Playwrights' Studio, Scotland

Interested in how movement shapes storytelling on stage?

Join us on Thursday 19th September from 2pm – 3pm for a Case Study Session with Vicki Manderson

Case Study Sessions is our digital free-to-access series where artists share their artistic journey using practical examples from their careers.

This session features Vicki Manderson - movement director, choreographer, facilitator, and performer. Vicki will discuss her experiences working on various projects and productions, and offer insights into the unique process of collaborating with writers from a movement perspective.

This event is for playwrights at any stage of their career.

For more details and to register, follow the link below.
https://form.jotform.com/242524058182353

We didn’t quite get the chance to share some of these photos from the last week of our time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe… thank you to all who attended this festival’s events and the writers who contributed, facilitated and shared their work. See you next time…

1: the aftermath of the anniversary event for ourselves, SSP and , featuring work by Linda McLean and Hector MacMillan
2: Roundabout, Writers’ Lab discussion, workshop and Q&A with , with James Graham, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm & Douglas Maxwell
3: Library of Mistakes, discussion event with Douglas Maxwell and Zinnie Harris
4: the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland bookshop locked up tight for another year!

Many thanks to all those who attended our Live Theatre Needs Living Playwrights events yesterday and today. We’ll be communicating with attendees and more widely about the conversations and the actions coming out of these meetings: stay tuned.

We can only apologise for what may be an addition to the recent burden of bad news. We're keenly aware that many playwrights will be applying to the Open Fund for Individuals this week. However if you had intended to ask Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland to document in-kind support for a project, please be aware that we have already received such a large number of requests that we cannot guarantee that we can provide documentation for any more. This situation is a direct consequence of the decision to close the Open Fund for Individuals and the timeline which we, like you, are unexpectedly working to; it does not reflect our keen desire to support as many playwrights as we can.

Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland will be closed from 30th August to 3rd September 2024, a long-planned closure that allows our small staff to recover after three busy weeks of events at the Edinburgh Festivals, and, this year, further events to address the funding crisis. Staff will not have access to e-mail across this time, however you can still access support and information via our website: https://playwrightsstudio.co.uk/

Image by Julian Bailey

Many thanks to all those who attended our Live Theatre Needs Living Playwrights events yesterday and today. We’ll be communicating with attendees and more widely about the conversations and the actions coming out of these meetings: stay tuned.

We can only apologise for what may be an addition to the recent burden of bad news. We’re keenly aware that many playwrights will be applying to the Open Fund for Individuals this week. However if you had intended to ask Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland to document in-kind support for a project, please be aware that we have already received such a large number of such requests that we cannot guarantee that we can provide documentation for any more. This situation is a direct consequence of the decision to close the Open Fund for Individuals and the timeline which we, like you, are unexpectedly working to; it does not reflect our keen desire to support as many playwrights as we can.

Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland will be closed from 30th August to 3rd September 2024, a long-planned closure that allows our small staff to recover after three busy weeks of events at the Edinburgh Festivals, and, this year, further events to address the funding crisis. Staff will not have access to e-mail across this time, however you can still access support and information via the link in our biog.

Playwrights: Your Voice is Needed

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday 27th August, at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow from 11am to 1pm. The sudden closure of the Open Fund for Individuals puts the future of Scotland’s cultural sector at risk. Let’s unite to ensure playwrights' voices are heard.

Event Schedule:
11:00-11:15am - Arrival (tea and coffee will be provided)
11:15am - Overview the situation and invitation for attendees to contribute experiences with the Open Fund for Individuals via index cards or digitally
11:30-11:50am - Open floor for attendees' contributions and perspectives
12:00pm - Photo call
12:15-1:00pm - Space for questions, connecting with other writers, and using the Playwrights' Studio's spaces and expertise to work on funding applications.

Why Attend?
- Sharing your concerns will help us more forcefully communicate them to funders and governments
- Get information on upcoming protests, advocacy, and funding applications
- Help show the size of the playwriting community and its opposition to this decision.

📸 If you can't make it for the whole event, please join us at the CCA for a photocall at 12 noon.

If you would like to bring banners or signs with slogans relevant to this decision, there will be opportunities to display them.

The event is free, and we’re committed to making our events as accessible as possible. If financial barriers or caring responsibilities prevent you from attending, contact us at [email protected] before 10.30am tomorrow and we will offer help if we can.

Can’t make it in person? Join us online on Wednesday 28th August (sign up via the link below)

More information and registration via this link: https://form.jotform.com/242345052106344

It’s the last few hours of our bookshop ! Come pick up plays, reference books and essential writerly merchandise before 7.30pm tonight.

Our full reaction to the withdrawal of the opportunity to apply for funding through the Open Fund for Individuals.

