Chris Dockrill, Creator of The Island of Doctor Moron

Chris Dockrill’s published plays include – Angry People, Next Station, The Interrogation, Scalpel, Divisions, Flatmates, Cage, The Joker, Old Girls and Benchmarks. His works have appeared in Power Plays (Methuen), Modern Moralities (Nelson), Superscripts (Longman), Dynamic Dramatics (Cambridge University Press) and Enter the Players (Nelson). Works awaiting publication include award winning Barbed Wire Canoes, Middle Class Fantasies, Precious Metal and the collected work - A Corrugated Collection. He is currently working on a two-act play - Flame Trees. Chris has worked as film script adviser to TAFE – ACT, has been a commissioned playwright to the ACT government and has written Frankenstein – A Born Again Legend for Curriculum Resources – NSW DET.

Chris has written and had published, over a 30 year period, numerous papers, articles, lesson units and programs for the teaching of English and Drama in secondary schools. These have appeared in many publications including the NSW English Teachers Association publications (Metaphor etc) and HSC Online. Chris has been an English and Drama teacher for over 30 years. He is the recipient of an Australia Day Award for his contribution to local cultural events and initiatives in the Kempsey Shire. Chris was also the founder of “The Sanctuary Players” – a theatrical society based in Turramurra and has been an active leader in the field of Drama in secondary schools for over 25 years.

In the last decade, he has organised and produced The Hastings Drama Festival and the Mid North Coast Drama Camp which employs professional stage and screen actors to pass on their skills to secondary Drama students. In September, 2010, Chris created and produced the inaugural Curtain Call, a two-day drama festival at the Starcourt Theatre in Lismore featuring public schools from the far north coast area ranging from Lismore to Ballina and north to the Queensland border. He has produced, written, co-written and directed many diverse productions including Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker and Albee’s, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

In 2008, Chris wrote Big Soooze, a musical drama set in Kings Cross in the 1920's after initial developmental workshops with other colleagues. He has also produced a CD of his original songs for the show. More recently, Chris wrote Nightgrooves, a musical drama in two acts with fourteen original songs about escaped convict, Robbie Taggard and his attempts to clear his name and regain the love of his girl, Bella. Chris has also written produced and directed other rock musicals including Beef, and Chill.

He can be contacted at cdockrill@theislandofdoctormoron.com.