Meg McDonald is a writer working across prose, stage and screen. Her writing explores morality, womanhood and trauma through intricate and intimate narratives. While often provocative, they are, at their core, tender tales of connection, change, and resilience. Through her work, Meg strives to inspire deeper contemplation about the relationships we share and our impact on others and the environment.

Meg’s playwriting credits include: Skirt (2018) presented by UOW and Merrigong Theatre Company; Dead Things (2019) presented in ATYP's Intersection: Arrival and published by Currency Press; Co-writer for UOW’s production On The Edge Of The Known World (2020); Hiding Lights in Dark Places developed through Elbow Room Productions’ Development Series (2020), presented as part of the Storytellers Festival (2022) and shortlisted for the Born Writers Award (2023); and Draw Two which premiered at the Old Fitz Theatre (2024) as part of their Late-Night Program, with a sold-out and extended season due to its popularity. After further development through the ATYP Pier to Peer Residency program, Draw Two toured to Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory (2026) where it played to sold out audiences and reieved rave reviews from critics.

In 2024, Meg’s short fiction ‘Shells’ was published in WestWords ‘Living Stories: Over The Line…?’ anthology. Meg is currently writing her debut novel, as well as delving into screenwriting; co-writing Crate, a television series with Georgia McGinness, and adapting her play Draw Two into a feature film.

Meg has been a participant in ATYP’s National Studio (2018), the Young Playwrights Program at Canberra Youth Theatre (2020), bAKEHOUSE and Montague Basement’s The Laboratory (2021) and ATYP’s Creating Your Own Work (2022). In 2023, she was shortlisted for ATYP’s Foundation Commission and the Sydney Theatre Company’s Watershed Writers. In 2025, Meg was awarded the Allen & Unwin Award for writing.

Meg is a lecturer and tutor in Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong, where she is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing as a recipient of an Australian Government Research Training Program (AGRTP) Scholarship.

Photography by Luke Stambouliah

"Draw Two deserves to be shared with as many audiences as possible locally and internationally."

★★★★★
Darby Turnbull
Theatre Matters
"Meg McDonald is a magnificent wordsmith, who has a gift that I yearn to read/hear more of. There is a deeply connected authenticity about her prose. She effortlessly reaches the heart of human foibles, like few of the finest writers can. She is funny and pithy and poised."

Alex First
The Blurb
“Draw Two by Meg [McDonald] is a superbly crafted piece of dramatic fiction, an inheritor of the grand tradition of storytelling…the audience is offered a journey that’s both funny and deeply moving. […] It’s an extraordinary performance.”

Paul Gilchrist
Theatre Red
“[Draw Two] was a very well, intricately plotted play by [McDonald]… Definitely a four stars show.”

★★★★
David Kary
Sydney Arts Guide
“[Hiding Lights in Dark Places] opened the space for a new type of theatre and a new audience experience. Starting as seemingly separate narratives, Meg very cleverly begins to thread these two pieces together.”

Kate
ATYP Reviewer
“Moving and evocative, with carefully chosen details that add to the story’s overall impact, it skillfully employs reductivism to underscore the story’s overarching themes. Quite profound.”

Judges’ comments of ‘Shells’
“Comedy and joy are included in the play Dead Things where writer Meg [McDonald] captures youth culture and language with the horror of a suburban every day.”

Lisa Thatcher
“[Intersection: Arrival] Ten short plays present them as a force to be reckoned with, full of hope and exhilaration, in an event that will no doubt provide inspiration to the young and young-at-heart.”

Suzy Wrong
Suzy Goes See

"Draw Two deserves to be shared with as many audiences as possible locally and internationally."

"Meg McDonald is a magnificent wordsmith, who has a gift that I yearn to read/hear more of. There is a deeply connected authenticity about her prose. She effortlessly reaches the heart of human foibles, like few of the finest writers can. She is funny and pithy and poised."

“Draw Two by Meg [McDonald] is a superbly crafted piece of dramatic fiction, an inheritor of the grand tradition of storytelling…the audience is offered a journey that’s both funny and deeply moving. […] It’s an extraordinary performance.”

“[Draw Two] was a very well, intricately plotted play by [McDonald]… Definitely a four stars show.”

“[Hiding Lights in Dark Places] opened the space for a new type of theatre and a new audience experience. Starting as seemingly separate narratives, Meg very cleverly begins to thread these two pieces together.”

“Moving and evocative, with carefully chosen details that add to the story’s overall impact, it skillfully employs reductivism to underscore the story’s overarching themes. Quite profound.”

“Comedy and joy are included in the play Dead Things where writer Meg [McDonald] captures youth culture and language with the horror of a suburban every day.”

“[Intersection: Arrival] Ten short plays present them as a force to be reckoned with, full of hope and exhilaration, in an event that will no doubt provide inspiration to the young and young-at-heart.”