Playwrights, please join us in Glasgow on Tuesday 27th August or online on Wednesday 28th August if you can.

The withdrawal of the opportunity to apply for direct funding through the Creative Scotland Open Fund for Individuals will deprive the majority of playwrights in Scotland the means to work and destroys any sense that their work is valued by those who fund our culture. Organisations like Playwrights’ Studio know the breadth of playwriting talent in Scotland, but do not have the means to support every writer.

Playwrights are one of Scottish theatre’s key resources. New plays are the lifeblood of Scotland’s theatre culture. Direct funding to playwrights is critical to the health of our sector and to artists’ ability to serve audiences.

Freelancers are the most economically vulnerable part of the theatre ecosystem. Their frequently unpaid work subsidises the creation of the culture that our government and funders publicly state is so valuable to our country. This move will plunge the whole sector, yet again, into frightening and debilitating campaigning for its very existence, rather than creating the art needed to sustain a healthy culture.

Playwrights can be less visible than some creatives in our industry, but we should be clear: new plays spring from the minds of writers.

Join us on Tuesday 27th August / Wednesday 28th August to organise, to share information, and to make the voice of playwrights heard.

For more details and to sign up, follow this link: https://form.jotform.com/242345052106344

Thank you to everyone who has joined us so far 90 Minute Write this month.

If you haven't had a chance yet, there's still an opportunity to escape the chaos of the festival, be together with other writers and reconnect with your writing.

🗓️Friday 23rd August
11am – 12.30pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s rehearsal space (opposite the box office - see the last picture). Just use the buzzer for the rehearsal room.

Take this hour and a half to dive back into a piece you’ve been working on or respond to a five-minute prompt from our invited playwright, Stef Smith. The Outrun by Stef Smith is currently running until 24th August at the Church Hill Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

No experience is necessary and all are welcome – no sharing of work required. We’ll have teas, coffees, and biscuits waiting for you.

Register via the link here:
https://form.jotform.com/242174153313346

Yesterday, Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland joined over 110 Scottish organisations in an open letter to express our grave and deep concern over the Scottish Government’s failure to provide certainty surrounding the £6.6 million Grant in Aid budget for Creative Scotland, resulting in the abrupt closure of the Open Fund for Individuals, the primary route to public funding for Scottish artists to develop their projects.

The resilience of Scotland’s cultural sector is not infinite. Artists cannot continue to bear the burden of delayed and inadequate support. We strongly urge the Scottish Government to recognise the severity of this situation and take immediate action to release the necessary funds to Creative Scotland, allowing the Open Fund for Individuals to be reinstated.

We will have a further update in the next day on additional actions we’re planning to support playwrights at this time.

Read the full letter here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5803a728d1758e435b377f47/t/66c725288f58aa5cc225b37f/1724327209278/Open+Letter+-+Closure+of+Open+Fund+for+Individuals+21_08_2024.pdf

What parts of a writers' practice don't make up their CV?

Join us at The Library of Mistakes next Wednesday to hear from Zinnie Harris (Associate Artistic Director, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh) and Douglas Maxwell (Associate Playwright, Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland) to hear about the ups and downs of a playwriting career, their tips for navigating this and ways writers can build resilience.

The Library of Mistakes
Wednesday 21st August, 2pm
FREE but ticketed

Presented by Playwrights' Studio, Scotland and Lyceum Edinburgh

For more information and to register, see the link below:
https://form.jotform.com/242173772244355

Thank you to everyone who registered for last week's 90 Minute.

Would like to take some space away from the chaos of the festival for an hour and half to reconnect with your writing? Join us tomorrow for another 90 Minute Write at the Lyceum!

Use the time to reconnect with a piece of your writing or response to a five minute prompt from an invited playwright!

No experience is necessary and all are welcome – no sharing of work required. And the teas, coffees and biscuits are on us!

🗓️16th & 23rd August
11am – 12.30pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s rehearsal space
Lyceum Edinburgh (opposite the box office - see the last picture), use the buzzer for the rehearsal room

Register via the link below:

Congratulations to Douglas Maxwell, Playwrights' Studio's Associate Playwright, on receiving a Fringe First for his play So Young!

So Young is produced by Traverse Theatre, Raw Material Arts and Citizens Theatre and you can catch it at the Traverse until Sunday 25th August.

Well done, Douglas and team!

Douglas will be joining Zinnie Harris in discussion next Wednesday for The Playwrights' Hidden CV, sharing the parts of a writers’ practice that don’t always make the CV. Having started their journeys at the same time, they’ll share the ups and downs of a playwriting career, their tips for navigating this and ways writers can build resilience.

