Jane Cafarella

Jane Cafarella is an Australian journalist, cartoonist, and playwright based in Singapore. She has had various plays produced in Australia, Singapore and Scotland, including short plays and monologues, a one-act play, a dinner theatre show and a pantomime (correct as of March 2017).

Her short play 'Supersnout' was first produced by Hartwell Players in Victoria, Australia, in 2012, directed by Joanne Watt, as one of its contributions to the Dandenong One-Act Play Festival, where it was nominated for Best New Script and Best Comedy.  'Supersnout' was also produced by Quids In Theatre, Aberdeen, Scotland, in February 2016 as part of its Lunchbox Theatre series.

Jane’s other short plays, 'She Drinks' and 'Errata' have recently been performed at Sydney’s Script in Hand, and more recently featured on Sydney’s Radio Playhouse.

'e-baby', Jane’s first full-length play, premiered in Melbourne at Chapel off Chapel in March 2015 to critical acclaim, with direction and dramaturgy by Anna McCrossin-Owen. Since then, the play has gone from strength to strength. It had its Sydney premiere in October 2016, directed by acclaimed film and theatre director Nadia Tass and starring Danielle Carter and Gabrielle Scawthorn, to further critical acclaim. 

The Tasmanian Theatre Company's production of 'e-baby', directed by Anne Cordiner and Julie Waddington and starring award-winning actors Jane Longhurst and Katie Robertson, marked the Hobart premiere, bringing the play to local and international audiences as part of the Ten Days on the Island International Arts Festival.

'e-baby' has also attracted interest from theatre companies in New Zealand, Canada, UK and Singapore and has been translated into Turkish by Berlin-based freelance translator Dr Hakan Gur, for placement at the State Directorate of Theatres in Istanbul for any directors who may be interested.

Before turning her hand to playwriting, Jane was well known in Melbourne as a print media journalist. She worked at the Melbourne 'The Age' newspaper for almost 10 years as a sub-editor, reporter, section editor, columnist and cartoonist. Her cartoon archive is held by the State Library of Victoria. Her work as a reporter and later editor for the Accent section of 'The Age’ (which focused on social issues affecting women) provided the initial inspiration for 'e-baby'.

After leaving 'The Age' in 1995, Jane conducted her own freelance business, working with the government, corporate and community sectors as a writer, teacher and illustrator for 16 years. During this time, she also worked as cadet counsellor and editorial trainer at the News Ltd community newspaper group Leader Newspapers in Melbourne, and then later in Bangkok, Thailand, teaching the online community journalism course that she had written for News Ltd journalists across Australia.

Jane is also the author of 'A New Life Journal', (Partridge Press, 2014) a collection of newspaper columns on family life published over 21 years, firstly in 'The Age', and later in 'Quality Time Magazine', with selections broadcast on the ABC Radio National program 'Life Matters'. 

Jane is currently writing a companion play to 'e-baby' entitled 'd-baby' (about a donor-conceived child) and has written the book and lyrics (and some music) for 'Cram!', a new musical about surviving Year 12, with Melbourne composer Lachlan Davidson and Singapore-based musical theatre teacher, performer and advisor TJ Taylor.  Jane is married with two adult children.

Writer's Website

•  www.janecafarella.com.au

Titles We Represent

• e-baby
• Supersnout