We're very excited, here at Studio Salford WriteForTheStage, to be the official sponsors for The Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2016.
We love the GMFringe because it's open to everyone. Anyone can stage their work - there's no selection criteria. Now in its fifth year, the festival has spread all through the region making July a very exciting time for lovers of theatre (in all its guises), music and comedy.
This is our second year of running the WriteForTheStage Prize for New Writing, one of the ways that the GMFringe can celebrate the quality of the work presented at the festival. Last year Alan Stockdill won the prize for Le Grand Return, performed at The Swan in Dobcross.
This year we're very excited that the winner will receive a professional publication through WriteForTheStage Publications. This is all possible thanks to the great support we get from Arts Council England, who have been supporting us for the last 3 years and have helped us to support the development of new writers around the region. Past participants of the course have gone on to full productions, publications, rural tours and to develop brand new work. This year, we're excited that one of the pieces developed through the WriteForTheStage courses (Runaway by Richard Stringer, July 3-5th, Kings Arms Theatre) is part of the main festival.
All participating festival shows are eligible for the prize - you just need to opt in. The work needs to be unpublished and in its debut (or an early) production.
We'll send a judge from our panel of jobbing playwrights and theatre professionals to create a shortlist from which we'll choose a winner. We're looking specifically at the writing; we won't be judging the performance. We'll be looking at narrative structure, character development, clarity of character action, use of language and pace of storytelling.
How to opt-in to the awards -
1. Send an email to gmfringe@gmail.com, asking to be considered for the prize.
2. Send your script to writingprize@writeforthestage.co.uk. Include an electronic copy of the script and please confirm the dates of your show and the venue. We will acknowledge receipt of your script.
And that's it! We'll come and see your show and create a shortlist of the best pieces and announce the winner at the swanky awards ceremony on 31st July.
Also - come along to the WriteForTheStage Publications official launch party on Saturday 2nd July, 4pm. It's free and will give you a sense of what we're looking for.
Good luck everyone! We can't wait to see your work.
Mike Heath
Studio Salford WriteForTheStage courses
