Traverse Theatre have announced the writers that will participate in their 2022 Creating Space and Breakthrough Writers programmes.
The Edinburgh theatre confirmed ten writers will make up the 2022 Creating Space cohort: Valerie Andrews, Adam Buksh, Andrea Cabrera Luna, Neil Chue Hong, Sanjay Lago, Hannah Low, Garry Morris, Fin Ross Russell, Manjot Sumal and Jingling Wu.
In addition, Fatima Jawara, Liam Moffat, Beth Westbrook, Eliza Gearty and Lydia Sabatini were selected for Breakthrough Writers: In Residence, a programme which identifies exciting new voices and supports them to develop a full-length play.
The new Creating Space Writers’ Group for Scotland-based writers of the Global Majority will be led by acclaimed playwright Mariem Omari with support from Shilpa T-Hyland, an associate director at Traverse. The programme has been developed in collaboration with the Scottish BPOC Writers Network.
Participants in the ten-week course will receive online and in-person sessions on the playwriting process, alongside industry mentorship and feedback.
The Breakthrough Writers will benefit from six months mentoring and dramaturgical development from the Traverse team, including artistic director Gareth Nicholls, and associate directors Katherine Nesbitt and Shilpa T-Hyland.
Breakthrough Writers is supported by the Idlewild Trust and replaces the theatre’s previous ‘Open Submissions’ scheme. Writers aged over 18, living in the UK and Ireland, at any stage of their career, were invited to anonymously submit a full-length stage script for consideration.
Further information can be found on the Traverse Theatre website.
Words by Alexis Wolfe
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