For more information and to register for this free event, see the link below:
https://form.jotform.com/242173772244355

Our Creative Director, Louise Stephens, will be part of a free panel discussion hosted by the Goethe-Institut this Friday.

The panel will discuss Scotland and Germany's dance, circus and theatre landscapes and give a place for discussion of the trends and crossovers between both countries.

Moderated by Dr. Ann-Christine Simke, the panel will also feature LJ Findlay-Walsh (Take Me Somewhere) and German professionals Claudius Bensch, Chiara de' Nobili, and Alex Miller.

Friday 16 August
3 – 6pm
Dance Base

If you’re interested in being part of the conversation, check the link in our below for more details and to reserve a spot.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trends-in-german-and-scottish-contemporary-theatre-tickets-945649803017

We’re back at the Lyceum tomorrow for the first 90 Minute Write of the festival – come write with us!

90 Minute Write invites you to take some space away from the chaos of the festival for an hour and half to reconnect with your writing, with free tea or coffee. Join other playwrights in the Lyceum’s rehearsal space to write in response to a five minute prompt from an invited playwright, or use the time to reconnect with a current piece of your writing – it’s up to you. No experience is necessary and all are welcome – no sharing of work required.

🗓️Friday 9th, 16th & 23rd August
11am – 12.30pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s rehearsal space Lyceum Edinburgh (opposite the box office - see the last picture), use the buzzer for the rehearsal room

Tomorrow’s prompt will be written by Apphia Campbell. Over the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, you can see Apphia's work Through the Mud at Summerhall and Black is the Colour of My Voice at Pleasance at EICC.

Register via the link below:
https://form.jotform.com/242174153313346

New merch just dropped…

Our reusable cups and sticky note sets are now here! Ideal for fuelling your writing sessions & planning out your next play, respectively. And you can plant the sticky note packaging afterwards 🌱

Come find them at our bookshop at the Traverse Theatre, Tues-Sun, 12.30pm-7.30pm.

Our festival bookshop & information point is now officially open! Come visit us between 12.30pm and 7.30pm, Tues-Sun in the space above the Traverse bar (see our handy map for details). We have a wide selection of plays and books as well as our selection of brand spanking new merchandise - for you or the writer in your life.

(More Than) 20 Plays for 20 Days!

This year we’re celebrating 20 years of Playwrights’ Studio, which was constituted on 17th March 2004.

Over 20 days this June and July, we supported 28 writers to work on their new plays, writing in English, Scots and Gàidhlig. We worked across 9 venues and employed 43 actors, 2 facilitators and 8 directors.

Many thanks/mòran taing to all the venues that we worked in, partners we worked with & places that hosted us:
An Lanntair, Beacon Arts Centre, Boardwalk Glasgow, Central Library Dundee, Comhairle nan Leabhraichean, National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Tron Theatre, University of Edinburgh, Vanishing Point.

And thank you/taing mhòr to all the creatives that worked with us over the project:
Kim Allan, Andy Arnold, Cindy Awor, Esme Bayley, Nicholas Bone, Daniel Cahill, Neshla Caplan, Nalini Chetty, Andy Clark, Amy Conachan, Jackie Crichton, MJ Deans, Martin Docherty, Michael Dylan, Jo Fergie, Robbie Gordon, Jessica Hardwick, Finn den Hertog, Nandi Hudson, Zoe Hunter, Amelia Jones Isaac, Jaimini Jethwa, Adam Kashmiry, Muireann Kelly, Anne Lacey, Claire Lamont, Kevin Lennon, Kenny Lindsay, Megan Lovat, Hannah Low, Gerry Lynch, Alan Mackenzie, David Mackenzie, Fiona Mackinnon, Ava MacKinnon, Douglas Maxwell, Martin McCormick, Hannah McGregor, Graham McLaren, Afton Moran, Pasha Munir, Bailey Newsome, Laila Noble, Cristian Ortega, Gabriel Quigley, Ewan Somers, Naomi Stirrat, Antony Strachan, Odhran Thomson, Shilpa T-Hyland, Adam Tompa, Elspeth Turner, Betty Valencia, Emily Winter.

And to all the writers who shared their writing with us over the course of the project:
Luis Alçada, Jess Brodie, Zoe Bullock, Graeme Cobb, Garry Collins, Nay Dhanak, Isaac Frost, Rachel Hamada, Xuanlin HE, Sally Hobson, Kathryn Holme, Alex Levin, Wilson Macduff, Gregor Mackenzie, Donna Mackintosh, Nicola McCartney, Estefany Perez, Ben Ramsay, Corinne Salisbury, Emery Schaffer, Till Schindler, David Scott, Scott Strom, Julia Taudevin, Andrew Thompson, Joe Vevers, Cara Watson, Anna Ziemons-McLean.

