THE FIRST 30
Present the opening of the musical.
The work is read live to a small panel of practitioners and an invited audience. We'll work with each team on preparing those 30 minutes.
a rehearsed reading ↗
EST. 2016 / 2026 INTAKE
GRASSROOTS / EST. 2016 / Home Grown Musicals Australia
30/30
A rehearsed reading of the first 30 minutes of a musical, followed by 30 minutes of facilitated feedback.
In 2026, six selected works will take part: two in Sydney / Gadigal, two in Melbourne / Naarm and two in Adelaide / Tarntanya. Each writing team will share its work with invited practitioners and a small audience.
Grassroots gives writers somewhere to hear the work, get honest feedback and figure out what to do next.
30/30 is the first Grassroots opportunity for 2026. Your musical doesn't need to be finished.
EST. 2016
Grassroots started in 2016 with rehearsed readings for Australian musical theatre writers. Hear the writing out loud, then talk about the next draft. That's still the whole idea.
Read the Grassroots history10 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST READING
Grassroots has supported writers including:
- Amity Dry, Famous (2016)
- Jason Arrow & Kohan van Sambeeck, Sincerely, Yours (2017)
- Vidya Makan, Woman (2017)
- Jackson Peele & Conor Neylon, Beau Wants to Be a Billionaire (2018)
- Katie Weston, Falling Forward (2019)
- Jean Tong, Lou Wall & James Gales, Flat Earthers: The Musical (2019)
- Sean Donehue & Nick Waxman, Bearded (2022)
2026 INTAKE / 30 + 30
Six works will be selected: two each in Sydney / Gadigal, Melbourne / Naarm and Adelaide / Tarntanya. Each team will present the first 30 minutes of its musical, then take part in a 30-minute feedback conversation with invited practitioners.
The EOI asks who's making the musical, where it's up to, and for two demos.
See the 2026 EOI6Australian works
3cities
30minutes of each work
30minutes of feedback
01 / GRASSROOTS
THE FIRST 30 MINUTES.
Hear the work read aloud.
The first 30 minutes of a musical have a lot to do. They set up the world, the people in it and the story you're asking an audience to follow.
30/30 lets writers hear that opening read aloud, then talk frankly about what's landing and what isn't.
DEVELOP THE WORK.
DEVELOP THE WRITERS.
GRASSROOTS / IN THE ROOM
A READING
TELLS YOU SOMETHING.
You can't tell how a musical is working until you hear it. A reading shows you the pace, the characters and the score in a way the page can't, and it usually shows the writers something they didn't expect.
From the Grassroots archive.
30/30
How it works
Each selected team presents the first 30 minutes of its musical, followed by 30 minutes of facilitated feedback.
THE NEXT 30
Talk about the writing.
A facilitator leads a 30-minute conversation with the panel. Three questions guide the discussion, exploring the work's craft, dramaturgy, score and intention.
AFTER 30/30
Decide what to take forward.
It's your show. You decide what to take from the conversation and what to leave. Afterwards, we'll sit down with each team and talk about where it could go from here.
keep working ↗
Writers can watch the other works. Selected writers will be welcome at any of the six presentations, not only the session or city where their own work appears.
The feedback conversation
A small panel, chosen for the work.
We'll invite practitioners whose experience suits the musical being read. Tell us what you'd like advice on if you know, but you don't need to arrive with all the answers.
- The writing team brings the work and its questions
- A facilitator guides the conversation
- Invited practitioners respond to the writing
- A small audience is there for the reading
THE FEEDBACK PROCESSTHE WRITING AT THE READING
- 01PREPARE THE READING
Home Grown works with the team to prepare the first 30 minutes.
- 02READ THE WORK
The work is shared with invited practitioners and a small audience.
- 03GET FEEDBACK
A facilitator guides 30 minutes of constructive conversation.
- 04TAKE IT FORWARD
The writing team decides what to take into the next stage of the work.
Writing and writers
KEEP WORKING
ON THE MUSICAL.
Grassroots is as much about the writers as the show. A reading can help before a workshop, a public showing, or just another draft.
Hear how the structure, characters, lyrics and score are working together.
Find the questions that will help the next draft.
