Biography of Andy Packer

Finegan has had 27 commissioned plays performed around Australia/USA, with 16 new works set to have national/international seasons in 2008-11. His plays have been part of seven major national festivals, two State Theatre seasons, and a three-month Actors' Gang season (LA). Finegan received the 2006 Jill Blewett Playwrights' Award, and was named 2007's Best Playwright in the South Australian Oscarts (the industry's annual critics' selection) for 'This Uncharted Hour', commissioned by Brink Productions. 'Trouble on Planet Earth', devised with the Border Project and written for the company, won Best Show - Second Week for the 2008 Adelaide Fringe Festival, and is slated for international touring. Finegan is one of the founding members of Slingsby, a triennially funded children's theatre company, and its writer. Their first play, 'The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy', has consistently sold-out, including at the 2008 ASSITEJ World Childrens' Theatre Conference - it tours internationally from 2009. His Brecht Estate-approved translation of 'Drums in the Night', first commissioned by Brink Productions, ran for three months in Los Angeles with Tim Robbins' company, The Actors' Gang.