Special thanks to Playwrights’ Studio Associate Playwright Douglas Maxwell for leading Off The Page.

It's almost time for the Edinburgh Festivals and we want to hear from you!

Over the coming weeks, we will be putting together our list of plays by Scottish writers that are on in Edinburgh this August. If you are a playwright based in or from Scotland with a play being produced this year, let us know now.

If you would like your show to added to our online listing of what's on in Edinburgh this August, complete the following online form here: https://form.jotform.com/241683885167369

Our second week of 20 Plays for 20 Days wrapped up on Friday with our final session of Creating Space: Dundee.

Over the past three months, a small group of playwrights from Dundee have been taking part in a writers' workshops led by Martin McCormick. Throughout the previous two sessions, the group delved into new ways to generate ideas, develop their craft, and share their evolving pieces with each other.

In the third session, we were joined by three Dundee based actors so the writers could hear their plays come to life.

The Creating Space: Dundee writers were:
Luis Alçada, Kathryn Holme, Donna Mackintosh, David Scott, and Anna Ziemons-McLean

Huge thanks to our actors for the session, who were:
Jo Fergie, Jaimini Jethwa, and Emily Winter

A special thanks to Martin McCormick for facilitating the group.

Many thanks to Sweet Venues, The Keiller Centre and the Central Library for hosting us over the workshop series.

Creating Space: Dundee was supported by the Leche Trust.

And with that, Off the Page concludes: eight actors, three venues, three towns and nine wonderful plays.

Many thanks to Beacon Arts Centre, Vanishing Point and Lyceum Edinburgh for hosting us.

Huge thanks to our actors for the week, who were:

Nalini Chetty
Amelia Jones Isaac
Adam Kashmiry
Alan MacKenzie
Hannah McGregor
Afton Moran
Pasha Munir
Betty Valencia

The Off the Page writers were:

Jess Brodie
Graeme Cobb
Nay Dhanak
Wilson Macduff
Gregor Mackenzie
Corinne Salisbury
Emery Schaffer
Andrew Thompson
Joe Vevers

Off the Page was conceived and facilitated by Playwrights’ Studio’s 2024 Associate Playwright, Douglas Maxwell, and managed by our Projects Producer, Amy McKenzie.

Thank you too to everyone who shared their writing with us for this opportunity.

The sun has set on the first day of 20 Plays for 20 Days. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be hosting play development sessions and other workshops around Scotland, supporting over twenty writers to reach the next stage of development with their work.

Today, we were in Greenock Beacon Arts Centre, in Merchant City Impact Arts and at Rockvilla National Theatre of Scotland, supporting Ben Ramsay, Garry Morris and Zoe Bullock as they finish their Play Development Bursaries.

It was also the first day today of Off the Page, a week long event through which 9 playwrights will have the chance to hear their work read by actors, facilitated by Playwrights’ Studio’s 2024 Associate Playwright, Douglas Maxwell. Today’s writers were Corinne Salisbury and Gregor Mackenzie.

20 Plays for 20 Days celebrates 20 years of Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, which was constituted on 17th March 2004. Centring the voice and autonomy of playwrights, we work with writers of all levels of experience to help them reach their creative potential.

Full creative team credits will be shared on our social platforms at the end of the week.

Brainstorm Café with Sara Shaarawi
Tues 28th May
10am-6pm
Online or In Person

Brainstorm Cafés are back!

If you are grappling with a creative problem linked to your play and would like to chat it through over a cuppa, the Brainstorm Café could help. These one-to-one sessions give you the chance to gain a different perspective on your work, and talk through possible ways to move forward.

Hosting our May Café is our outgoing Associate Playwright Sara Shaarawi.

Sara's work includes; PAL: Your AI Care Companion (Citizens Young Company); The Day the Stampers United (Wonderfools); Sister Radio (Stellar Quines and Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Niqabi Ninja (Independent Arts Projects).

As slots are limited, there is a short application process to help us select writers for these chats.

The deadline for applications is midday Wednesday 22nd May

For more information and to apply: https://form.jotform.com/241222813525347

Case Study Session with Emma McKee
Thursday 30th May
11am-12noon
Free
Online

In conversation for this month’s Case Study Session is Emma McKee, Executive Producer at Playwrights' Studio, Scotland.

Emma will draw upon her extensive experience in arts management to offer insight into supporting writers within an organisational structure. Sharing practical examples from her experience to offer a glimpse into her process of nurturing writers through developmental stages and fostering environments for creativity.

Case Study Sessions are our free digital series where artists share their artistic journey using practical examples from their careers.

This event is for playwrights at any stage of their career.

Register for the session here: https://form.jotform.com/241202777489363