BACKGROUND

Joanna Murray-Smith is one of Australia’s most successful and celebrated playwrights. Her plays have been performed all over Australia. Her play Honour was produced on Broadway in 1998, with subsequent productions in London and on the West End. She is an award winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Recent work includes Berlin, which was commissioned by Melbourne Theatre Company through their MTC Next Stage program, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Julia.

Joanna Murray-Smith is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Her plays have been produced around the world, including on Broadway and the West End, the National Theatre, London and in many languages.

Joanna has been writing plays professionally for three decades with over two dozen plays frequently produced around the world and in many languages. She’s been lucky to hear her words spoken by many of the great actors: Meryl Streep, Laura Linney, Julia Blake, Allison Janney, Dame Eileen Atkins, Sarah Pearse, Annette Bening, Corin Redgrave, Julia Blake, Sam Waterston, Dame Diana Rigg and many more. She have learnt how to be a better writer by working with extraordinary artists in all disciplines.

Joanna is currently writing for several film and television projects and has written opera libretti, Love in the Age of Therapy, produced by Opera Australia and The Divorce, a serialised opera on ABC tv. She’s written radio plays broadcast on the BBC and ABC, and three novels, Truce, Judgement Rock and Sunnyside (all Penguin/Viking).

Across all the forms, there are two consistent rules: tell a great story and use the truth of your own inner life to make it compelling.