ACCOLADES FOR YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS
THEY are only in their teens, but Blake Hohenhaus and Zoe Hulme-Peake have already made a name for themselves as playwrights.
The talented duo was awarded the Queensland Theatre Young Playwrights Award for their play, Ash and Andie.
“It’s about two teenagers who go to the same school and are in their last year of high school,” Blake said.
“It’s that thing of the sense of obligation you have to have a conversation with everyone in your grade before you graduate,” Zoe added.
“Things are wrapping up and Ash and Andie have always seen each other around, but they were on the edges of each others social circles. It’s a play about those chance meetings they have.”
Blake is in year 12 at Centenary Heights State High School while Zoe is in year 11 at Downlands College. The pair met through a program at the Empire Theatre and are now collaborating on a play called Cross My Heart for the theatre’s senior IMPACT ensemble.
They said Ash and Andie was written over six months, writing different scenes together and separately.
“It’s really honest and it talks about things that aren’t talked about. Like sexuality and mental illness and what high school feels like,” Zoe said.
They will now work with the Queensland Theatre to workshop their play.