Ian Austin Ian Austin i(A20363 works by) (a.k.a. Ian Leonard Austin)
Also writes as: Ianel Austin
Born: Established: 1936 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Writer, author, screenwriter, director, producer, radio announcer, actor.

The author of more than 100 plays, musicals, fiction and non-fiction books, and travel articles, Ian Austin has been working as a writer and creative since the 1960s. His plays, staged commercially in Australia, New York and New Zealand, have been published by Playlab Press, Maverick Press, Shakespeare Head Press, Thomas Nelson Australia, and the Mewar History Plays for schools (Udaipur, India). Three volumes of Austin's children’s plays have been studied in an English-speaking drama school in Zimbabwe, while more stories have been written for radio in Australia. His writing career has also encompassed travel writing, and in this respect he has contributed articles to national and international periodicals such as Oberoi Hotels, Pan-Arab Press, Royal Brunei Airlines, ITA Magazine, Canberra Chronicle, and Brisbane's Sunday Mail.

In his early career Austin wrote a series of plays for fourth-grade students, contributed material to the television comedy sketch series The Mavis Bramston Show, and in the early 1970s collaborated on several Brisbane revues - notably with Peter Pinne, Don Battye and Jay McKee. He later spent five years with Reg Grundy Productions (Brisbane and Perth), working as a scriptwriter, story-line producer and manager. Among the shows he was associated with were Class of 74, Class of 75 and Until Tomorrow). His television credits also include writing and directing Hidden India, (1980-1982). A six-hour documentary series, researched and filmed on location, it was later sold to Australian and international television. He spent

In addition to television Austin spent more than a dozen years working in radio, as a commercial and documentary scriptwriter (including George Patterson Advertising), and has secured similar opportunities with corporate advertising - notably with the Queensland Travel and Tourism Corporation, Queensland Education Department, Jupiter’s Casino and the Big Pineapple.

As an actor, Austin studied with Hayes Gordon at the Ensemble, Sydney. He has appeared in many Brisbane and regional Queensland theatre productions, notably with Twelfth Night Theatre, Brisbane Arts Theatre (which premiered many of his early plays), Brisbane Repertory Theatre, BATS (Buderim), Noosa Arts, and the Independent at Eumundi (which has premiered a number of his later plays). Austin's involvement in theatre has also included directing (he was A Guest Director at The University of Queensland), contributing reviews to the Sunshine Coast Daily (15 years), and the producing You Write It, a CD-ROM containing three writing courses (Playwriting, Short Stories, and Creative Playwriting for Youngsters). It also includes a selection of his unpublished plays.

Austin's other career achievements include working for two decades as a radio announcer. He later worked for TCN 9 Television (Sydney) and secured occasional work providing voice-overs. He has lectured at TAFE in Creative Writing, Playwriting and Scriptwriting, presented numerous seminars to business organisations and schools, and served as an adjudicator for a number of drama festivals.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Publication or first perfomance details for the following plays are currently unknown:

    • An Earlier Heaven: A brief light-hearted encounter about mother/child conflict.
    • April Accusations: A study in schizophrenia, as an overnight guest is accused of murder at last night’s party. But when the corpse walks in, the complexities really start.
    • Big Dream for a Little Man: When hen-pecked Bill’s most outrageous fantasy comes true, his family is in for unanticipated and hilarious shocks!
    • Billy with Gravy: A comedy about survival (i.e., “who gets eaten and who gets to eat”) during Sydney Town’s disastrous 1789 famine.
    • Country Farce: Three members of a rural family receive an urgent telephone call requiring them to immediately propose to their respective amours! Traditionally the first to propose must be the older son but he is stubbornly heading back to ‘the big smoke.’ His siblings have until the taxi turns up in 30 minutes (also the end of the play) to change his mind.
    • Dilemma: Young newlyweds are suddenly confronted by a little old lady who tells them in confidence that a man is trying to cause her grievous harm―and that the authorities are not interested in her desperate pleas for help. In such a disturbing dilemma, what should they do? Become involved?
    • Dishing the Dirt: The glamorous, much-married hostess of a top-rating TV gossip show invites two close friends to her dressing room to make a couple of startling revelations, the motivation being based on what she does best … dishing the dirt. But just who is the intended victim this time?
    • Evidence: A moment-by-moment reconstruction of a suicide that was actually a murder. But who was the intended victim and who was the murderer?
    • Faded Glories: Set in a back room at a retirement village, Faded Glories bittersweet story about the loss of identity in later years. Members of a singing trio, about to perform their usual spot at a retirement village concert, find themselves facing their own ghosts of the past, and future phantoms. The play included two a cappella songs by Austin (lyrics) and Gavin Hawley (music).
    • Is Clarence Really Necessary?: When husband Clarence becomes a problem, Annie enlists the help of cousin Sorrel, plus a self-styled clairvoyant, to fix the problem… but the psychic warnings in the Tarot are misread, with gruesomely funny consequences!
    • Keeping Mum: Has she or hasn’t she? Is there a dead body in the house, or is it merely imagination, or malicious town gossip? Plenty of unexpected twists and turns to keep your audiences guessing.
    • Mexican Madness: Matters get completely out of hand when Joshua sets out to flavour the city’s water supply with a mind-blowing drug.
    • Ringa-Ding-Ding: A scheming showgirl demonstrates to her best friend how to procure an expensive birthday present. But who pays the ultimate price? The wealthy husband, the lover, the best friend, or the showgirl herself?
    • The Stubbing Of 'Cigar” Brown': When a bombastic eccentric becomes Prime Minister, the country suffers terribly, until...
    • Well, Excuse Me!: A national supermarket chain decides to open its newest store in a remote country town. Parochial protests begin, their main drive being to save a community of rare rats. Polarisations are plenty, especially between two girlfriends who are both desperate for a boy-friend – unfortunately it’s the same guy.
    • Why Must The Show Go On?: A play about the trials and tribulations of putting on a play: When many of those involved are there for the wrong reason - or shouldn’t be there at all! When almost everyone involved can’t stand almost everyone else involved! When the sets aren’t ready! When the costumes aren’t ready! When some (most?) of the cast don’t know their lines! When tempers explode! And when egos get completely out of hand!

Awards for Works

F'lack o' Felucca : A One-Act Comedy 1993 single work drama humour
— Appears in: Noosa One-Act Winners : Volume 1 1993; (p. 119-147)

Fun aboard a Nile cruise ship when a worldly Australian couple pit their wits against a couple of ockers with hilarious and unexpected results.

1992 winner National One Act Playwriting Competition Best Play Award
1992 winner National One Act Playwriting Competition Audience Choice : Nancy Cato Award
The Call of the Gypsy 1986 1986 single work drama humour
— Appears in: Noosa One-Act Winners : Volume 2 1994; (p. 35-64)

Using the occult, two old theatricals teach a shrewish mother an unforgettable lesson.

1986 winner National One Act Playwriting Competition Best Play Award
y separately published work icon The Duchess on Thursday 1969 (Manuscript version)x401121 Z899572 1969 single work drama thriller

An old lady is trapped by a young man, with diabolical consequences.

1966 winner Far North Queensland Playwriting Prize
Last amended 23 Aug 2017 13:59:27
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