Dan Cullen is one of Australia’s most accomplished emerging writers. It is his aim to create high quality Australian stories for domestic and international audiences, with a focus on musical theatre.

His professional debut, Dubbo Championship Wrestling, premiered at the Hayes and Riverside Theatres in 2022, receiving critical acclaim. This work received the USU’s Bright Ideas Grant, the Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists, and was selected for development as part of the national competition New Musicals Australia. Since then, Dan has workshopped the show through Hayes Creative Development, and run development workshops with the Victorian College of the Arts.

In 2020, Dan was selected for mentorship as part of the Sparrow Mentors program by Broadway composer Eddie Perfect, who also appeared on the Dubbo Championship Wrestling album, along with David Campbell, Lucy Durack, i0ta, and many other stars of the Australian stage and screen. His first musical, Musical of Thrones, played the Sydney and Adelaide Fringe Festivals in 2016 & 2017, for which he wrote, directed, and played Jon Snow (he will trot out his impression with very little provocation).

Dan holds Arts and Law Degrees from Sydney University, where he spent most of his time writing sketches and parody lyrics for the faculty revues, his favourite being his role as music director and bandleader for the 2015 Jewish Revue Sabbathday Night Fever. During this time he co-founded the 10,080 Project at Macquarie University, wherein he and his collaborators wrote a short musical in a week. He is currently completing his Masters of Dramatic Writing at NIDA.

Dan is an active member of the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and is working with Amas Theatre to develop Dubbo Championship Wrestling for an industry presentation in New York in 2025. Dan is currently working with Conga Line Productions and Perpetual Entertainment adapting Dubbo Championship Wrestling for the screen.

THEATRE

CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING
Role: Writer/Composer. Dir. Sheridan Harbridge | Hayes Theatre, 2022
MUSICAL OF THRONES
Role: Writer/Director. Moonboy Productions | 2017
ROTARY’S ROAD TO BROADWAY
Role: Performer. The Basement | 2016 -2017

TRAINING

BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop | 2023

Sparrow Mentors | 2020-2021

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

BRIGHT IDEAS SCHOLARSHIP Winner – University of Sydney Union

HELPMANN AWARDS Nominated – Best Female Actor in a Musical for Muriel’s Wedding the Musical (2019)