Waikato Playwrights Appear On The Shortlist For Playmarket’s Adam NZ Play Award

Hamilton playwrights Liam Hinton and Melisa Martin-Booker are among twelve playwrights nationwide whose scripts have been selected for the Playmarket NZ 2026 Adam NZ Play Award, a national playwriting award for new, unproduced works.

Martin-Booker’s play The Terrifyingly Adorable Possibility That Someone Understands You will also receive its first public reading in Hamilton as part of the upcoming Waikato Queer Arts Festival, presented by LOUD Creative.

University of Waikato alum Hinton’s play Passionfruits also represents on this year’s shortlist, marking a strong showing for artists from the region.

The Adam NZ Play Award recognises outstanding new plays by New Zealand playwrights and is judged through a blind reading process by theatre professionals. Each year, only a small number of scripts are selected from submissions nationwide.

“The Adam Award has supported some of Aotearoa’s most exciting playwrights, so it’s thrilling to be included among this year’s shortlist,” said Martin-Booker.

Martin-Booker’s play is a romantic comedy exploring connection, vulnerability, and the strange magic of being truly understood by another person.

A rehearsed reading during the Waikato Queer Arts Festival will give the play its first public outing, and local audiences the chance to experience it before the award winners are announced.

“I was born and raised here, the play was written here, and the Waikato has a vibrant creative community, so it’s important to share it for the first time, locally,” Martin-Booker said.

The winners of the Adam NZ Play Award will be announced at a ceremony at Basement Theatre in Tāmaki Makaurau on Saturday 18 April.

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