Alex Broun
Encyclopedia
Alex Broun is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and Rugby journalist who has worked extensively with Short+Sweet (Short and Sweet
), the world's largest ten minute theatre festival. One of the world’s leading ten minute playwrights, in recent years he has had over 60 ten minute plays produced in over 500 productions in Australia, the UK, the US, Singapore and many other countries around the world.
Among his performed plays are The Jacaranda Tree, The Critic, The Prince of Brunswick East, Vicious Streaks, Blind City, Pick Ups, Desire, Scenes From An Affair, Just Once and Potential for Violence.
His work has been performed at the Sydney Festival, Edinburgh Festival
and Brighton Festival
.
Blind City was performed as part of Two Up ! at the Darlinghurst Theatre
as part of the 2003 Sydney Festival
. Three of his plays – Pick Ups, Desire, Scenes From An Affair – were performed as a trilogy under the title "Fast Love" in Cape Town
, South Africa in 2000.
The Jacaranda Tree was shortlisted in the 2004 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award, received an Honourable Mention in the Virtual Theatre Project’s International Play Competition of 2004 and was workshopped as a part of Theatrelab 2005.
The Prince of Brunswick East was shortlisted in the 2005 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award.
His play "Half a person – my life as told by The Smiths" – a one man show based on the music of The Smiths
– was produced by Fly-on-the-wall Theatre (Directed by Robert Chuter (director)
, starring David Foster) at FEAST in Adelaide in 2006 and at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney in September 2007. The play was then re-mounted by Fly-on-the-Wall Theatre at Chapel off Chapel in Melbourne, Australia starring Mark Taylor in May 2010. It then returned for an encore season at the same venue in August the same year. Broun is currently working on a sequel November Spawned a Monster to open in May 2012 starring Tom Pitts.
He received funding from the Australian Film Commission to write a script based on the sinking of the Siev X
in October 2001 when 353 asylum seekers lost their lives.
This was the second time he had received funding from the AFC following his fifty-minute feature "Clean Time" which received Script Development funding.
He co-produced "Refugitive", a one man play by Iranian refugee, actor and playwright Shahin Shafaei about his experiences in the Curtin Detention Centre which toured nationally.
As an actor his appearances include The Cowra Breakout (Directed by Philip Noyce), Neighbours, Home and Away, A Country Practice and the films Watch the Shadows Dance (aka Night Zone) with Nicole Kidman, The Place at the Coast (Directed by George Ogilvie), Breaking Loose and The Boy Who Had Everything.
He also appeared in the 1988 Australian television movie, The First Kangaroos
.
As a director, he directed Woomera by Josh Wakely and Purgatory Down Under (both at The Old Fitzroy Theatre in Sydney) and was Assistant Director to George Ogilvie on Proof by David Auburn at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2003 and The Man with Five Children at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2001. He also assisted Ogilvie on Norma at Opera Australia in 2004.
He was Assistant Director to Wayne Harrison on Alone It Stands by John Breen in Australia and New Zealand in 2002 and 2003.
In mid 2008 the Federal Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett
, launched www.alexbroun.com http://www.alexbroun.com – one of the world's first free access script websites, where actors, directors and theatre companies around the world can download and produce – free of charge – Broun's plays.
As at August 2010 the website had accumulated over 3 million hits and was rated number 2 in the world on Google for "ten minute plays".
In November 2010 PFV (Potential for Violence)was included in the Premiere Season of 4 one act plays by the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai PCYC Theatre Co.http://www.pcycnsw.org.au/club_hornsby_act_theatre Alex attended opening night and announced that this was the best production ever of his play.
In August 2011 his ten-minute play Together, we are Anna, about anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare
is published in the Mumbai Mirror
in India.
In September 2011 his full length play 10,000 beers opens at Darlinghurst Theatre
, directed by Lee Lewis with Gus Murray, Matt Zeremes, Andrew William Steele and Anthony Taufa.
In 2004, he acted as Convenor for Artists Against Howard, a group of artists across Australia who joined together to work with Not Happy John and try to remove Australian Prime Minister John Howard
from his Federal seat of Bennelong in Sydney's north.
In 2007 Broun organised the "Your Shout Forums" across Australia for the Shadow Arts Minister Peter Garrett
, and co-ordinated the ALP's Federal Arts' Launch for the 2007 Federal Election at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, Sydney.
) Sydney, the largest ten minute theatre festival in the world.
From 2004 to 2006 he was the Artistic co-ordinator of Short+Sweet Sydney and from 2005 to the 2008 he was the Artistic co-ordinator of Melbourne Short+Sweet. In 2007, he was the Artistic Director of the inaugural Short+Sweet Singapore.
