Brittanie Shipway is a Gumbaynggirr and Turkish storyteller, whose creative practise encompasses singing, acting, writing and dramaturgy.

 

She recently wrote and starred in her debut play A Letter For Molly at the Ensemble Theatre, under the directorial helm of Ursula Yovich. A Letter For Molly was developed in 2020 as part of Belvoir's shutdown residency, and received funding from both Create NSW and the Australia Council for the Arts. This debut play was a semi-finalist piece in the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award (2021) and nominated for Best Play for the 2022 Broadway World Awards.

Her next play Senser, premiered at Theatre Works in 2022, directed by kindred creative spirit Miranda Middleton, featuring original music by composer Jess Newman. 

In 2022, Brittanie was the recipient of the prestigious Dreaming Award from the Australia Council of the Arts as well as Create NSW to develop her musical Yellow Rock. This new Gumbaynggirr musical also received the 2022 APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards (Music Theatre) and a Koori grant from Create NSW. Yellow Rock will be developed and showcased in 2023. 

Brittanie has also written and performed her queer audio piece Salt & Biber for ABC Radio, and has written a short story Gözleme which was recently published by SBS Voices. As a dramaturg, Brittanie has worked on Laura Murphy's musical Zombie! at The Hayes, and Hannah Reilly's new musical The Deb which opened at ATYP's new Rebel Theatre in 2022. Her creative collaborations with Miranda Middleton have seen Brittanie dramaturg a variety of Middleton's works, including Pear Shaped (Theatre Works), Paper Stars and Ally Morgan's award winning cabaret Not Today.

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As a performer, Brittanie has made her mark at the Sydney Opera House as Hermia in Bell Shakespeare's worldwide premiere of The Lovers. She recently starred as Margaret Whitlam in the new Australian musical The Dismissal, as well as a national tour of Rolling Thunder Vietnam with the John Farnham band. She has also performed alongside Natalie Bassingthwaite and Paulini as the Arbiter in Chess, Kay in a national tour of The Sapphires,  The Witch in Big Fish, Claire in Ordinary Days, Lauren in Kinky Boots, Mary in Jesus Christ Superstar, Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, Bianca in Othello and various roles in Sport for Jove’s epic Rose Riot, to name a few.  

 

Brittanie is passionate about diverse stories being told on Australian stages, and has worked closely with Theatre Works to create a playwriting program First Stories to empower First Nations storytellers. She hopes to leave behind a legacy that encourages artists to breathe voice into their own stories, and forge their own path in the creative industry.