all of which have been performed by youth ensembles in schools around Australia. In 2020, his monologue, Spiderweb, was one of fifty commissioned by Playwriting Australia as part of their Dear Australia project. He was part of Arena Theatre Company's Bendigo Studio.
Brendan has also worked with diverse groups to create original and inspiring theatre for regional communities. In 2016, he collaborated with Yackandandah Cemetery Trust and Yackandandah Museum to create and produce From Here To There. In 2017, he collaborated with the residents of a local aged-care facility to explore the themes of resilience and growing old to produce a new show, Living Memory.
Brendan has featured in national print, radio and television media, including The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine and Back Roads (ABC TV). He has written and directed shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and presented at several conferences and festivals as a writer and an advocate for arts in the community, including the War Widows Guild of Victoria and the Writers, Readers and Poets (WRAP) festival.