Lachlan Philpott

Artistic Director

Lachlan Philpott comes to Playwriting Australia after a long and celebrated career as a writer, dramaturg, teacher and mentor with companies and festivals around the world, with recent projects at The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, La Comedie Francaise in Paris, Outburst in Belfast, Australian Theatre for Young People, Malthouse, Merrigong Theatre Company, and Red Stitch with his long-term creative collaborator Alyson Campbell as part of their queer collective wreckedallprods. He was also the Artistic Director/CEO of Tantrum Theatre, Newcastle and led Australian Theatre for Young People’s emerging writers’ program between 2008 and 2011, establishing one of the companies’ most successful and enduring programs, the National Studio for emerging writers.

Lachlan’s output as a writer has been prodigious, with wide production of his work in Australia and internationally and 15 plays published to-date. In 2018, Oberon Books will publish two anthologies of his most recent works.

Widely respected for his generous and insightful mentorship of emerging artists and his vocal leadership as an advocate of new Australian plays and playwrights, Lachlan has mentored over 100 emerging writers in Australia. He was lead tutor of Interplay Africa [2009] and a recent tutor at American Conservatory Theater, Edinburgh University, Kansas State University, NIDA, The University of Southern Alaska, UOW and VCA.  Lachlan facilitated The Lotus Asian writers’ initiative and Outposts regional writers’ programs for Playwriting Australia.

Lachlan has been writer in residence at Keesing Studio at The International Cite des Arts Paris, The American Conservatory Theater, Newington College, Griffin Theatre Company, The Playwrights Foundation, and Red Stitch and was part of The Traverse Fifty at the Traverse Edinburgh. In 2013 he was awarded an Australia Council Cultural Leadership grant to study new play development models in several countries. Lachlan was the inaugural Australian Professional Playwright Fulbright Scholar in 2014-15. He was also Chair of the Australian Writer’s Guild Playwrights’ Committee between 2011 and 2014.

Lachlan recently received professional development funding from The Australia Council to undertake work in Europe. He will work closely with Maison Antoine Vitez on new play translations, as well as the creation of two LGBTIQ community works in Belfast and Rijeka.

Michelle Kotevski

General Manager

Michelle Kotevski came to Playwriting Australia in 2017 with a wealth of experiences across the arts. Before joining PWA she as Program Manager at Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, and previously the Producer of The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe. Michelle has a passion for new voices, reflected by her work as Executive Producer of Urban Theatre Projects, Creative Producer with Big hART, founding member of Queen Street Studios, Manager of the Community Cultural Development Board of the Australia Council and Theatre Co-ordinator at Carnivale. With one eye on audiences and the other on artists, Michelle brings her diverse understanding of theatre to PWA.

Christie Evangelisto

Director of Dramaturgy

Christie Evangelisto is a dramaturg and producer with twenty years of experience in new play/new musical development. Before relocating to Sydney, she held several notable positions in New York including Literary Director at Signature Theatre, Director of Musical Theatre Development & Resident Dramaturg at Playwrights Horizons, and Vice President of Development at Scott Rudin Productions. She has a BA in Dramatic Literature from New York University and an MFA in Dramaturgy from Yale School of Drama. Since moving to Australia, Christie has worked steadily as a dramaturg with both independent and major theatre companies, including Queensland Theatre as part of their National Artistic Team.

Jorjia Gillis

Creative Associate

Jorjia Gillis is a proud Saltwater woman of the Budawang tribe of the Yuin nation, born and raised in Newcastle NSW. As a Sydney based actor, theatre maker, emerging writer and arts facilitator Jorjia has worked on a number of theatre and TV productions. Jorjia performed with Cope St Collective in BAD a performance salon at PACT, co-wrote and performed in the comedy show The Office at the End of the World, and took part in the Muru Salon playwriting program with Playwriting Australia and Moogahlin Performing Arts (2017). Other theatre credits include, Bollywood Dreaming and Bless the Child at the Yellamundie Festival at Carriageworks (2017), iDNA, Haircuts, A Pair of Lunatics, Slutterati, Haus, Enron, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and The Woman. Jorjia was an arts radio presenter for Eastside Radio 89.7FM, a member of the PACT Collective 2016 and is currently a board director of Tantrum Youth Arts. Jorjia is passionate about storytelling and being a part of a growing a vibrant arts and cultural landscape in Australian theatre. Jorjia is a Graduate of the University of New England (2015) and the Academy of Film Theatre & Television (2012).

Sophie Levins

Development Manager

Sophie is new to the theatre industry and is loving using her marketing and philanthropy skills to support and promote playwrights. Sophie has come to Playwriting Australia from the International Development sector where she specialised in philanthropy and project management roles for housing and water sanitation projects in South East Asia for over 7 years. Sophie has a Bachelor of International and Global Studies from the University of Sydney.

Leila Enright

Associate Producer

Leila is a passionate theatre professional who joined PWA in 2017 because of her strong commitment to new Australian writing. Previously Leila was the Associate Producer at the Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Leila began working in independent theatre in Melbourne, as the Artistic Director of FLW Theatre Company and General Manager. She has also been involved in the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Short and Sweet and Mudfest as a producer and performer.

Leila has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Literature and History and holds a Certificate in Classics from London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.