He has also served as the Festival Director of Short+Sweet Brisbane 2009, Short+Sweet Auckland 2010, Short+Sweet Delhi 2010, Short+Sweet Rockhampton 2010 and Short+Sweet Sydney from 2009 to the present.
In 2010 he was also Artistic Director of the national tour of Shorter+Sweeter, the best of Shorter+Sweeter that toured Australia from April to August.
Alex has helped several other writers with their careers including Kate Toon, Jane Miller, Fiona Clarke. Lisa Eismen, Miles Blackford, Mark Andrew, Sharni Page and many others.
.
In 2001, Alex acted as Media Liaison for the British and Irish Lions
on their tour of Australia. He also served as the Media Manager for the Melbourne Rebels
in 2007 in the short-lived Australian Rugby Championship
(ARC).
Short and Sweet
Short+Sweet is a multi-form arts platform presenting festivals in theatre, dance, music-theatre and cabaret across Australia and Asia...
), the world's largest ten minute theatre festival. One of the world’s leading ten minute playwrights, in recent years he has had over 60 ten minute plays produced in over 500 productions in Australia, the UK, the US, Singapore and many other countries around the world.
Biography
Born in Sydney, Australia on 16 March 1965, Broun has worked extensively in theatre, TV and film as a writer, actor and director. As a writer he has had many plays performed in the US, South Africa, England and Australia.Among his performed plays are The Jacaranda Tree, The Critic, The Prince of Brunswick East, Vicious Streaks, Blind City, Pick Ups, Desire, Scenes From An Affair, Just Once and Potential for Violence.
His work has been performed at the Sydney Festival, Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
and Brighton Festival
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
.
Blind City was performed as part of Two Up ! at the Darlinghurst Theatre
Darlinghurst Theatre
Darlinghurst Theatre is an independent company situated in Potts Point, Sydney. Current CEO and artistic director Glenn Terry established the company in 1993 initially as an inner-city drama school. Darlinghurst Theatre productions were originally based at the Wayside Theatre in Kings Cross. A...
as part of the 2003 Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
. Three of his plays – Pick Ups, Desire, Scenes From An Affair – were performed as a trilogy under the title "Fast Love" in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa in 2000.
The Jacaranda Tree was shortlisted in the 2004 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award, received an Honourable Mention in the Virtual Theatre Project’s International Play Competition of 2004 and was workshopped as a part of Theatrelab 2005.
The Prince of Brunswick East was shortlisted in the 2005 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award.
His play "Half a person – my life as told by The Smiths" – a one man show based on the music of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
– was produced by Fly-on-the-wall Theatre (Directed by Robert Chuter (director)
Robert Chuter (director)
Robert Chuter is a theatre director, film director and sometimes producer who is well-known in Australia for his diverse and sometimes controversial productions.-Personal life:...
, starring David Foster) at FEAST in Adelaide in 2006 and at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney in September 2007. The play was then re-mounted by Fly-on-the-Wall Theatre at Chapel off Chapel in Melbourne, Australia starring Mark Taylor in May 2010. It then returned for an encore season at the same venue in August the same year. Broun is currently working on a sequel November Spawned a Monster to open in May 2012 starring Tom Pitts.
He received funding from the Australian Film Commission to write a script based on the sinking of the Siev X
SIEV X
SIEV X stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X. SIEV is the acronym used by the surveillance authority for any boat that has entered Australian waters without prior authorisation and the X is a designation where a tracking number has not or is yet to be assigned, in accordance with Australian...
in October 2001 when 353 asylum seekers lost their lives.
This was the second time he had received funding from the AFC following his fifty-minute feature "Clean Time" which received Script Development funding.
He co-produced "Refugitive", a one man play by Iranian refugee, actor and playwright Shahin Shafaei about his experiences in the Curtin Detention Centre which toured nationally.
As an actor his appearances include The Cowra Breakout (Directed by Philip Noyce), Neighbours, Home and Away, A Country Practice and the films Watch the Shadows Dance (aka Night Zone) with Nicole Kidman, The Place at the Coast (Directed by George Ogilvie), Breaking Loose and The Boy Who Had Everything.
He also appeared in the 1988 Australian television movie, The First Kangaroos
The First Kangaroos
The First Kangaroos is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film directed by Frank Cvitanovich and starring Dennis Waterman, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the first-ever rugby league tour of England by the Australian national team, the 1908-09 Kangaroos...
.
As a director, he directed Woomera by Josh Wakely and Purgatory Down Under (both at The Old Fitzroy Theatre in Sydney) and was Assistant Director to George Ogilvie on Proof by David Auburn at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2003 and The Man with Five Children at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2001. He also assisted Ogilvie on Norma at Opera Australia in 2004.
