Shannon Murdoch, an Australian playwright, has won the 2011 Yale Drama Series competition for her play New Light Shine, a work about four small-town lives linked through a violent crime and their hopeless attempts to erase the past and build new lives.

Award-winning John Guare chose New Light Shine from submissions received from twenty countries on six continents. When announcing this year's winner Guare said "The raw, haunting, richly poetic, deeply emotional, New Light Shine affected me as no other entry did. "The 2011 runners-up are Bethany by Laura Marks and We Three by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton.

Shannon Murdoch is a legal assistant and writer living in Footscray, Victoria, Australia. Of winning the prize she said "This award gives me time to focus on my writing and I can't think of anything more precious. I feel incredibly fortunate to be awarded this honour."

See Awards to read more.

See Published Plays for ordering details.

See Theatre Reviews for more information.


Return to Top