Studio Salford has been running since 2004 and, over the years, has presented hundreds of plays and been part of the development of hundreds of artists. It made total sense, back in 2011, therefore, to set up WriteForTheStage - an opportunity to explore playwriting and help aspiring playwrights get started.
I'm really proud of all the things we've achieved over the years. I thought I'd share some of them with you, here.
Writers who have participated in the courses have had work performed at Royal Exchange, Contact Theatre, Oldham Coliseum, Oldham Lyceum, Kings Arms, Hope Mill, The Swan in Dobcross, Bread and Roses Theatre (London), 53Two, and two writers are being supported and their work developed by the brilliant Graeae Theatre (London).
They’ve had month-long runs at Edinburgh Fringe, shows at Greater Manchester Fringe, had at least five ACE-supported productions of work developed during the course, become producers, readers for National Theatre and Papatango, and writing tutors.
Work that originated with WFTS has been included at countless festivals including 24:7, BAME festivals in London, and published independently of WFTS.
Naomi Sumner developed her play, Pass, at WFTS, and it went on to a full production at 24:7 Theatre Festival. She went on to write and direct One Flesh (published by WFTS Books) and is the lead tutor at Brush Stroke Order. She has been commissioned by York Theatre Royal to write her latest play, Same Same Different - supported by ACE.
Naomi's work has been subsequently performed at Theatre 503 Foreign Goods Last Forever festival, supported by Old Vic, and was shortlisted for the ITV Original Voices scheme offering BAME writers the opportunity to write for Coronation Street.
Sarah Cassidy wrote Bleeding With Mother (published by WFTS Books) during WFTS Advanced and has completed the playwright development programme at Liverpool Everyman. She's now developing radio scripts and is teaching stage- and screenwriting. Read what Sarah had to say about WriteForTheStage here.
Previous participants of Producing have gone on to create their own production companies - including Richard Douglas who set up Agrippa Productions. He staged Marina and the Clone (written during WFTS Advanced), supported by ACE.
Richard Stringer, set up Great Expectations Theatre during WFTS Producing, and staged Runaway - the play he developed through WFTS Intro, Advanced, and Developing - at Greater Manchester Fringe in 2016, supported by ACE.
Anne Wynne, set up APW Productions during WFTS Producing, and staged A Fine Life (developed through WFTS Intro and Advanced) at Greater Manchester Fringe in 2018, supported by ACE. Read what Anne had to say about WFTS here.
Phil Charles was an established TV writer (Shameless, Murphy's Law, Doctors) before he joined WFTS Intro and Advanced, having never written for the stage. He developed his play, The Black Eye Club with us and it won the Bread and Roses Playwriting Competition, with other WFTS Alumni in the short list. Read what Phil had to say about the course here.
Upcoming productions from WFTS Alumni includes Citadel, by David Chriscole (12th Sept, Kings Arms Theatre). Read David's blog about WriteForTheStage here.
We've also established the WriteForTheStage Prize for New Writing at the GMFringe, with a very esteemed list of judges. We're very proud to be in partnership with GMFringe and Manchester ADP.
If you're interested in joining the next term of WriteForTheStage, now's as good a time as any. We've launching a new course - Progressing - designed for experienced playwrights who have a script they want to develop.
Term starts wc 8th October - the week after Development Week 11.
Although the course runs at The Kings Arms Theatre in Salford, you don't need to be able to get to the venue to join the course. In fact, we've had a number of international attendees, as the course delivered at The Kings can be broadcast online, fully interactively, to any destination on the planet with a decent broadband connection.
Interested? You can book online or get in touch with questions.
