Currency Press

03/08/2025

SATURDAY PROGRAM // FESTIVAL OF PLAYWRIGHTS, 22-24 AUG

ADAPTING FOR THE STAGE: a panel chaired by Belvoir St Theatre's Eamon Flack, featuring Virginia Gay, Wesley Enoch and Sport For Jove Theatre 's Damien Ryan.

Do we really need another stage adaptation of a centuries-old classic? Why are playwrights so tempted to reimagine a story that's already been staged multiple times—and when they do adapt it, how does one manage to make their production different, and memorable? We're so excited to bring this panel to life at our third Currency Press Festival of Playwrights, held at The Rebel Theatre, Australian Theatre for Young People (atyp).

Tickets going fast! Full festival passes, day passes and single session passes available (standard and concession prices): https://www.currency.com.au/australian-playwrights-festival/

25/07/2025

Opening soon at Red Stitch: The Actors' Theatre!

‘I don’t know. I’ll sleep more. I like to sleep in. I’d like to do that more. I like to wake up without an alarm or a baby crying. I like realising it’s Saturday and I can do whatever I want.’

Best friends Jo and Lia fell out years ago when Lia started dating Jo’s ex, Simon. Now a decade and many failed IVF rounds later, Lia and Simon decide to try one final drastic attempt at parenthood by asking happily childfree Jo to donate her eggs to them. What’s Yours captures the fallout of this simple but impossibly complicated request.

Funny, messy, heart-breaking and hopeful, What’s Yours offers new and unique insight to the growing childfree-by-choice movement, celebrating the enduring power of women’s friendship and lives lived on their own terms.

Pre-order here: https://www.currency.com.au/books/gender-themes/whats-yours/

03/07/2025

Coming soon! 'This excellent one-act play ... It's hard to believe that a new play could hit the mark so well.' — Stage Whispers

'I could crack open the footpath. Shake the houses until bookcases topple over. And all the porcelain in the world is just dust on the floor. And everything fragile is broken.'

Sam's in her last year of high school. Her dad's just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. 'Too much wanking!' her mum says. It's a joke but no one finds it funny. It's safe to say no one's coping very well—least of all Sam. Not that anyone is noticing. It isn't until she ends up in the office of Mr David that she feels like she can finally open up, that she can let it all out.

At the doorway between innocence and maturity, simply getting through the day can feel like an eternity—especially when loneliness, grief and abuse of power get in the way. Shortlisted for the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award and longlisted for the Griffin Award, sitting, screaming is a raw and gripping exploration of how vulnerable young people slip through the cracks.

Pre-order a copy now: https://www.currency.com.au/books/gender-themes/sitting-screaming/

27/06/2025

'We are left with a sense of the 'uphill' battle many face in this country but we are in no doubt that it's a climb worth making...' — Judges' comments, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, The State Library of New South Wales

We reflect on Glenn Shea's groundbreaking work, Three Magpies Perched in A Tree, copublished with La Mama Theatre, which won the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at this year's NPLAs. Shea is a former frontline Koori juvenile justice worker who specifically worked with Aboriginal adolescent young people who came into contact with the criminal justice system. Three Magpies is available for purchase now on currency.com.au

25/06/2025

Spot the Currency Press title 😘 State Library of Western Australia

Huge congratulations to Donna Hughes, whose YA play, Trackers, is shortlisted for Young Adult Book of the Year in the 2025 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards! Pick up a copy of the shortlisted play here: https://www.currency.com.au/books/drama/trackers/

Congratulations to the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards 2025 shortlisted authors!

These books are now in the running for $120,000 in total prizes with winners set to be announced in late August.

The State Library will be hosting a special event, Stories from the West, to explore a selection of the shortlisted books with their authors on Sunday 27 July.

Discover the shortlist and book tickets to Stories from the West: slwa.wa.gov.au/premiersbookawards

24/06/2025

We're looking for a Customer Service and Administration Assistant to join our small team! If you have excellent time management skills, enjoy problem solving and keeping things running smoothly, we'd love to meet you. Competency in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office an advantage. The job is for 20 hours a week over five days, on site.

Please email your cover letter with CV to [email protected] before 7 July.

20/06/2025

PSA for our young playwrights! Our friends at Canberra Youth Theatre have brought some phenomenal playwrights our way via their Emerging Playwright Commission — which they're running again this year. Applications close soon(Monday 7 July), so hop to it!

This nationwide commission offers $17,400 to an emerging playwright aged 16–35 to create a new, full-length work for performers aged 7–25. The other two finalists will also receive $1,500 each to support their writing practice.

This opportunity is designed to help launch the careers of talented writers who are ready to take the next step — those who are underway on their playwriting journey, perhaps with a production or two under their belt, but haven’t yet been professionally produced by a major theatre company.

For further details, visit https://canberrayouththeatre.com.au/writers/commissions/

15/06/2025

On now at Downstairs Belvoir St Theatre, produced by Griffin Theatre Company!

Hannah had her trip all planned out. Travel to Korea. Visit her birth mother. Spend a golden summer creating precious memories.

But when she arrives in Seoul reality hits hard. Her Umma works in a convenience store day and night, barely taking a break. She seems more interested in stacking shelves and re-arranging the garden gnome display than connecting with her long-lost Australian daughter.

Hannah is Korean, yet in Umma’s mind, Hannah is a "Koreaboo"—a foreigner captivated by K-Pop, kimchi and hanboks. Armed with only Google Translate and unrelenting optimism, Hannah must try to find a place within Umma’s world before the end of a sweltering summer.

Taking inspiration from real events of Michelle Lim Davidson’s life (The Feather in the Web, The Newsreader), this profound and heartfelt play marks the writing debut of one of Australia’s most beloved performers. Michelle herself takes to the stage under the direction of Jessica Arthur (The Dictionary of Lost Words), in a reunion story that reaches across continents, cultures and Spotify® playlists.

Available now: https://www.currency.com.au/books/cald-writer/koreaboo/