Work out which notes to take and which to ignore.
Meet practitioners and other writers who might end up part of the show's life.
Who it’s for
Who can apply?
You don't need a finished show. You need enough to put the first 30 minutes on its feet, and the appetite to keep going.
01
Writers and writing teams creating an original musical or music-led theatrical work. At least one lead writer, composer or lyricist must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
02
Works at an early stage are welcome. You only need the first 30 minutes in a form that can be prepared for live presentation.
03
Applicants may be based anywhere in Australia. At least one originating writer must be able to attend in Sydney / Gadigal, Melbourne / Naarm or Adelaide / Tarntanya. Other members of the writing team are welcome and encouraged to attend if they can.
04
It suits writers who want honest feedback and are happy to decide for themselves what to do with it.
Interested?
The 30/30 EOI is short.
Tell us who's making it, where it's up to, and share two demos. You can add up to three more if they help us understand the work.
03 / 2026 INTAKE
Three cities in 2026.
Writers and writing teams can apply from anywhere in Australia. In 2026, two selected works will be presented in each of Sydney / Gadigal, Melbourne / Naarm and Adelaide / Tarntanya.
SYDNEY/ GADIGAL
Date and venue details
to be announced soon
MELBOURNE/ NAARM
Date and venue details
to be announced soon
ADELAIDE/ TARNTANYA
Date and venue details
to be announced soon
After the reading
Where the work goes next.
30/30 is one part of Grassroots. After the presentation, we'll talk with each writing team about the feedback and what they want to do with it.
Sometimes that leads to another reading or more development with Home Grown. Sometimes it's an introduction to the right person. Sometimes it's just a clearer sense of what the next draft needs, and that's fine. Every show is different.
POSSIBLE
PATHWAYSAFTER 30/30
PATHWAYSAFTER 30/30
another readingdramaturgya directora producermentorshipa venuefunding advicerecordinga rewrite
The practitioner pool
A panel for each work.
Each reading will have a small panel of people with experience in new musical theatre. That might include writers, composers, dramaturgs, directors, musical directors, performers and producers.
We're inviting expressions of interest from practitioners who could give feedback on applications, at readings, or both. We'll invite people based on the needs of each work.
writerscomposersdramaturgsdirectorsproducersprogrammersmusical directorsperformers
EXPRESS INTEREST AS A PRACTITIONERGrassroots / est. 2016
Ten years since the first reading.
In 2015, John Senczuk's Platform Paper The Time is Ripe for the Great Australian Musical argued that Australia had the writers and the audiences for new musicals, but no pathway to develop them. The Victorian College of the Arts hosted a symposium that year to pick up the argument. Grassroots started in 2016 as Home Grown's answer to it, a low-cost, repeatable way to get a new musical in front of practitioners and hear it read. VCA supported that first program.
The format hasn't changed. The first 30 minutes, read aloud, then a conversation about the writing.
The first intake
Six works were read across sessions in July, October and November.
The OasisBradley McCaw
In StitchesSteven Kreamer & Alex Giles
BettieNicole Melloy & Derek Rowe
Einstein: Master of the UniverseJess Newman
FamousAmity Dry
Stealing PicassoJoel Paszkowski & Tom Reed
Six works selected
Sincerely, YoursJason Arrow & Kohan van Sambeeck
WomanVidya Makan
The Point of LightAmberly Cull & Greg Lavell
Tan Toey’s HouseDavid Peake
Dookie: The MusicalWade Gregory, Helen Rankin & John Head
A Sharp Intake of BreathLucy O’Brien
Six works selected
The Little PrincessBradley McCaw
UnrequitedSally Whitwell & Emma Green
The Insatiable MoonJamie Burgess
Beau Wants to Be a BillionaireJackson Peele & Conor Neylon
FearlessShanon Whitelock
MoonliteGabriel Bergmoser & Daniel Nixon
Six works selected
Sincerely, UsAysa Garcia & William Hinz
Falling ForwardKatie Weston
The Great Emu War of 1932James Court & Simeon Yialeloglou
The Lonely LeafChristopher Harley
Flat Earthers: The MusicalJean Tong, Lou Wall & James Gales
Jack Frost: The MusicalJoseph Dessmann
Grassroots returned
BeardedSean Donehue & Nick Waxman
30/30 returns
Six works across Sydney / Gadigal, Melbourne / Naarm and Adelaide / Tarntanya. Each team will present the first 30 minutes of its musical and take part in a feedback session.
