Cake, crocs and erotica face off for the Premier’s prestigious drama award
Theatre goers are in for a treat as a trio of edgy plays vie for this year’s Queensland Premier’s Drama Award.
Three Australian writers will develop bold new theatre works as finalists in the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2026, one of the nation’s most prestigious theatre award programs.
Melanie Tait, Michelle Law and Alberto Di Troia were selected as finalists following a competitive nationwide search for captivating stories and audacious ideas.
Tait’s Mrs Crocodilia is an outrageous new comedy set in Queensland’s biggest tourist attraction, Crocodilia Park. Led by park founder and matriarch Lynnie McGarry and her three very different daughters, this modern, feminist retelling of King Lear is a story of legacy and succession in Far North Queensland.
Tait is a broadcaster and writer for stage and screen. Tait’s play, The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race, premiered at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney in March 2019 and played a season at Queensland Theatre during its 2021 national tour.
Law’s Cake is an hilarious and heartbreaking story of family and generational divide set in Sunnybank in Brisbane’s south. When a young woman joins forces with her estranged father to plan a family wedding, she finds herself willing to mend their relationship until his closely guarded secrets threaten to blow everything apart.
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Law is a QUT alum whose debut play, Single Asian Female, premiered at La Boite Theatre in 2017. She also wrote Top Coat (Sydney Theatre Company, 2022) and Miss Peony (Belvoir St Theatre, 2023) and was commissioned by SBS to co-write the comedy-drama series Homecoming Queens in 2017.
Di Troia’s My Erotic Journey Through Italian Fascism is a darkly comic thriller set in Australia and rural Italy. A story of belonging and discovery, a young, queer writer travels to his ancestral Italian village where he discovers many of his long-lost family are neo-fascists.
Di Troia is a writer and script producer who has worked extensively across screen and theatre, most recently on Netflix’s The Survivors. He was the inaugural Victorian recipient of the SBS Emerging Writers Incubator in 2022 and is co-director of award-winning performance company Stage Mom.
The three finalists will participate in an 18-month development process, including a week-long regional residency. The finalists will present their works in a public reading before a respected judging panel, with one named the QPDA winner later this year.
The winning play will be further developed and premiered as part of Queensland Theatre Company’s 2027 season.
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This is the 13th iteration of the biennial award program, presented by QTC in partnership with the Queensland Government. The winning playwright will receive a $30,000 cash prize, contributed by Griffith University, a full commission fee and box-office royalties from the work’s QTC season.
Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek says the State Government is committed to supporting writers in creating exciting new works that reflect Australia’s unique stories, people and places.
“The 2026 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award encourages playwrights to create captivating theatre by submitting fresh ideas and concepts without a completed script,” he says.
“Our 10-year strategy for arts and culture, Queensland’s Time to Shine, outlines our commitment to celebrating our stories and storytellers and boosting the state’s reputation as a vibrant cultural destination.”
QTC artistic director Daniel Evans says the awards program holds a deeply personal place in his heart, having won the QPDA 2015 with Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
“The QPDA is more than just a prestigious award – it is a transformative opportunity for Australian writers and theatre makers to create unforgettable pieces of theatre,” Evans says.
“For audiences, the QPDA is a key that unlocks a treasure chest of untold truths, fascinating stories, bold new perspectives, provocative ideas and profound emotions. It offers up compelling theatre with heart and impact that stops you in your tracks and inspires you to think and feel.
“I am brimming with excitement to see how Melanie, Michelle and Alberto collaborate with QTC to develop their wholly original ideas into captivating complete scripts.”
Griffith University Pro Vice Chancellor (Arts, Education and Law) and Assistant Vice Chancellor (Cultural Curation and Community Partnerships), Professor Scott Harrison, says Griffith University is delighted to support the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award once again.
“We are pleased to champion local voices and support the development of new Australian plays here in Queensland through the new iteration of QPDA,” Professor Harrison says.
“This award has received national recognition and reflects Griffith’s sustained commitment to strengthening a resilient creative industry and fostering a community deeply engaged in the arts.”
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