Julie Johnston turned her hand to writing as a creative outlet when the early days of motherhood meant taking a break from acting with community theatre groups. Some of Julie’s scripts have gone on to be performed by other theatre groups throughout Australia and overseas, and have won several awards at play festivals and script writing competitions. Her first full length play, Displaced, was performed by Full Throttle Theatre Company in November 2016 and enjoyed a sold out season.
Everyday moments in life and snippets of conversation inspire Julie’s scripts, which she jots down in her writing notebook and the beginnings of a plot begin to form. With a background in amateur community theatre, most of Julie’s scripts tend to consist of basic sets, characters and costumes that are easy and cost effective to stage.
Julie is grateful for the ongoing support from the Townsville theatre community, who freely give their time and talent to assist with proof reading, workshopping and producing her plays to bring the scripts to life onstage.
In January 2017, TheatreiNQ, invited Julie to be the company's first FreshiNQ Resident Playwright, hosting regular play-readings and workshops to help develop Julie's skills as a playwright and mentoring by Artistic Director Terri Brabon.
Julie also works part-time as a Script Writer and Producer with a video production company.
Playwriting Courses and Professional Development.
- PlayMoves Workshop with Anna Yen, hosted by Full Throttle Theatre Company - March 2017
- JUTE Write Out Loud Online Writing Course with dramaturg Kathryn Ash - January 2017 - current
- Playwriting Australia National Play Festival, Melbourne - July 2016
- FreshiNQ Workshop with playwright Barry Dickins and TheatreiNQ - July 2016
- Workshop presented by JUTE with Stephen Carleton - April 2016
- The twelve most important things to be a good writer with Joanna Murray-Smith – May 2015
- Intensive Weekend Workshop on How to write a great One Act Play with Alex Broun – January 2014