Playwright's Process Podcast
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Your Artist Word of the Year 2025
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this special New Year episode I invite you to reflect on your writing year and share a practical way to kick off January: Choosing an Artist Word o...
Dramaturgy With Jenni Medway at Melbourne Theatre Company
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Jenni Medway, Head of New Work at Melbourne Theatre Company. With over a decade of experience in dramaturgy with...
Dramaturgy With Dom Mercer at Belvoir St Theatre
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How does a new Australian play end up on the main stage? One way is by being commissioned by a theatre company. In today's episode, Dom Mercer, Head o...
Playwriting AMA (Ask Me Anything)
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today I answer your writing questions in an ‘ask me anything’ episode. I cover loads of topics related to playwriting, theatre and dramaturgy.Here...
Turning Ideas Into a Play
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode is next up! Send me any questions you want answered to [email protected], or via DM on Instagram @emilysheehan__....
Confessional Writing (Emily’s version)
02 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today I’m riffing on Taylor Swift and how as playwrights we can find ways to write in a way that feels incredibly truthful, to the point that it fee...
Writing Multiple Projects at the Same Time
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Should we have multiple scripts on the go? Today I delve into the benefits and challenges of writing more than one idea at the same time. As well as s...
Reviews, theatre criticism and perfect opinions
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Having our work reviewed publicly is a strange and unavoidable part of writing. It's something we all have to deal with when we put new work out into ...
The Frame Narrative Rehearsal Room with Lucy Clements
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'm joined by Artistic Director of the Old Fitz Theatre, Lucy Clements, to talk about the rehearsal room for my play Frame Narrative.We speak ab...
Adaptations
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I've been writing an adaptation! (Frame Narrative and it’s on March 8-30, 2024 at The Old Fitz in Sydney.) Working with source material has changed ...
Kill Your Darlings
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes in order to make a piece of writing stronger you have to remove something. Whether that's a conversation between two characters, a whole sce...
Stay With the Story
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What’s your play about? What questions is it trying to answer? What provocations does it make? After a period of intense focus on the big ideas of t...
Do We Need to Feel Ready to Write?
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A seductive psychological defence is that we will one day feel ready. Ready to start a draft. Ready to tackle these rewrites. Ready to send the script...
Rest and Wellbeing for Writers
01 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time to reacquaint ourselves with rest. Rest and recovery are as much a part of the creative process as phases of enormous artistic output. And...
Monument on Arts Weekly, She Bop and Smart Arts
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As part of the publicity for Monument at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, I’ve done a number of radio interviews. This episode is a compilation of thre...
The Monument Rehearsal Room with Ella Caldwell
19 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'm joined by Artistic Director of Red Stitch Actors' Theatre, Ella Caldwell, to talk about the rehearsal room for my play Monument.We speak abo...
Coming Soon... Monument at Red Stitch
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Monument by Emily SheehanDirected by Ella CaldwellRed Stitch Actors’ Theatre9 August - 3 September, 2023Book now: www.redstitch.net/monument-2023Nex...
The Art of Slow Looking in Galleries
01 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been intrigued by the concept of ‘slow looking’ from my visits to galleries in my travels. Slow looking is an approach to visiting a galler...
Playwriting Provocations: ‘36 Assumptions About Writing Plays’ by José Rivera
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode I share one of my favourite pieces of writing about playwriting. José Rivera’s ‘36 Assumptions About Writing Plays’, origi...
Writing When Life Gets in the Way
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talk about staying consistent in our writing practice even when life gets busy. I've been feeling motivated and inspired, but despite my best ...
Playwriting and Genre
01 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As playwrights, it’s useful to understand the audience-facing aspects of the genre we’re working in, so we can make interesting decisions as we wr...
Character Development
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Creating characters that are both interesting and integral to the plot of your play can take several rounds of revisions. I’m currently in a second ...
Starting a Second Draft
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
So you finished the first draft, now what? Today I share some thoughts about where to begin for Draft 2. Because if we jump in and start editing out t...
