The Louis Esson Prize for Drama: Judges 2004

Richard Buckham (Convenor)

Richard Buckham joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1982 as a producer in the Radio Drama and Features Department. He spent 1989 with the BBC in London as a radio drama director. In 1991 Richard trained as a theatre director at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), then worked for two years as a resident director with the Australian Opera. Richard has been Artistic Director of New England Theatre Company and also worked as a freelance stage director, dramaturg and teacher in Sydney. Richard returned to the ABC as Executive Producer of Radio Drama and most recently been Editor of Performance and Features at ABC Radio National.

Melanie Beddie

Melanie Beddie is a graduate of Sydney University and Victorian College of the Arts where she trained as an actor. She now works as an actor, director and dramaturg. She was co-founder of the $5 Theatre Co. and is artistic director of the independent theatre company The BRANCH. Her most recent directorial work includes Traitors by Stephen Sewell and her own adaption of Killing Games by Eugene Ionesco, Second Childhood adapted by Glenn Perry from Morris Glietzman, Raindancers by Karin Mainwaring, Diving for Pearls by Katherine Thompson, Geese and the PsychWard (La Mama). In 2004 her production of Second Childhood will tour 13 towns in Australia! She has worked as a dramaturg for both Playworks and Playbox and in 1999 was the resident dramaturg at the Melbourne Theatre Company. In 2002 she co-founded the Dramaturgies forum, an independent organization which is dedicated to exploring the practical application of dramaturgy in current theatre practice.

John Romeril

John Romeril was one of the playwrights who emerged via La Mama in the late 1960s. He spent the years 1970-81 as a member of the Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory penning some 26 plays for the company. Since then he has worked as a freelance dramatist at most levels of the industry, with a number of film and television credits as well as stage work to his name. From July 2004 to June 2006 he will hold an Australia Council Literature Board Fellowship, following on from a six-month period as a Fellow attached to the State Library of Victoria.