2026 INTAKEHome Grown development
Other development
work.
Grassroots began with readings. Home Grown has also helped new Australian musicals grow through concerts, recordings and other collaborations, sometimes outside the Grassroots name. From 2026, we're bringing all our development work together under that name.
Mackenzie
BY YVE BLAKE
Home Grown presented readings of Mackenzie in Melbourne / Naarm and Sydney / Gadigal in 2025, before its 2026 world premiere with Bell Shakespeare.
See Mackenzie at Bell Shakespeare ↗The Fig Tree
BY GILLIAN COSGRIFF
Home Grown presented a reading of The Fig Tree at Chapel Off Chapel in February 2025.
A Transgender Woman on the Internet, Crying
BY CASSIE HAMILTON
Home Grown supported a concert development at Chapel Off Chapel in February 2025 and produced a further concert presentation at the University of Melbourne in February 2026. The work received its world-premiere full production at the Old Fitz in March 2026.
See the Old Fitz production ↗tragic.
BY INDY ANGEL
Home Grown released songs from tragic. online in 2020 and presented the work in concert in 2022. In 2026, Moonrabbit Records released the complete studio album as its debut release.
Listen to tragic. ↗Bearded
BY SEAN DONEHUE + NICK WAXMAN
Bearded was selected for Grassroots in 2022. That same year, Home Grown also featured it in separate tragic./Bearded concert presentations.
Before you apply
Questions
Have a read through these first. If we've missed something, email us at homegrown@homegrownaus.com.
Is Grassroots only about developing this musical?
The reading is about the musical being presented. Grassroots also helps writers develop their practice by hearing feedback, deciding what to use and taking the next draft forward.
Do we present our strongest 30 minutes?
No. 30/30 focuses on the first 30 minutes of the musical. That opening has a lot to do: introduce the protagonist and other key characters, establish what they want, set the story in motion, and show us the world, its rules and the musical style. From our experience, getting that setup clear can make the next draft more cohesive and strengthen the musical as a whole.
When and where will 30/30 happen?
Two works will be presented in each of Sydney / Gadigal, Melbourne / Naarm and Adelaide / Tarntanya. Date, venue and session details will be announced soon.
Who takes part in the feedback conversation?
A facilitator guides the conversation with a small group of invited practitioners chosen with the work in mind. A small invited audience will also be present.
Can selected writers watch the other presentations?
Yes. Selected writers will be welcome at any of the six presentations, including sessions in the other cities.
Does Home Grown take rights in the musical?
No. Taking part in 30/30 doesn't give Home Grown any ownership or rights in your work. If we develop it further together down the track, that's a separate conversation and a separate agreement.
Is there a fee to submit an EOI or take part?
No. It's free to apply and free to take part.
What happens after I submit an EOI?
Applications close Saturday 17 October 2026. We'll review every EOI after the deadline, and shortlisted teams may be invited to a short conversation before the final six works are selected.
Are artist fees, travel or accommodation covered?
Not yet. We're seeking funding and in-kind support for 2026, but right now the budget doesn't cover artist fees, travel or accommodation. We'll be upfront with selected teams about costs before they accept a place.
What happens after 30/30?
After the reading, we'll sit down with each writing team to talk about what the work needs next. That might be another draft, a Home Grown concert presentation, a larger development process, or an introduction to someone who could help. We'll look at the options with the writers, based on the musical and what they want.
2026 30/30 EOI
A short expression of interest.
We want to see where the work is at right now. It doesn't need to be finished. We just need enough to understand the musical and the people making it.
EOIs are open now and close 17 October 2026.
Tell us who's making the musical, share two demos and give us a sense of what you've got on the page or at the piano so far.
You can also let us know if you'd like to talk about other support for your show.
Apply for 30/30GRASSROOTS / 2026
DEVELOP THE WORK.
DEVELOP THE WRITERS.
30/30 starts with a reading. From there, the writing team can decide what they want to take into the next draft.