Alana Valentine is an Australian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, dramatist,

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

, and director working in theatre, film, opera, and television.

Early life and education

Alana Valentine graduated with a

Bachelor of Communications A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

from

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...

(UTS) in 1983. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

(2000).

Career

Valentine wrote her first play ''Multiple Choice'', in 1985, mentored by Alex Buzo. It was staged by the

Australian Theatre for Young People Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is the flagship youth theatre company located in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1963 by Eleanor Witcombe. History The first committee was formed in 1963 and ...

as part of the

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney, that runs for three weeks every January since it was established in 1977. The festival program features over 100 events from local and international artists and inclu ...

in 1986. She has also written for television and film, starting with the series ''Lady Chaplain'' on

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...

, and later ''

McLeod's Daughters ''McLeod's Daughters'' is an Australian drama television series created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton for the Nine Network, which aired from 8 August 2001, to 31 January 2009, lasting eight seasons. It stars Lisa Chappell and ...

''. She has written for

short films A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

, including ''Mother Love'' (1994), ''The Witnesses'' (1995), and ''Reef Dreaming'' (1997).Alana Valentine
RGM Artists She co-wrote the 2011 short film ''Moth'' with

Meryl Tankard Meryl Tankard (born 1955) is an Australian dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker. She started her career at the Australian Ballet in Sydney in 1975, and was principal dancer with Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany between 1978 ...

, which Tankard directed. It was shown in the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

. Valentine has collaborated as a co-writer and

dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

with Aboriginal director and choreographer Stephen Page on many productions for

Bangarra Dance Theatre Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-bor ...

since 2011, including ''Patyegarang'' in 2014 ''Bennelong'' in 2017, and ''Wudjang: Not the Past'' in 2022. Valentine first worked with Vicki Gordon Music Productions to create the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

show ''Barefoot Divas, Walk a Mile in My Shoes''. The work premiered at the

in 2012, toured North America in 2014 and was staged at the

Hong Kong Arts Festival The Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF), launched in 1973, is an international arts festival held in Hong Kong. It covers all genres of the performing arts as well as a diverse range of educational events in February and March each year. Histor ...

in 2015. In 2016 Gordon commissioned Valentine and Ursula Yovich to co-write the First Nations

rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concep ...

''Barbara and the Camp Dogs''. This premiered at the Belvoir Theatre in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in December 2017, returning for an encore run at the Belvoir in April 2019 before touring the country that year. The Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney commissioned the work ''Made to Measure'', completed by Valentine while she was

writer-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

, and presented in 2019 at the

Seymour Centre The Seymour Centre is a multi-purpose performing arts centre within the University of Sydney, located in the city of Sydney, Australia. It is located on the corner of City Road and Cleveland Street in Chippendale, south-west of the city ce ...

. Also in 2019, she co-wrote the libretto for ''Flight Memory'', a

song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

, with composer Sandra France. For the

2021, Valentine wrote and directed the series ''Walkeys Live: The Journalist Gene'', "a series of eight one-hour biographical portraits of eight

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

-winning or recognised journalists". They were held at

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings and ...

. In 2022 Valentine was commissioned by

Neil Armfield Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armfi ...

to co-write the

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

with

Christos Tsiolkas Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and t ...

for a modern

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

about the 1972

murder of George Duncan George Ian Ogilvie Duncan (20 July 1930 – 10 May 1972) was an Australian law lecturer at the University of Adelaide who drowned in 1972 after being thrown into the River Torrens by a group of men believed to be police officers. Public outrage ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. With music composed by Joseph Twist, it was performed as ''Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan'' to critical acclaim at the 2022 Adelaide Festival.

Recognition and awards

*Several Australia Council grants and fellowships *Residency at the Banff Playwrights' Conference, Canada *1993:

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

, to study the writing and production of radio drama, in the UK and Ireland *1994: Australian National Playwrights Centre (ANPC) New Dramatists Exchange,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

*1999:

AWGIE Award The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

, Radio Original, for ''The Word Salon'' *2001:

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

, "For service to the Centenary of Federation celebrations through the Centennial ceremony" *2001: Commendation, Louis Esson Prize for Drama *2002: Joint winner, Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award *2002: International Writing Fellowship at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London *2003: NSW Writer's Fellowship *2004: Winner,

Queensland Premier's Literary Awards The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...

, Best Drama Script, for ''Run Rabbit Run'' *2007: Nomination,

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...

for Best New Australian Work and Best Play for ''Parramatta Girls''Westwood, Matthew (1 July 2008)
Strong list contends for Helpmanns
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' *2008: Shortlisted,

AWGIE Awards The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

, Kit Denton Fellowship *2008: Shortlisted, Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting for ''Redfern Heights'' (stage version) *2009: Literature Fund Fellowship (2 years) from the

Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

*2009: Winner,

for Community & Youth Theatre, for ''Watermark'' *2012: Winner, STAGE International Script Competition, for ''Ear to the Edge of Time'' *2013: Harold White Fellowship *2013: Winner, three

Australian Writers Guild The Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) is the professional association for Australian performance writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video, and new media. The AWG was established in 1962, and has conferred the AWGIE Awards since 1968, t ...

awards: **

Major AWGIE Award The Major AWGIE Award is awarded by the Australian Writers Guild for the outstanding script of the year at the annual AWGIE Awards The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, televisi ...