Table Reads With Actors
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today I’m speaking about the benefits of hearing your script read aloud in a group environment and some methods for getting useful feedback on your ...
Writing Habits to Overcome Procrastination
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today I share the habits that have helped me overcome procrastination and get back on track to finishing a polished first draft before the end of the ...
Playwriting and Procrastination
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This month I look at procrastination as part of the writing process. I consider both the micro and macro ways it shows up in our specific projects, ou...
The Art of Baking Bread
01 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I share how baking bread is a useful metaphor for writing a first draft. Both bread making and playwriting are an illusive combination...
Writing a Draft Zero
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘Draft Zeros’ ‘Discovery Drafts’ ‘Dirty Drafts’... In this episode I share how writing a draft zero has really helped me move my play into...
Beautiful Possibility
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A chat about playwriting, dramaturgy and the ups and downs of pursuing the life of a writer with author Gillian Jakob Kieser on the Beautiful Possibil...
Tracking Progress in Early Drafts
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tracking progress in the early phase of a project is pretty nebulous. What you’re tracking isn’t always clear, because how your ideas develop migh...
Writing the Next Thing
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve started working on a new play. This month’s podcast is about what’s been helpful and supportive as I’ve taken the very first steps to dev...
Oops! I'm Drafting Again
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Oops! I’m Drafting Again. In the background I’ve been reworking some aspects of the play I finished last year, so this podcast is on diving back i...
'The Artist's Way' Weeks 9-12
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Part 3 of my summer project, which is completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I debrief on Weeks 9-12 and speak a...
‘The Artist's Way’ Weeks 5-8
26 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Part 2 of my summer project, which is completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I debrief on Weeks 5-8 of ‘The Ar...
‘The Artist’s Way’ Weeks 1-4
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s my first episode of 2022 and I’m talking about my summer project; completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I deb...
Creative Resets Between Projects
29 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are many points in an artistic timeline when you might need a creative reset. I’m currently in the threshold between one creative project and ...
Finishing Creative Projects
29 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I finished my play! Today's episode is about finishing creative projects and all of the decisions and mental shifts that happen as you work towards ge...
Managing Research Draft to Draft
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is about how I've used research to inspire the content and themes of my play. What’s been useful to research - and the tools and e...
Writing to a Deadline
26 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I’m working towards a deadline for my final draft (Draft 3) of my play and using every spare pocket of time to make it happen. Working in this inten...
Creative Pace, Timing and Patience
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been thinking a lot about pace and timing this month as each draft of my play has required a completely different creative pace. In this episod...
Dramaturgy, Feedback and Implementing Notes
24 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve just finished implementing a round of notes on a completed second draft, so thought I would talk a bit about dramaturgy and working with feedba...
Plotting Draft 1 vs Draft 2
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you haven’t worked out what happens in your story in your first draft, don’t despair. I’m finding plotting the second draft so much smoother ...
Motivation and Momentum
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s podcast I share what’s helped keep up momentum and motivation while writing and rewriting a second draft. I talk about:- Creating a goa...
Expectations
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Something I have been finding really useful at this point of the writing process has been bringing more self awareness around my own expectations abou...
Rewrites and Revision
19 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I talk about rewrites and revision after spending a month or so working on a second draft. I touch on:- Revision as a chance to ‘re-...
The Space Between Draft 1 and Draft 2
18 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before I get started on rewrites, I’ve been hanging out in the space between Draft 1 and Draft 2. In this episode I share the writing exercises and ...
Finishing a First Draft
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historically I’ve found finishing a first draft much more creatively demanding than rewriting second and third drafts. Different writers have differ...
Preparing for Writing Intensives
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I've been stuck in Draft 1 for months and months. I’m taking two weeks off to focus solely on getting to the end of Draft 1, so that I can create th...
Sharing in Between Projects
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the Playwright’s Process Podcast! A monthly process journal about writing, craft and the creative process that will prompt you to think a...