Nathaniel Dean (of films The Final Winter and Candy notoriety), puts his hand on Jason McLaren's shoulder and welcomes him to his world of acting and theatre.

For Jason, 16, of Victoria Point it is a turning point on a day where he is sitting with some of Australia's theatre greats giving his first media call and talking about his first professional role.

Jason has hit the theatrical big time since gaining the role of Mark in Nick Earls' newest play The True Story of Butterfish, being performed at the Brisbane Powerhouse as a world premiere in October.

The play is a wryly humorous tale about Curtis Holland, a man who, after years travelling the world with his band, Butterfish, is drawn into a remarkably ordinary Aussie family.

Director Andrew Ross said Jason displayed a "professional commitment" and a "level of serious application", qualities that made him a standout for the casting.

"He is right for the character and good and ready for the role. I wanted to choose someone who might have a chance (in the industry)," Andrew said.

Ask Jason and the Australian Acting Academy and Carmel College student says he is not only "ready for the journey", but "raring to go".

"I always wanted to get into something like this, but to be surrounded by this great cast and crew, it's just amazing," Jason said.

The cast includes Caroline Brazier (Packed to the Rafters) as Kate, Myles Pollard (All Saints, Water Rats, Packed to the Rafters, Wolverine, Home and Away) as Curtis and Penny Harpham as Annaliese, Mark's sister in the play.

Currently the actors are working with playwright Nick Earls to create the play which comes first as a play and second as a novel, being released concurrently.

For Nick, the opportunity to hone his work with its characters is also proving a novel experience.

"It adds a variety of dimensions and adds to the complexity of the characters - and the humour," Nick said.

"Plays are written in a room usually by yourself. But this is one hotbed of a room and it's firing on all cylinders," Nathaniel said.

Nick said in the play he wanted to create a "small world with few characters", one of the characters being its "literature of place and atmosphere", set in Kenmore.

"This is about real situations and is complex, contradictory and surprising. It's a challenging 100 minutes," Andrew said.