ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL
Dates: November 15 - 16, 2025
Venue: Brauer College, Anderson Theatre.
Convenor- Ross McCorkell
Important dates
Submissions Open: 1 June
Submissions Close: 27 June
Successful shortlist applicants to meet with sub-committee: 14 and 15 July
Plays Announced: 20 July
Information Session: Sunday, August 3, 2:00–4:00pmToad Hall, Manifold St, Warrnambool
Auditions: 11 - 15 Aug (specific dates TBC by directors)
Rehearsals start: 25 - 29 Aug
Plays & Cast
We’re thrilled to announce the four plays selected for this year’s One Act Play Festival, celebrating the incredible talent of our local playwrights and performers.
The Death and Birth of Dracula
Written by Chris Miles
Directed by Jo Brian, with Christopher Miles as Assistant Director
Count Dracula is dead! High on a bleak mountain path in Transylvania, a timid English solicitor and his repressed fiancée, a dim-witted aristocrat and his disillusioned feminist bride-to-be, a tightly-wound psychiatrist, a brash Texan socialite and the mysterious Dr Abraham Van Helsing spin an outrageous tale to a passing local to explain why they have just murdered a perfectly innocent Transylvanian nobleman. Long live Count Dracula! This sharply written comedy by local playwright Christopher Miles promises a night of wit, absurdity, and dark humour.
Cast:
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Igor - Ed Ezzy
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Van Helsing - Judy Lumsden
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Lord Arthur Holmwood - Will King
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Lucy Westenra - Ruby Shepherd
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Mina Murray - Belinda Birtles
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Dr Jack Seward - Ace O’Dwyer
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Count Dracula - Rowan Drake
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Jonathan Harker – Patrick Ivers
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Quincy Morris – Florence Roney
Burt’s Wake
Written by Ross McCorkell & Lex Waterreus
Directed by Ross McCorkell & Cindy Lee Morgan
Three mates are attending their mate Burt's wake and reflect on their lives as best friends. But there are some unexpected twists and turns as the day unfolds.
Cast:
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Ricky – Dean Field
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Bernie – Jon Clegg
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Tom – Deon Cameron
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Glen – Jack Duffy
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Candice – Angela Verspay
Sometimes I Wonder
Written by Wendy Hunter
Directed by Wendy Hunter & Jayne Hatherall
Sometimes I Wonder is a play about love, the ache of memory, and the quiet weight of the choices that shape our lives. This play is more than a story of lost love. It is an exploration of identity, ageing, desire, regret and resilience, and how we carry (and sometimes rewrite) our own stories as time passes.
Cast:
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Him – Warren Easley
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Her – Sian Pretty
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Interviewer – Raine Forest
Possessions
Written by Ross McCorkell & Lex Waterreus
Directed by Angela Verspay & Ross McCorkell
A mother and her two adult children have a day to sort through her sisters belongings and reflect on their times together whilst her sister watches on.
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Evelyn – Heidi Benz
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Gloria – Cindy Lee Morgan
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Nicki – Laura Telford
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Peter – Alex Smith
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Rachel – Hannah Wilson-Blake
Meet the Convenor
Ross McCorkell grew up in regional Victoria where his love of theatre started at primary school and into secondary and then with the Shepparton Theatrical Society. After moving to Melbourne to start teaching Ross was a member of a number of theatre groups.
In the 90s he joined Cathouse Players after writing his first play in 1994. Cathouse performed that first play "The Interview Room " in 1996 which went on to win several awards at the one act play festivals that year. This was the start of Ross’ writing journey which was broken in the early 2000s when his new career in publishing saw lots of travel with his job and no time for theatre or writing.
However, since moving to Warrnambool 8 years ago, Ross has become involved with the theatre scene again with WTC, HA and PFTG. He has also got back into writing with 3 plays performed by Port Fairy for their short plays season over recent years. Cathouse Players has also performed some of his newer plays in recent years. Ross will see 2 new plays written by himself and Lex performed by Cathouse Players in late June as well as “The Interview Room” for the third time in their upcoming one act play season.
Ross and his co-writer Lex Waterreus began writing in January 2024 and are excited to see their plays coming to life. This year will see 3 and possibly 4 of their plays performed which will all be world premiers.
