Sphinx 30: open call for female playwrights (£1000 bursary)

As stage one of Sphinx Theatre’s 30th anniversary programme Sphinx 30, Sphinx is pleased to be able to offer ten £1000 seed commissions to emerging or mid-career female playwrights based in the UK via an open call.

Each selected Sphinx 30 playwright will take part in the Sphinx Lab, a pilot writers’ programme for female playwrights which has been designed by Sphinx’s Literary Director, inspired by her work at Yale School of Drama, one of the world’s leading playwriting programmes, and by the WP (Women’s Project) Lab in New York.

The Sphinx Lab will offer advice from leading female playwrights, advice from the industry, craft and business skills, and a chance to write a play and receive guidance on your work, with the aim to equip female playwrights with information, skills and dramaturgy to support their careers.

Playwrights will receive a £1000 seed commission to write the new play, written for the main stage, with the opportunity for the play to be showcased and published, showcasing some of the best female playwriting talent in the UK as part of the anniversary, and with the opportunity for consideration for further development at the end of the year.

Partners on Sphinx 30 are 15 of the UK’s leading theatres, with full details of theatre partnerships and other Sphinx 30 activities shortly to be announced.

Tutors on the Lab include Winsome Pinnock, the first black female playwright to be produced at the National TheatreApril de Angelis, whose adaptation of My Brilliant Friend was recently produced at the National TheatreTimberlake Wertenbaker, Professor of Playwriting at the University of East AngliaSphinx Theatre Literary Director Jennifer Tuckett who has designed and led creative writing programmes, including for the BBC, and has most recently been completing a major research project into how to improve gender equality for women in the arts at the University of Cambridge, and Sphinx Theatre Artistic Director Sue Parrish.

 

Industry tutors include Dame Rosemary Squire, co-founder of the Ambassador Theatre Group and Trafalgar Entertainment, Toni Racklin, Head of Theatre at the Barbican CentreBrigid Larmour, Artistic Director at Watford Palace Theatre, and Stephanie Sirr, Chief Executive at Nottingham Playhouse.

How to apply: If you consider yourself an emerging or mid-career female playwright and would like to apply, please send your CV, a 10 page example of your playwriting, and a cover letter (maximum one A4 page) on why you would like to take part in the Sphinx Lab to newwriting [at] sphinxtheatre.co.uk

Applications will close on 15th June 2020 at midnight. Please note: sessions for the Sphinx Lab will take place in person or online depending on the coronavirus situation and it is hoped the programme can offer useful support to female playwrights during this time. For more information on Sphinx 30 and the Sphinx Lab please see www.sphinxtheatre.co.uk 

Deadline: 15 June 2020 at midnight

Source: direct contact

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