It’s that time of year again! Yes, we’re gearing up for our annual January playwriting challenge – WrAP (Write. A. Play)! Back for the 9th year running, we want to make this year’s #WrAP the biggest and best yet!
With daily writing prompts to guide you through every step of the way, you can write a whole first draft of a play in the month of January! (And if this sounds like madness, you are also welcome to work at your own pace because you get to keep the resources).
Weekly podcasts, group Zoom calls, and write-along sessions will help keep you going and give you all the motivation you need to get a new play written from start to finish.
*Last year, we added redrafting prompts to every email for those planning on reworking a play instead of starting a new one. We’ll be doing this again this year so everyone can take part!*
So, what is #WrAP? WrAP is our annual playwriting challenge where you aim to write the first draft of a play in the month of January. When you sign up, you receive emails throughout the month which guide you through the process of writing a play – from finding inspiration for your initial idea, to building a structure, to creating characters. The idea is to complete a first draft of a play in the month of January, which if you follow each prompt daily, you will!
Sounds like a big commitment? Don’t think you’ll have the time? It doesn’t matter! You can’t fail at WrAP – even if you only manage a few pages or the seeds of an idea, it’s still more than you had to start with and that’s a massive achievement for January! Plus the emails will be in your inbox forever so you can work through them at a later date if need be.
What if I’ve never written a play before, can I take part? Yes! It doesn’t matter if it’s your first play or your fiftieth, or if you have minimal spare time: all that matters is that you want to give it a go. After all, even if you only get a few scenes written, or a rough first draft, it’s still more than you had at the start of January. WrAP is actually great for beginners as it guides you through the writing process and helps you to stay on track!
Do I need an idea for a play before I start? Nope! You can start from scratch on 1st January! If you do have an idea in mind already, you are welcome to work on that. You can also apply #WrAP to redrafting an existing play if that’s what you’d rather do!
What does #WrAP include?
- Daily emails direct to your inbox containing writing prompts, exercises and advice to guide you through writing a play from start to finish.
- Weekly podcasts summarising the prompts and giving you even more inspiration.
- Zoom calls where you can ask questions and go through any challenges you are facing (these will be recorded for those who can’t make it!).
- Write-along sessions – join our Zoom calls to help you block out some time to write and be held accountable!
- Bonus redrafting materials in the Spring, including a Redrafting Zoom Workshop.
Weekly Zoom meetups are included in #WrAP2026, details of these will be sent out when you sign up!
How much is #WrAP2026? It’s included in monthly membership which costs just £3.63 or whatever you can afford. When signing up, you will also be asked to donate £10 to help make #WrAP2025 the best ever, but this is totally optional.
How do I sign up? If you’re already a member, just head over to the members site and you’ll find the link to sign up to the WrAP2026 mailing list, and that’s it – you’re all set to make 2026 an amazing year for writing. If you’re not a member yet, you’ll need to sign up first, but you can do this for just £3.63 here.
Why do I need to be a member? We rely on support from our members to keep our work going and initiatives such as WrAP are only made possible through the revenue we receive from subscriptions. Not only will your membership allow us to create these resources and keeping bringing you the round-up of the latest playwriting opportunities but you’ll also get access to lots of other amazing benefits (find out more here).
Is this opportunity only available to writers in the UK?Absolutely not! Anyone can join in. We welcome members from absolutely anywhere in the world. If you’re from somewhere with a big time difference, and you don’t feel you’ll benefit from a longer membership – you’re welcome to just make a one off payment for WrAP2026 here at the cost of 30 USD; you’ll get full access to WrAP2026 but you won’t need to set up an account with us. Simply click here to pay and we’ll send you a the WrAP welcome email.
Deadline: sign up by 31st December to ensure you receive all the emails on time! (If you sign up later than this date, please contact us at contact@londonplaywrights.org to access any emails you might have missed).