Holding Redlich proud to support winning entry for 2022 Emerging Playwright Commission

National Law firm Holding Redlich has hailed the work of a young Victorian playwright announced as Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Commission for 2022.

The firm’s principal sponsorship of Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Commission saw Honor Webster-Mannison awarded the Commission for their play which explores the lives of young people working in hospitality and the way in which power and authority structures affect their relationships with each other.

The Commission offers an emerging playwright $16,500 to create a new full-length work that brings the voices and stories of youth to the stage. Honor’s play was selected from more than 60 submissions nationally. Finalists Rebecca Duke (ACT) and Jamie Hornsby (SA) received $1,500 each to support their writing practice.

Holding Redlich National Managing Partner, Ian Robertson AO, said it was proud to be partnering with Canberra Youth Theatre, reflecting the firm’s long-standing commitment to the Australian arts.

“We’re delighted to be supporting talented young Australians like Honor to be pursuing their passion at a crucial time in their career”, Ian said. “We have a long and proud association with the arts, forged by our founder Peter Redlich, and it’s a privilege for the firm to be enabling the nation’s up-and-coming playwrights to bring their voices and stories to the fore.”

Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerging Playwright Commission recognises emerging Australian playwrights aged under 35 who have created a modest body of work, but have not yet been professionally produced by a major theatre company. The commissioned playwright receives ongoing dramaturgical support, collaborates with an ensemble of young emerging artists, participates in a series of creative development workshops in Canberra, and sees their script come to life in a full production of their work.

Luke Rogers, Artistic Director & CEO of Canberra Youth Theatre, said Holding Redlich’s three-year sponsorship was pivotal to encouraging the breadth of work being created from emerging writers across the country.

“The partnership has allowed us to embark on a long-term commitment to supporting talented writers, building professional pathways, and making great theatre for our audiences makes a bold statement for the transformative impact of youth arts on the cultural landscape.”

Honor Webster-Mannison is an interdisciplinary performance-maker and playwright, based in Naarm/Melbourne. They describe their approach to performance-making as “exploring new ways of combining text with visual and sensory experience. I enjoy creating work that is tenderly silly and invites a multiplicity of interpretations.”

Holding Redlich’s long-term partnership with Canberra Youth Theatre, announced in August this year, builds on the firm’s program of arts sponsorships nationally including Sydney’s Salon des Refusés exhibition, Melbourne’s Art Masters Exhibition by the Victorian College of the Arts, Brisbane and regional Queensland’s Flying Arts Alliance, and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair.

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