Already an award-winning playwright, Michelle Law has been named the new Patrick White Playwrights Fellow by Sydney Theatre Company, while regional writer and theatre-maker Disapol Savetsila has won the 26th Patrick White Playwrights Award for his play Ama and Nana.

The announcements were made by Sydney Theatre Company on Wednesday 19 May, with Savetsila’s winning play presented as a rehearsed reading at the company’s Wharf 2 Theatre on Tuesday 18 May.

Michelle Law and Disapol Savetsila. Photo © Daniel Boud

Law, whose stage works include Single Asian Female, Top Coat and Miss Peony, will undertake a year-long fellowship that includes developing a new work for STC and mentoring participants in the company’s Watershed: Writers program.

Calling the appointment “one of the biggest pinch-me moments” of her career, Law reflected on travelling from regional Queensland with her family to see productions at Sydney Theatre Company as a young person.

The fellowship, now in its 16th year, carries a $25,000 commission for an established playwright in recognition of their body of work and supports the creation of a new play. Previous fellows have included Joanna Murray-Smith, Wesley Enoch, Andrew Bovell and Kate Mulvany.

Savetsila received the...