Hi there! My name’s Georgia Symons, and I’ll be writing for this blog in the lead-up to the NSW Writers’ Centre Playwriting Festival, so I thought I’d best introduce myself.

I’m a theatre- and film-maker, (very) amateur ukulele player, and lover of all things written. I’ve been involved in development programs and showcases for writing and directing at Griffin Theatre, Metroscreen, NIDA, Queen Street Studios and ATYP, and some of my writing features in the current ATYP show The One Sure Thing – don’t miss it!

But rather than trying to turn my little bio into a full-length blog post, I thought I’d introduce myself by talking about why I wanted to be involved in the Playwriting Festival. It’s often said that playwriting is a solitary activity – despite being expected to create a document that will be shared and realised by a large group of people, the creation of that document is down to you and only you. You sit alone in a room for hours, days, weeks on end, with limited contact with friends and family; occasionally you’ll emerge from your writing den of choice for sustenance, but even that will often become secondary to the writing.

This is not my experience of playwriting.  And part of the reason that I find the Playwriting Festival so exciting is that no matter how closely the above description resembles your experience of playwriting, it’s never the whole truth. As writers, we relish (however secretly) any chance to come into contact with other writers; to emerge bleary-eyed from our writing dens and gather together to share ideas, stories and battle scars. Sometimes we just want to leave the writing behind and talk about subjects as far removed as possible, but often, and especially whilst we’re in the midst of a writing spree, it’s important to talk about the writing we’re doing, and how and why we’re doing it. Because even when we retreat to our dank little writing holes, writing is not and can never be a solitary activity.

Writing, just like talking, is a communication; a medium through which we refract and distill the world that we experience. And without time to talk to one another, both about that writing and about the rest of our lives, we have no sense of where or who we are from which to build characters, a story, a world. This year’s Playwriting Festival is going to give all in attendance that opportunity – to discuss both formally and informally the myriad, divergent elements of our craft, and of our lives. I can’t wait to be involved!

You can find more information about the Playwriting Festival, including a link to book tickets here. The Playwriting Festival is to be held at the NSW Writers’ Centre on Saturday 3 March 2012.