Chris Tugwell

Chris Tugwell is an Australian dramatist, screenwriter, and author. Best known as a playwright, his most successful play was X-Ray, which he also produced.

He was a dancer and actor before turning to writing full-time. He also teaches screenwriting, and is the author of the textbook Dinosaur Theory.

Early life and education Chris Tugwell was born in England and moved to Australia with his family when he was seven. His father was a successful architect and his mother was an amateur opera singer.

He attended private schools in Adelaide and then Flinders University Drama Centre, where he studied acting with Zora Semberova and Yutaka Wada.

He taught high school English and drama in the regional South Australian city of Whyalla, where he also wrote his first play.

He returned to Adelaide and worked as an actor, writer and director with a number of theatre-in-education companies, performing in hundreds of schools across South Australia. His most notable appearance was in Magpie Theatre's world première season of British playwright David Holman's No Worries at the 1984 Adelaide Festival. He turned to full-time writing in 1984.

He has written more than fifty scripts for film, stage, radio, television, documentary and multimedia. His work has been performed by such companies as Patch Theatre, Urban Myth Theatre Company, Magpie Theatre, and The Acting Company. His play Seasonally Adjusted was a showcase work at the 1987 Come Out Festival. In 1984, Runaway toured regional NSW for twelve months. directed by Scott Hicks. His first novel for teenagers, Kid Brother, was published in 1994, and he was awarded the Carclew Fellowship (for writers for young people) at the 1996 Adelaide Festival of Arts. A radio adaptation, commissioned by the ABC, went to air on Radio National's Airplay in November 2004 and was repeated in the 2005 and 2006 summer seasons

In 2014 he produced, wrote and directed the short film Bastard.

Other activities He was a member of the South Australian Committee of the Australian Writers' Guild for 16 years,

Works Plays 2011: Finding Home 2003: X Ray 1995: River of Dreams 1994: Landings 1991: Finders Keepers, parts 3 & 5 (television show) 1987: Seasonally Adjusted 1984: Runaway

Books