MARY ANNE BUTLER

ABOUT

Mary Anne Butler’s plays have been described as ‘poetic, evocative and muscular’. Theatre credits include Broken, Wittenoom, Highway of Lost Hearts, Cusp, The Sound of Waiting, Alice in Wonderland (adaptation), One More Hour and Half Way There. Her playwriting awards include the Victorian Prize for Literature, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama, the inaugural Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting, and an AWGIE. Her works have twice been awarded the NT Chief Minister’s Book of the Year: for Broken in 2018, and for Highway of Lost Hearts in 2016. Nominations include the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards [for Broken in 2016 and for The Sound of Waiting in 2018], a stage AWGIE Award (for Broken) and the Griffin Theatre Award. Highway of Lost Hearts is on the NSW, South Australian and Northern Territory HSC Drama Curricula. Mary Anne is a Sidney Myer Creative Fellow, an Arts NT Fellow, a Winston Churchill Fellow, a Regional Arts Fellow and an Asialink Fellow. She holds an MPhil in Creative Writing, an MEd in Arts Education and is currently engaged with her PhD in Literature, exploring how to write hope into the realist literature of the Anthropocene.

AWARDS:

Broken
2018 NT Chief Minister’s Book of the Year
2016 Victorian Prize for Literature
2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama
2014 NT Literary Awards Best Script
Shortlisted for: 2016 Nick Enright Prize [NSW Premier’s Literary Awards], 2016 Stage AWGIE, 2014 Griffin Award.

Cusp
2022 Shortlisted for the NT Chief Minister’s Book of the Year 2020 AWGIE winner 2018 NT Winner 2018 NT Literary Awards for Best Script

Wittenoom 2022 Winner inaugural Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting

Highway of Lost Hearts
2016 NT Chief Minister’s Book of the Year (joint winner)

The Sound of Waiting
Shortlisted for: 2018 Nick Enright Prize [NSW Premier’s Literary Awards], NT Literary Awards Best Script

One More Hour Winner 2019 NT Literary Awards for Best Script

Hopetown [full-length screenplay] Winner 2012 NT Literary Awards Birch, Carroll & Coyle Screenwriting Award

Dragons Winner 2010 NT Literary Awards Best Script [Darwin Festival Award]

FELLOWSHIPS
Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship NT Arts Fellowship
Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship
Asialink Fellowship
Regional Arts Fellowship

PUBLICATIONS:

Wittenoom https://www.currency.com.au/books/drama/wittenoom/

Broken
https://www.currency.com.au/books/award-winning/broken/

Highway of Lost Hearts
https://www.currency.com.au/books/drama/highway-of-lost-hearts/

Cusp https://www.currency.com.au/books/drama/cusp/

Alice in Wonderland
https://www.currency.com.au/books/adaptations/alice-in-wonderland/

One More Hour https://playlabtheatre.com.au/shop-publications/new-releases/one-more-hour-by-mary-anne-butler/

Half Way There
https://apt.org.au/script/ASC-1114

The Sound of Waiting
https://apt.org.au/script/ASC-2149

EDUCATION: (2020-2026) Doctor of Philosophy (Literature) Master of Philosophy (Creative Writing) University of Queensland
Master of Education (Theatre in Education) University of New England
Diploma of Arts (Acting) Victorian College of the Arts
Diploma of Education. English and Drama. Victoria College, Rusden
Bachelor of Arts: English, English Literature. Australian National University

CONTACT: maryannemoobutler@gmail.com