Austlit

Maria-Lourdes (Noonee) Doronila migrated to Australia from the Philippines with her family at the age of fifteen. She founded Tugpindulayaw Theatre Company in Canberra in 1998, and became its Artistic Director, in order to develop artistic expression within the Filipino-Australian community.

Doronila won an Asialink Writer Residency in the 2005 programme. She planned to explore the Filipino-Australian cross-cultural experience through playwrighting workshops at De La Salle University, Manila, and hoped to use this setting to inspire further development of two plays.

She served on the Domestic Violence Prevention Council, the Performing Arts Advisory Committee, the ACT Cultural Council and the Multicultural Women's Advocacy in the Australian Capital Territory.