Growing up in Australia, one of the more pleasant rites of passage at school is our first exposure to Australian theatre. The printed scripts given as prescribed reading are usually the first taste we get of playwrights like Patricia Cornelius, Michael Gow, Kate Mulvany, Katherine Thomson or David Williamson. In my day, those of us with more of an appetite could also lose ourselves in the cornucopia of scripts at Sydney’s Performing Arts Bookshop. There, near the corner of Pitt and Bathurst Streets with the monorail passing by, it seemed you could find every Australian play ever printed. Whether browsing the bookshop or studying at home, one hardly noticed the name of the publisher, but you could be almost certain it was Currency Press.

Katharine Brisbane

Katherine Brisbane at the 2012 Helpmann Awards. Photo © James Morgan

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the publishing house founded by national theatre reviewer Katharine Brisbane and her husband, UNSW drama academic, Dr Philip Parsons. Their aim was to not only publish the work of Australian playwrights, but also keep them alive in the hearts and minds of people everywhere, at a time...