About

Emily Sheehan is an award-winning playwright, emerging screenwriter and dramaturg based in Naarm/Melbourne. Currently under commission with Melbourne Theatre Company, her work explores girlhood and motherhood, telling these stories with joy, wit and whimsy.

Her play 'Monument' premiered at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre in 2023, directed by Ella Caldwell, to an extended sold-out season. It returned by popular demand in 2024 and toured in 2025. 'Frame Narrative' opened Lucy Clements’ inaugural season as Artistic Director of the Old Fitz Theatre in 2024, receiving four-and-five-star reviews, and was a finalist for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

Emily’s debut play 'Hell’s Canyon' won the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights’ Award and Melbourne Fringe’s Tour Ready Award, and was a finalist for Sydney Theatre Company’s Patrick White Playwrights’ Award. Her other plays include 'Daisy Moon Was Born This Way' (Q Theatre) and 'versions of us' (Canberra Youth Theatre). Four of her plays are published by Currency Press.

Her work has been developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s Cybec and Next Stage programs, Red Stitch’s INK program, Playwriting Australia’s National Script Workshops and the National Play Festival. She has also been a finalist for the Max Afford Playwrights’ Award and longlisted for the UK’s Theatre503 International Playwriting Award.

As an emerging screenwriter her debut short film, Tuesday Tuesday, which she wrote with Lianne Mackessy, was nominated for an AWGIE for Best Short Film Screenplay, is currently pre-selected for the AACTA Award for Best Short Film, and screened at both Flickerfest and St Kilda Film Festival in 2026.

As a dramaturg, she has completed dramaturgy attachments with the Bush Theatre London, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, and Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, and undertaken dramaturgy observations with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Emily hosts the Playwright’s Process Podcast and teaches playwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. She is represented by Lisa Mann Creative Management.

Published plays

Monument

In a lush presidential suite in a heritage listed hotel, Edith Aldridge, the youngest woman to be elected leader of her country, has just 90 minutes to get ready for the biggest day of her life.

Published by Currency Press

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Hell’s Canyon

Caitlin and Oscar used to be mates, but not anymore. These days Caitlin texts boys to meet her in public parks while Oscar eats his lunch in the teachers’ staffroom. Today is different though. The unlikely pair share a haunting memory, so they make a pact to run. To go full on missing.

Published by Currency Press

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Daisy Moon Was Born This Way

Daisy Moon is the founder, president and only member of the Batemans Bay Little Monsters Fan Club. She’s the only girl she knows who hasn’t got her period yet and she’s the only one who can’t afford tickets to see Lady Gaga. Meanwhile, her brother Noah is back in town after being expelled from his private boarding school, armed with plenty of cash but very little sympathy.

Published by Currency Press

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the voices project - Eating sunShine

Published by Currency Press

An anthology of monologues written by emerging playwrights, Eating Sunshine is published as part of ATYP's The Voices Project.

instagram portfolio

Great night at the @australianwritersguild AWGIES celebrating alongside the winners and nominees. I feel incredibly lucky to have written Tuesday Tuesday with @liannemackessy whose instincts and generosity as a writer and director and human made the
Thrilled that @liannemackessy and I have been nominated for an AWGIE Award for our screenplay for ‘Tuesday Tuesday’. It means a great deal to have the writing recognised by the @australianwritersguild . Especially for my debut screenplay
Happy Christmas from our little family. Mothering a toddler has been a thousand tiny moments of unfolding joy. My universe held in miniature. Impossibly precious.
Some of my brilliant collaborators this year. A joyous new model for new play development featuring lunches, afternoons in the garden, babies along for the ride, books and podcasts swapped, and slow and thoughtful emails exchanged. Watch this space..
New headshots thanks to the talented @sareclarkephoto
That’s a wrap on our @redstitch national tour of Monument to venues across regional VIC, NSW, WA and Tassie! It’s been such a privilege to see this show find new audiences around the country. Huge love to the extraordinary cast, creative
Twelve whole months have passed between these photos! From my 6-month-bump on our baby-moon, to holding my exquisite 9 month old in my arms. This time last year we were only imaging our world with our little babe in it… I was excited, but I ne
Frame Narrative is on the shortlist for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards - which is a truly wild honour. It’s a play that explores the act of bringing something new into the world – be it art or human life – and the cos
This year, Christmas feels extra magical as we celebrate with our beautiful Aoife, who has brought more joy and wonder into our lives than we ever could have imagined. Our first Christmas as a family of three. Reflecting on four exquisite months wit
One month at home with our darling Aoife. Documented for us by the lovely @sareclarkephoto
She’s here! Aoife Nieve Sheehan (pronounced EE-fa). Born 4:35pm Tuesday 6 August 2024. After labour kicked off at 2am Monday, our teeny little girl weighing 2.5kg, arrived into the world to the sounds of Taylor Swift singing ‘she had a ma
🌊❤️ #29weeks
Review round up for Frame Narrative. Unbelievably proud of this play, this production and this epic team. Our final shows are all sold out. Thank you to everyone who came along! Frame Narrative By @emilysheehan__ Director @lucypodstolski
This month’s podcast episode is up where I chat about the Frame Narrative rehearsal room with @lucypodstolski. If you’ve seen the show already - thank you! You might like to have a listen to me and Lucy go deep on the process of working t