PLAYS & AWARDS
BEING BETTER
COMMISSION: MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY
READING: MTC@MPAVILION, DECEMBER 2019, DIR. Chris Mead
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Leo and Samira meet speed-dating and they struggle to overcome bad habits, baggage and the bell. It’s awkward, but everyone’s got issues—right? Luckily everyone is also looking for love, and doesn’t love cure all? Being Better is a romantic comedy for the 21st century—it’s fast, fractious and funny, but it also tells the truth.
PEDAGOGY
WINNER: MAX AFFORD PLAYWRIGHTS' AWARD 2016
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SHORTLISTED: SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY PATRICK WHITE PLAYWRIGHT'S AWARD 2016
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FEATURED: NATIONAL PLAY FESTIVAL 2016, MALTHOUSE THEATRE, dir. JANICE MULLER
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DEVELOPED: HOTHOUSE THEATRE DECEMBER 2019.
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PJ moves to a small country town to teach Drama. Sam becomes her project. Personalities clash, boundaries blur. Who is teaching who?
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"The judging panel was unanimously impressed by Chris’s powerful and very human drama, his wit and verve, and the accuracy and imagination he brought to his depiction of the school environment." - Max Afford Award 2016, Judges Comments.
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KING
ARTUR
WINNER: SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY PATRICK WHITE PLAYWRIGHT'S AWARD 2014
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READING: WHARF 2, SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY, SYDNEY WRITERS' FESTIVAL MAY 2014, DIR. KIP WILLIAMS
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A director-in-hiding learns he is responsible for the most loved worst film of all time, and gets the opportunity to make a sequel.
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“Full of colour, texture, humour and tragedy, King Artur asks intelligent questions about art; why we make it and who for. It is an enormously entertaining work that skilfully integrates cinematic elements into a theatrical form.” Andrew Upton, Chair of Panel for Patrick White Award."
Other plays include:
RAT – winner St Martin’s National Playwriting Award, presented LaMama Theatre March 2012, directed by Petra Kalive.
On Rat: “Summers expertly captures the dysfunction and disconnect of youth… Summers’ writing is tantalisingly poetic and presents moments of both enchantment and destruction. His characters remain engaging despite displaying their worst traits.” Jenny Penton, ArtsHub.
CROSSED – commissioned Platform Youth Theatre, presented PlayWriting Australia National Play Festival March 2011 Riverside Theatre Parramatta. Presented La Mama Courthouse July 2011, directed by Matt Scholten.
On Crossed: “Summers shows great promise and this bold production does it justice.” – Cameron Woodhead, The Age.
"Summers has a sure gift for demotic speech, and an ability to create contradictory characters that lift out of stereotype into vital life… Summers is a writer to watch.” – Alison Croggon.
NO PLACE LIKE – commissioned Union House Theatre, presented Union House Theatre at Melbourne University, directed by Artistic Director Tom Gutteridge.
On No Place Like: “Chris Summers’ complex but extraordinary work casts its net wide… his scalpel is as sharp as it is uncompromising” – Steph Barker, Theatre Alive.