Workshop with Wit - Playwriting with Michele Lee

Whether you're nurturing a brand new idea or developing an existing play, this hands-on workshop offers dedicated time and practical tools to deepen your playwriting practice.

Led by award-winning playwright Michele Lee, this three-hour workshop is open to playwrights of all experience levels. Through a series of engaging writing exercises, creative prompts, and guided discussions, participants will explore ways to generate new material, interrogate existing work, and discover fresh perspectives on their writing.

You'll leave with new ideas, practical techniques, and a personal plan for your next steps as a playwright.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WORKSHOP RUNS FOR THREE HOURS

Details

Bring along a play idea, concept, or early draft to develop.
Participate in practical writing exercises on character, structure and dialogue, creative prompts, and discussions designed to spark new ideas and strengthen your work.
Suitable for writers at all stages, with opportunities to reflect on your writing, share excerpts (optional), and leave with clear goals for your next creative steps.

What to Bring

A notebook and pen or a laptop/tablet—whatever you prefer to write with.
Any existing play, notes, ideas, or drafts you'd like to work on (optional).

Note: we will be photographing/filming parts of this workshop for promo and social media use. Please advise us if you do not wish to be filmed.

About the Coach

Michele Lee is a multiple award-winning Hmong-Australian writer for stage, screen, audio and live art, with work presented in Australia and overseas. Across her creative work, she aims to centre the stories of those historically on the margins—women, people of colour, working-class people, and people from her community, the Hmong. Selected theatre credits include: THESE OTHER THINGS (2025); HOW DO I LET YOU DIE? (2023); SECURITY (2022); RICE (2026, 2022, 2021, 2017) and GOING DOWN (2018). Michele is under commission from Griffin Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company and has developed and presented work in mainstage contexts, festivals, universities, youth arts and independent theatre. She was a recipient of the prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship (2022-23) in recognition of her body of work, and has been nominated or won some of Australia’s most recognised awards such as the Australian Writers’ Guild Award, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, Nick Enright Prize, Griffin Award, Patrick White Award and the Betty Burstall Commission.

Michele loves collaborating with theatre artists of different practices and professional experience. She has lectured and mentored for companies and organisations across Australiaincluding for Australian Plays Transform, Australian Theatre for Young People, Canberra Theatre Centre, RMIT, Shopfront Theatre, Theatre Works, Collarts, Victorian College of the Arts and The Wheeler Centre.

Her memoir, BANANA GIRL, was published by Transit Lounge in 2013.

Find out more: www.michelevanlee.com.au

Tickets

(pay as you can)

Full -$85

Concession - $70

Solidarity- $110 (For those who are able to pay a little extra to support our artists. Your contribution helps make scholarship places available and supports accessible workshops for our community)

Financial hardship - $55

Scholarship Places - We believe financial circumstances shouldn't be a barrier to participating. If the ticket prices are out of reach, please contact hello@witinc.com.au to discuss. We have a small number of scholarship places available and would love to help where we can.

About Workshops with Wit

The Workshops with Wit program introduces a range of skill sets, over the years! A space for theatre-makers and creatives of all disciplines to come together to build creative skill through experimentation, collaboration and artistic discourse. Workshops with Wit are supported by Maribyrnong City Council Arts and Culture. Donations to Wit Incorporated are welcome and will help us extend this series. Learn more here: witinc.com.au/sundays or follow us @instawits.

The artists of Wit Incorporated meet, work and create on the lands of the Kulin nation. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions, please get in touch at hello@witinc.com.au.

Contact the host of Workshop with Wit - Playwriting with Michele Lee