Errol Bray In the period 1976 to 1984 I was Artistic Director of the Shopfront Theatre for Young People and of the National Young Playwrights Weekend. These two projects were the base for Interplay. The history of Interplay itself began with my 1983 tour to Canada, America and Britain where I met other directors of young writers' projects. These people were Pamela Hawthorn at New Play Centre (now Playwrights Theatre Centre) in Vancouver; Gerald Chapman at the New York Young Playwrights' Festival (now Young Playwrights Inc); and David Sulkin at the Royal Court Young People's Theatre in London. David was also Director of the Young Writers' Festival run by the Royal Court. David and I discussed in some detail the idea of having an inter-national meeting of young writers from these groups. Back in Sydney I talked about the idea with Robert Love, General Manager of the Seymour Centre -a 3-theatre complex at the University of Sydney. Robert had been involved in youth arts for years and was very supportive. In fact, Interplay only survived because of Robert's strong commitment over the first two festivals in 1985 and 1988 - both held at the Seymour Centre. Through his hands-on personal involvement and his ability to finance aspects of the festival from different budgetary niches, Robert got us through those very difficult times. He was the first Chair of the Interplay Board and also coined the term "Interplay "- at the first festival spelt "InterPlay". The first two festivals were like jamborees with 72 young writers at the first and 68 at the second. Nine countries attended World Interplay 85 and 24 attended WIP88. Both festivals had major production programs with large production teams, led each time by Bryan Nason. The productions received brilliant reviews. In 85 they were at the Seymour Centre and supported by shows performed by several youth theatres; in 88 they were at the Sydney Opera House and there was a "fringe" production series with six companies involved, performing in French and Polish as well as English. These production seasons were excellent for the young writers but disastrous at the box office and the losses almost bankrupted Interplay. The Board, led by Paul Thompson for WIP88 - and for 8 more years - worked hard at the very unglamorous job of paying off debts during 89 and 90 and Interplay was able to happen again in 91 in a smaller format. The decisions about a smaller festival resulted from critical discussions on the first two festivals including participant feedback, as well as from financial pressure. It was felt that the size of the event and the unwieldy size of the work and production programs could not do proper service to the needs of young writers. It was decided to limit festivals to about 50 young playwright delegates. Accommodation had not only been a big cost but had also resulted in the festival being cut off from any interaction with the Australian community - a point made very strongly by a Polish young writer. This led to the decision to arrange billeted accommodation. It was also thought that Sydney - or any large city - was not the right place for this intensive 2-week event. I had taken a job as Director of the West Gippsland Arts Centre in Warragul, a small town outside of Melbourne. This Centre was ideal for the festival and the local Rural City Council was pleased to host Interplay. WIP91 occurred largely because of the voluntary work done by Andrew Brook as Administrator, an unpaid position in this cut-down, spare festival. The generosity of people in the theatre world, all around the world, has been amazing over all the Interplay festivals. So much of the effort from representatives, tutors and other workers has been unpaid - as well as the ongoing commitment from the Interplay Boards and Committees. The trimmed down WIP91 was very successful, except for the weather. The work program was more delegate-driven and offered real opportunities for young writers to create projects and workshops. This has been the model for all festivals since. Also from WIP91, Ezekiel Alembi - Kenyan tutor - developed the first Regional festival, African Regional Interplay in 1993. These events have been happening in between World Festivals ever since. As World Interplay happens in Australia's winter, the Board sought a warmer venue for the next festival. Board member, John du Feu, had taken a job in Townsville running its Civic Theatre and largely through his efforts, with the support of the Townsville City Council and of James Cook University, Interplay moved to Townsville for WIP94. It was the enthusiasm and support offered by Townsville's Mayor, Tony Mooney, combined with the excellent facilities, weather and community support, that convinced the Board to make Townsville its permanent home. WIP94 seemed to be the festival when the programs finally came into an excellent balance - but as this was my last festival as Artistic Director I have been putting a rosy glow on things. From WIP94, two young German playwrights went home and, with full support from Henning Fangauf, Interplay's European Representative, established Interplay Europe which had its first festival in 1995 in Mainz, Germany, and its second in Berlin in 1998. That second festival was almost as big as the World Interplay festivals, thus giving opportunities to many more countries and young writers in Europe to be involved in the Interplay model. This export of the Interplay idea to Africa and Europe has perhaps been the most important, single development in Interplay's history. World Interplay has developed from strength to strength over 16 years and 6 festivals. Always, that development has been concerned with providing young playwrights with an event that will excite, stimulate and educate their creative abilities. - Errol Bray -