Saturday 2nd July was a exciting day for WriteForTheStage. It was the long-awaited official launch party for the new publishing arm of the company, WriteForTheStage Publications.
We launched with 7 books - 3 written by myself (The Call Of Nature, The Rise and Demise of Kenneth Kennedy-Smythe and All Tomorrow's Parties), so you can see what type of work I create if you're interested in joining the course, 3 books by participants of the course (Barbara The Zoo Keeper by RP Douglas, One Flesh by Naomi Sumner and Bleeding With Mother by Sarah Cassidy) and the programme / published script for one of the GMFringe shows, Die Diana by Stephen M Hornby.
We started off with an interview for BBC Radio Manchester with Emma Goswell, talking about how the courses have developed over the years and how exciting it is to be finally able to produce the work in printed form and for wider distribution. And then the audience piled into the lovely, cosy Snug at The Kings Arms Theatre where they were treated to some brilliantly delivered readings from our professional actors Leni Murphy, Tori Tunnah and Nathan Morris.
Once we'd read through excerpts from each of the plays, the audience had an opportunity to buy the books and get them signed by the writer, so everyone involved had their first taste of superstardom! Exciting stuff.
So, we've launched with 7 publications. More are to come, so watch this space. All participants of the WriteForTheStage courses are eligible for publication, as is one lucky writer from this year's Greater Manchester Fringe Festival. We're running the WriteForTheStage Prize for New Writing all the way through the festival and will be offering a publication to the piece voted Best New Writing.
For participants of the course, the stipulation is that the script needs to have been produced with a director, with rehearsal amendments having been made to the script. We feel that this brings about a script that has been tried and tested and, as such, transfers from the page to the stage.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the great support we get from Arts Council England, so a massive thank you to them for helping us bring new voices to the people of Manchester.
For more info - check out the website at www.writeforthestage.co.uk
