PIGGY-BACK-DRAFT Commission
PIGGYBACK: Lift up on one’s shoulders
BACKDRAFT: A phenomenon where fire suddenly explodes when more fuel is made available
Background
Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA has been supporting emerging writers for over a decade with various learning, mentoring, and award opportunities.
The PIGGY-BACK-DRAFT Commission is designed to provide an opportunity for a WA writer to take the next step in their writing career.
This full commission with the company will see Black Swan support a WA writer who has previously had their work produced (independently or professionally) to write a full length play which Black Swan can consider for programming.
The PIGGY-BACK-DRAFT Commission programme helps promote the professional development of playwrights across the state.
Applications for our 2026 Commission are open.
THE DETAILS
The chosen recipient will be awarded a full professional commission for the writing of the successful pitch, support from the Black Swan in house artistic staff, and a seated reading for an invited audience at the culmination of their final draft 18 months after their commission begins.
Writers who are eligible are asked to submit:
- A 2-3 page pitch for a new play to Black Swan explaining the key concept of their proposed work and a methodology to their writing process
- A maximum ten-page excerpt of their writing from a play that has had a public performance
- Both the pitch document and ten-page excerpt must be submitted in a font size no smaller than 12pt
From these applications, a shortlist of writers will be invited to an in-person meeting with Black Swan artistic personnel to discuss their pitch further. From these meetings a recipient of the commission award will be chosen.
Written applications close midnight on Sunday 15 November 2026.
Submissions and further questions regarding an application to be addressed to literary director Chris Isaacs on c.isaacs@blackswantheatre.com.au
Eligibility
Applicants must meet these eligibility conditions
- Must be a WA resident at time of commission agreement
- Must have had theatrical worked produced (independently or professionally) in the last 10 years in Australia
Donna Hughes
2025 Commission Recipient
Donna is an award-winning playwright based in Walyalup (Fremantle). Her writing has been recognised around Australia and internationally. Donna’s play, Trackers, won an Australian Writers Guild award (AWGIE) in 2021 and she was the recipient of the Martin Lysicrates Prize 2022. Donna’s short film Isolation in Lockdown was nominated by the New York Independent Cinema Awards and nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Writing by the WA Screen Culture Awards 2022. Her play The Next Stop won the Best Writer Award at the Short + Sweet Festival, Hollywood.
For the Piggy-Back-Draft commission, Donna is writing Containment – a workplace thriller that takes a 360-degree look at the education system, from the corporatisation of schools to teacher shortages and shifting societal attitudes toward education.
Gita Bezard
2024 Commission Recipient
Gita is a playwright, theatre maker, mum and Core Artist of The Last Great Hunt. In 2016, she had her playwriting debut at Black Swan with Girl Shut Your Mouth, which was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Recent shows include The Paper Escaper for Terrapin Puppet Theatre and Telephone for The Last Great Hunt.
For the PIGGY-BACK-DRAFT commission, Gita is writing Bloody Paris, a rom-com about grief, expectations, and the performance of happiness. Following two travellers whose fates collide, this play promises to be a hilarious romp about getting your sh*t together in the City of Love.
Laura Liu
2023 Commission Recipient
Laura is a Christian Chinese-Australian emerging performance maker, playwright, and director. An Honours graduate from WAAPA’s Bachelor Of Performing Arts (Performance Making) course, Laura is a member of Black Swan’s Emerging Writers Program FORGE. Her short play CHIKO ROLL, written for ATYP’s National Studio, has been published by Currency Press (2023).
Laura’s proposed pitch for the PIGGY-BACK-DRAFT Commission is a new bi-lingual new work which intends to explore the multi-faceted aspects, effects, and repercussions of population restrictions.
With Thanks To
The PIGGY-BACK-DRAFT Commission is made possible by the generous support from the Malcolm Robertson Foundation.