(most outstanding script), for ''Grounded'' ** Community and Youth Theatre, for ''Grounded'' ** Inaugural $25,000 David Williamson Prize *2014: Winner, AWGIE Award for Community and Youth Theatre, for ''Comin' Home Soon'' *2014: Winner,

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

International Playwriting Award, for ''The Ravens'' *2015: Shortlisted, AWGIE Awards — Radio Award — Original Broadcast, for ''The Ravens'' *2016: Winner, PAC Australia Drovers Award for Tour of the Year, for ''Head Full of Love'' Queensland Theatre production] *2017: Joint recipient, Judy Harris Writer in Residence Fellowship *2018: Shortlisted, Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, for ''Barbara and the Camp Dogs'' (with Ursula Yovich) *2018/9: Writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney *2019: Winner, Best Musical and Best Original Score, 19th Helpmann Awards, for ''Barbara and the Camp Dogs'' *2020: Winner, two

Green Room Awards The Green Room Awards are Australian peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, theatre companies, independent theatre, musical theatre, contemporary and experimental performance, and opera. The awards, which were established in ...

, for Music Composition and Sound Design, and Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage, for ''Barbara and the Camp Dogs'' *2021: Co-recipient of the UTS Chancellor's Award for excellence, in recognition of her accomplished work and the consistent excellence of her dramatic output *2021: Winner, UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award *2024: Co-winner, AWGIE Award for Music Theatre], for ''Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan''with

Selected works

Plays

*''Swimming The Globe'' (1996). A play about the parallel paths of two teen-age Swimming (sport), swimmers from different parts of the world who both strive to compete in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

. It was first performed at the Mission Theatre in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, NSW, on 21 August 1996. It was commissioned by Freewheels Theatre Company, with the two girls played by Louise Chapman as Igorina and Kathryn Hume as Stace. It was also published as a performing arts book in 1999 by Currency Press. *''The Conjurers'' (1997) *''Run Rabbit Run'' (2004), about the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

, a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club, staged at the Belvoir Theatre in 2004 *''Covenant'' (2006) *'' Parramatta girls'' (2007) about the Girls Training School, Parramatta. Produced at the

Belvoir St Theatre Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Its artistic director is Eamon Flack. The theatre comprises two performing spaces: the Upstairs Theatre and the small ...

. The play is on the HSC Drama syllabus in New South Wales. It is written as "a dramatisation of interviews with a number of women who served time in Australia’s most notorious girls detention centre". * ''Singing the lonely heart'' is a one-act play is loosely based on the life of

Carson McCullers Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits ...

. It was published together with ''Ozone'' in 2008. * ''Ozone'', a surreal fantasy * ''Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah: Soft Revolution'' (2010) The play, performed at the

Sydney, 6–29 August 2009, is about "how Islamic women think and feel about" wearing the

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

. It was "commissioned by The Alex Buzo Company to 'respond' to Alex Buzo's play ''Norm and Ahmed''"(4 August 2009)
Holding a mirror to an Australian classic
''Sydney Morning Herald'' * ''MP'' (2011)Chilver, Trevar Alan (2 October 2011)

''Australian Stage''Cormack, Bridget (13 September 2011)
Interviews with MPs inform state of play
''

'' * ''Ear to the Edge of Time'' (2012, science fiction) * ''Dead Man Brake'' (2013), about the

Waterfall rail accident The Waterfall rail accident was a train accident that occurred on 31 January 2003 near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia. The train derailed, killing seven people aboard, including the train driver, and injuring 40. The accident is famous ...

. Produced by Merrigong Theatre Company. * '' Barbara and the Camp Dogs'' (2017), co-written with Ursula Yovich. Produced by Belvoir. * ''The Sugar House'' (2018), generational play set in a CSR warehouse in Pyrmont. Produced by Belvoir. * ''Wayside Bride'' (2021) Produced by Belvoir (2022-04-02 to 2022-05-29). * ''Wudjang: not the past'' (2022)

* ''Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan'' (2022)

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, State Opera South Australia

Films

* ''Mother Love'' (1994) * ''The Witnesses'' (1995) * ''Reef Dreaming'' (1997) * ''Moth'' (2011; with

)

Books

* ''Bowerbird: The Arts of Making Theatre Drawn from Life''

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Alana Valentine
on

AusStage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Alana Australian dramatists and playwrights Living people 1961 births