Finegan Kruckemeyer

Finegan Kruckemeyer is an Australian playwright. He has had 81 commissioned plays performed on five continents and translated into six languages.[1] He was an inaugural recipient of the $160,000 Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, and winner of the 2017 international Mickey Miner Lifetime Achievement Award for services to Theatre for Young Audiences, and 2015 David Williamson Award for Excellence in Australian Playwrighting. His work has been performed throughout Australia and internationally, in over 100 international festivals; all Australian states and territories; eight US national tours; five UK national tours; and at venues including the Sydney Opera House[2] (six works), New York’s New Victory Theater[3] (three works), Edinburgh’s Imaginate Festival (three works), Dublin’s Abbey Theatre,[4] Shanghai’s Malan Flower Theatre and DC’s Kennedy Center.[5]

As well as the Sidney Myer Fellowship and David Williamson Award, Finegan and his work have received 35 awards, at least one each year for the past thirteen. These include five Australian Writers Guild (AWGIE) Awards, an honorary Tasmanian Theatre Award for Exceptional Writing, five 2014 Blue Room Awards (inc. Best Production and Audience Choice), 2013 Most Excellent Theatre Award at the Shanghai International Children’s Theatre Festival, the 2012 Helpmann Award for Children’s Theatre, 2010 Rodney Seaborn Award, 2009 Mystate Young Tasmanian Artist Award, 2008 Best Children’s Theatre Playwright Oscart, 2007 Best Playwright Oscart, 2006 Jill Blewett Playwrights Award, and 2002 Colin Thiele Scholarship.

Finegan was a Keynote Speaker at the Ubud Writer’s Festival (Indonesia) and Closing Keynote at the 2013 One Theatre World TYA USA national conference, and has delivered papers or sat on panels at conferences/festivals in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Denmark, England, Scotland, Sweden and the US, with papers published. In 2010 he was a state finalist for the Young Australian of the Year Award.[6]

He was one of 21 selected worldwide for the ASSITEJ Next Generation (young leaders in children’s theatre), and currently sits on the Story Island Project board (modelled on Dave Eggers’ 826 Valencia, it promotes youth literacy and empowerment through storytelling). He has previously sat on the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board, AWG Playwrights’ Committee, Arts Tasmania’s Assistance to Individuals, Tasmanian Literary Awards and Artsbridge panels.

Finegan was born in Ireland, and came to Adelaide, Australia at eight. In 2004, he moved with his wife Essie to Hobart, Tasmania, from which he now writes for national/international companies. He is committed to making strong and respectful work for children, which acknowledges them as astute audience members outside the plays, and worthy subjects within. His son Moses was born in 2014.