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Michele Lee Michele Lee i(A78958 works by)
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Asian-Australian playwright. Lee's work has been commissioned by Radio National, Next Wave Festival, Darwin Festival, Platform Youth Theatre, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Arts House, Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2022 Creative Victoria To Bureau of Works auspicing Michele Lee, to present new multimedia and theatre work How do I let you die?, by Michele Lee and collaborators.
2021 Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship
2019 shortlisted Patrick White Playwrights' Award for 'Security'.

Awards for Works

form y separately published work icon Hungry Ghosts ( dir. Shawn Seet ) Australia : SBS Matchbox Pictures , 2020 15284558 2020 series - publisher film/TV horror

'When a tomb in Vietnam is accidentally opened on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival, a vengeful spirit is unleashed, bringing the dead with him. As these spirits wreak havoc across the Vietnamese-Australian community in Melbourne, reclaiming lost loves and exacting revenge, young woman May Le (Văn-Davies) must rediscover her true heritage and accept her destiny to help bring balance to a community still traumatised by war.

'Hungry Ghosts reflects the extraordinary lived and spiritual stories of the Vietnamese community and explores the inherent trauma passed down from one generation to the next, and how notions of displacement impact human identity – long after the events themselves.'

Source: SBS (https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2020/07/24/new-tv-drama-hungry-ghosts-four-night-special-event-coming-sbs). (Sighted: 20/08/2020).

2020 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Telefeature or Mini Series
2020 nominated AWGIE Awards Television Award Telemovie or Mini-series of 4 Hours or Less Duration
Going Down 2018 single work drama

'Sex and the millennial city

'Natalie Yang has just published her memoir, Banana Girl, a sexually explicit look at life as a twenty-something woman in millennial Australia. It isn’t the heart-warming migrant story that people expected. Nor is it a feminist call to arms. And it certainly isn’t on the best-seller lists.

'Going Down is the first full-length play for STC by Michele Lee, winner of the 2016 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award for her play Rice.

'Co-produced with Malthouse Theatre, it’s a brutally funny and frank examination of flawed characters failing at life in the most outrageous ways possible.

'Natalie, for one, has washed up on the shores of anonymity. But she isn’t going to wallow in existential crisis, she’s going to double down. Her next book, 100 Cocks in 100 Nights, could be the scandalous reboot her career needs. Or it could be a complete disaster. Only when she hits rock bottom will she find a way back up.

'"Look, let’s not talk about the Mekong. We’re all women here. Let’s talk about the female gaze. On sex. That’s my life. That’s what I write about." Natalie'

Source: STC.

2019 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Drama
2015 winner Malcolm Robertson Writers Program
2019 nominated AWGIE Awards Stage Award
2019 nominated Victorian Green Room Awards Direction : Theatre - Companies
2019 nominated Victorian Green Room Awards Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage
2019 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
y separately published work icon Rice 2014 Fortitude Valley : Playlab , 2016 9703058 2014 single work drama

'Rice explores the business of global food production, namely rice, and women in business. There are two main characters. The central character is Nisha. She’s 28, a young and precocious corporate hotshot working as the Executive Officer of Golden Fields, Australia’s biggest rice company. She’s a second generation Indian. Yvette is 61, Chinese; she’s a cleaner in the Golden Fields building. Golden Fields is in Melbourne; Nisha and Yvette play all the other characters.

'Nisha is close to sealing a confidential contract with the Indian government, which would see Golden Fields taking over India’s public food distribution systems – rice is a major staple distributed through this system. This secret contract is worth billions. When a flood in one of the southern states in India looks to distract the government and delay the deal, Nisha decides that she needs to go to India to finalise the contract in person, taking with her Graeme, the CEO, and Tom, the marketing manager that Nisha has romantic feelings for.

'Yvette’s daughter, Sheree, is facing charges for a protest that resulted in the assault of the CEO of Coles.'

Source: Author's website (http://www.michelevanlee.com.au/current-projects/rice/) (Sighted: 12/07/2016)

2016-2017 winner Queensland Premier's Drama Award
2018 winner AWGIE Awards Stage Award
2018 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
2018 winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Drama
Last amended 15 Nov 2021 13:03:12
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