Playmarket is pleased to announce the winner of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award for 2025, Anders Falstie-Jensen.
The $10,000 cash prize recognises professional success in the career of a writer and is designed to encourage their continued exploration of the theatre medium.
Anders hails from Denmark and is the co-founder of The Rebel Alliance. He is the company’s main producer, writer and director.
Playmarket Director Murray Lynch said, “Anders’ writing is underpinned by courage and craft. Each of his plays has a distinct relationship between form and content, shifting from the absurd to the profound.
Backed by a spirit of surprise and adventure, Anders’ plays take audiences to unexpected places. Audiences can expect to find actors running on treadmills, dogs floating in space, and worlds built out of chalk. But each adventure offers audiences a sense of transformation. “I would love to, with any play that I do, give audiences a new or different perspective on either themselves or their place in the world,” Anders said. He went on to describe winning the award as “humbling”.
His early works include The Rehearsal, The Bomb and Standstill. His 2019 work, Watching Paint Dry, is a minimalist exploration of modern life which is “about how we watch theatre as much as it is about what we are watching.” Citing its resistance of conventionality, Theatrescenes called it “full of experimental spirit”. It was nominated for Most Innovative Award at the 2019 NZ Fringe. The play has recently been translated into Cantonese and will premiere in Hong Kong in 2026.
Centrepoint, his fictionalised exploration of New Zealand’s most notorious community, won the 2015 Adam Award for Best New Zealand Play. Based on meticulous research and interviews, it was described by one of the judges as “strong and moving”.
Let Me Tell You About Auckland, his collaboration with Auckland’s Hobson Street Theatre Company and their aligned street whānau community, was presented as part of the 2020 Auckland Fringe, winning the award for Best Community Participation.
Back to Square One? was shortlisted for the 2021 Adam Award for Best New Zealand Play. It was originally designed to be performed in driveways, parks and cul-de-sacs in the aftermath of the 2020 lockdown. Based on conversations Anders had with his 95-year-old grandmother in Denmark during that time, Anders weaves the Viking myth of Ragnarok into a unique story of disasters, family and unexpected connections. Championing inclusion, the play draws audiences into a space of gentle participation, and has travelled the globe, touching down in Sweden, Denmark and Hong Kong.
Auckland Live commissioned Anders to write The Valentina in 2022. A family friendly interstellar adventure for anyone who has looked to the stars and imagined the cosmos, it celebrates women in space and treats young audiences with dignity and respect. It premiered as part of the 2024 Auckland Arts Festival, won Playmarket’s Plays for the Young competition, and was shortlisted for the 2022 Adam Award for Best New Zealand Play. The play was published in 2024 and was later adapted into an illustrated audiobook.
Anders was a 2022 artist in residence at Basement Theatre alongside Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant, where they developed The Wandering Wondering Choir.
Anders has also worked with the New Zealand International Film Festival, Massive Theatre Company and Douglas Wright Dance Company. From 2014 to 2021, he was a programmer for Auckland Live. He currently works as a placemaker for Auckland Urban Development Office.
Since 1983, The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award has recognised the work of an outstanding New Zealand playwright. The recipient is decided through voting by a panel of leading Artistic Directors, Producers, Theatre Programmers and Script Advisors throughout Aotearoa. Previous winners include many of this country’s most celebrated writers including Hone Kouka, Briar Grace-Smith, Jo Randerson, Victor Rodger, Ralph McCubbin Howell, Tawhi Thomas, Sam Brooks, Mīria George, Nathan Joe, Nancy Brunning, Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken.
The award is named after Bruce Mason, considered to be New Zealand’s first most significant playwright. His plays continue to be produced and many, such as The Pohutukawa Tree and The End of the Golden Weather, have come to be considered New Zealand classics. The award is funded by The FAME Trust and Rachel Underwood.