Dr David Megarrity
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Arts,
Drama
Biography
Dr David Megarrity is a writer, composer, musician and performer converging music, performance and projected image. Recipient of a Lord Mayor’s Performing Arts Fellowship in 1998, his performance inventions include Backseat Drivers (QT’s first overseas tour), Ukulele Mekulele (La Boite), Show (QTC), The Empty City and Bear with Me for Metro Arts and Windmill. His works have played at the Sydney Opera House, around Australia and abroad. Publications include plays for young people such as Gate 38 and anthology Destinations (Playlab). He’s been finalist in the George Landen Dann Award, Inscriptions Edward Albee Scholarship, Queensland Premier’s Drama Award and Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award (2016). His picture book The Empty City (Hachette) was selected by the Children’s Book Council of Australia as a Picture Book of the Year ‘Notable Book’ (2008).His stage adaptation was a finalist in the 2012 Queensland Theatre Company’s Queensland Premier’s Drama Award (QPDA) and premiered at the Brisbane Powerhouse. David won the QPDA for his play The Holidays. This show premiered in 2020.
A winner of the Australian Guild of Screen Composers Johnny Dennis Award, having played in many bands and composed songs and soundtracks for stage, and screen. David has released 13 albums of original music in various audio incarnations including Friends of the Iguana, The Goodbye Notes, Warmwaters, Lefthanders, and Tyrone and Lesley whose albums are twice dubbed Ukulele Record of the Year by Ukulelehunt.
David’s short film collaborations won a number of awards and nominations, including Official Selection Cannes International Film Festival 2000. He received the 2008 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence (Innovative and Creative Practice) His enquiry always led by Creative Practice, he completed his PhD in 2015, and believes that research can be beautiful.
‘as close as Brisbane has to a Renaissance Man’ Rave Magazine
David blogs about music in performance at https://lifeinthelongtail.wordpress.com/
Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer in Drama
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Arts,
Drama
Keywords
Composed Theatre, Collaboration, Drama, Music, Playwriting
Research field
Performing arts, Other creative arts and writing
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master (Queensland University of Technology)
- Graduate Diploma of Education (Drama/English) (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
APRA Member; Australian Writers' Guild; Queensland College of Teachers; Metro Arts Artistic Advisory Group
Teaching
David has designed and taught a wide range of units within Creative Industries. Current or upcoming units include KTB126: Collaboration, KTB226: Transformation, both focussed on collaboratively created performance and KTB316: Generation, focussed on research and creative development of new performance. He has taught interdisciplinary core units and into Creative Writing and Music.
Experience
Having been published, produced, programmed and performed across music, theatre, film, television and children's literature, David has specialized in teaching creative practice units. His industry experience in a many roles, from teacher to writer, to director, to performer, to composer, to independent producer enables him to apply expertise and versatility to his teaching portfolio, which has seen him master the teaching of elements of drama, playwriting, community cultural development, theatre history, Work Integrated Learning and much else.
Publications
- Megarrity, D., Vincent, S. & See, J. (2017). Recording optimism: Capturing live performance in the recording studio. Presented at: Recording optimism: Capturing live performance in the recording studio. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119028
- Megarrity, D., (2015). Destinations: 3 Large Cast Plays for Young People [Artefact]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/225453
- Megarrity, D., Fenton, D., Lucas, B. & Pittman, R. (2015). De Profundis (Theatre Soundtrack). Presented at: De Profundis (Theatre Soundtrack). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/90704
- Megarrity, D., Fenton, D., Monsour, L., Oxlade, J. & Stibbard, L. (2013). The Empty City (production). Presented at: The Empty City (production). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68131
- Megarrity, D., Vincent, S., Balodis, J. & Futcher, M. (2012). Bear With Me. Presented at: Bear With Me. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/56013
- Megarrity, D., (2008). Together Alone: Balancing sole authorship and collaborative approaches to performance making. VDM Verlag Publishing Group. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/19372
- Megarrity, D., (2007). Gate 38 [Textual]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/225645
- Megarrity, D., (2003). Show [Play]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41228
- Megarrity, D., (2002). Ukelele Medulele [Play].
QUT ePrints
For more publications by David, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Winner of the 2018 Queensland Premier's Drama Award
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Arts Queensland (Individual) grant to attend Grand Northern Ukulele Festival in UK
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2012
- Details
- Finalist Inscriptions Edward Albee Playwriting Scholarship
- Type
- Other
- Reference year
- 2012
- Details
- Finalist, Queensland Music Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2011
- Details
- Finalist in the 2012/3 Queensland Premier's Drama Award
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- QUT Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence (Innovative and Creative Practice)
- Type
- Other
- Reference year
- 2008
- Details
- Picture Book of the Year Notable Book
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
- What feels true?: Sifitng through Belongings (2012)
- Indig-curious: What are the challenges for non Aboriginal theatre practitioners in accessing and interpreting Aboriginal themes? (2010)
- But What I Really Want to do is Write: Adapting the Mike Leigh Method for Writers for the stage (2009)
- Drama and the dreaming : framing the play West of West Wirrawong (2009)
- Dan Kelly danced into the shadows: large-scale personas in small-scale stories (2008)
- The Collaborative Impact: Writing a Play with the Collaboration of Actors (2008)
- "The Space Between": Representing 'Youth' on the Contemporary Australian Stage (2006)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.