He was Assistant Director to Wayne Harrison on Alone It Stands by John Breen in Australia and New Zealand in 2002 and 2003.
In mid 2008 the Federal Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett
Peter Garrett
Peter Robert Garrett, AM, MP , is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002...
, launched www.alexbroun.com http://www.alexbroun.com – one of the world's first free access script websites, where actors, directors and theatre companies around the world can download and produce – free of charge – Broun's plays.
As at August 2010 the website had accumulated over 3 million hits and was rated number 2 in the world on Google for "ten minute plays".
In November 2010 PFV (Potential for Violence)was included in the Premiere Season of 4 one act plays by the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai PCYC Theatre Co.http://www.pcycnsw.org.au/club_hornsby_act_theatre Alex attended opening night and announced that this was the best production ever of his play.
In August 2011 his ten-minute play Together, we are Anna, about anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare
Anna Hazare
Kisan Baburao Hazare , popularly known as Anna Hazare is an Indian social activist and a prominent leader in the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi...
is published in the Mumbai Mirror
Mumbai Mirror
Mumbai Mirror is a largest compact newspaper in the city of Mumbai with a daily circulation of over 600,000 copies. Its first issue was published on May 30, 2005 by the Times Group, the publishers of The Times of India newspaper....
in India.
In September 2011 his full length play 10,000 beers opens at Darlinghurst Theatre
Darlinghurst Theatre
Darlinghurst Theatre is an independent company situated in Potts Point, Sydney. Current CEO and artistic director Glenn Terry established the company in 1993 initially as an inner-city drama school. Darlinghurst Theatre productions were originally based at the Wayside Theatre in Kings Cross. A...
, directed by Lee Lewis with Gus Murray, Matt Zeremes, Andrew William Steele and Anthony Taufa.
Awards
Pick Ups was nominated for the Vita Award for Best New Play in South Africa in 1998 and Just Once, written with his sister Charlotte Broun, won the Sydney Theatre Company’s Young Playwright’s Scheme in 1985 and was workshopped at the Australian National Playwright’s Conference the same year.Activism
Broun has worked extensively as an activist for refugee rights with the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC).In 2004, he acted as Convenor for Artists Against Howard, a group of artists across Australia who joined together to work with Not Happy John and try to remove Australian Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
from his Federal seat of Bennelong in Sydney's north.
In 2007 Broun organised the "Your Shout Forums" across Australia for the Shadow Arts Minister Peter Garrett
Peter Garrett
Peter Robert Garrett, AM, MP , is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002...
, and co-ordinated the ALP's Federal Arts' Launch for the 2007 Federal Election at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, Sydney.
Short+Sweet
Broun is currently the Festival Director of Short+Sweet (Short and SweetShort and Sweet
Short+Sweet is a multi-form arts platform presenting festivals in theatre, dance, music-theatre and cabaret across Australia and Asia...
) Sydney, the largest ten minute theatre festival in the world.
From 2004 to 2006 he was the Artistic co-ordinator of Short+Sweet Sydney and from 2005 to the 2008 he was the Artistic co-ordinator of Melbourne Short+Sweet. In 2007, he was the Artistic Director of the inaugural Short+Sweet Singapore.
He has also served as the Festival Director of Short+Sweet Brisbane 2009, Short+Sweet Auckland 2010, Short+Sweet Delhi 2010, Short+Sweet Rockhampton 2010 and Short+Sweet Sydney from 2009 to the present.
In 2010 he was also Artistic Director of the national tour of Shorter+Sweeter, the best of Shorter+Sweeter that toured Australia from April to August.
Alex has helped several other writers with their careers including Kate Toon, Jane Miller, Fiona Clarke. Lisa Eismen, Miles Blackford, Mark Andrew, Sharni Page and many others.
Rugby History
Broun worked as the Media Manager for the South Africa Rugby Football Union and served as Springboks Media Liaison from 1997 to 2000 under coach Nick MallettNick Mallett
Nicholas Vivian Howard Mallett is a former South African rugby union player who was until recently the head coach of the Italian national team, previously replacing Pierre Berbizier on 3 October 2007...
.
In 2001, Alex acted as Media Liaison for the British and Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
on their tour of Australia. He also served as the Media Manager for the Melbourne Rebels
Melbourne Rebels
The Melbourne Rebels are a professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They are the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia...
in 2007 in the short-lived Australian Rugby Championship
Australian Rugby Championship
The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC , was a domestic Rugby union football club competition in Australia which ran for only one season in August–October 2007...
(ARC).