Nic McQuillan is a writer and performer. His work has been performed at HOME, the New Diorama, Theatre Royal Plymouth, The Arts Theatre, The Wardrobe Theatre, The Rose and The Space. As an actor he has performed at Battersea Arts Centre, The Tobacco Factory and The Soho Theatre. Together with Flora Marston, he is also one half of Kopfkino Theatre. They have made two shows, THE BEARPIT and THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, which have toured the UK. They have twice been nominated for the Edinburgh Untapped award. 

Chinonyerem Odimba is a writer, director and poet. Her work for theatre includes JOANNE AND AMONGST THE REEDS (Clean Break / The Yard) a modern retelling of TWIST  (Theatre Centre) and MEDEA (Bristol Old Vic). More recent commissions have seen her work produced at Hampstead Theatre, Kiln Theatre, Live Theatre, and Watermill Theatre and Vaults Festival. She is currently working on commissions with Paines Plough and BBC.  Her work has been shortlisted for several awards including the Adrienne Benham Award, Alfred Fagon Award, and the Bruntwood Playwriting Award. She is winner of the 2018 Sonia Friedman Award for a new play ‘How to Walk on the Moon’ written for C4/Talawa Theatre. 

Matilda Ibini is a playwright and screenwriter. Credits include: Little Miss Burden, Bunker Theatre. Choice and Control, Old Vic Theatre. Muscovado, Theatre503 and UK tour. She has a commission with Bush Theatre and screen projects in development with BBC Films and Raw Productions. 

Nessah Muthy is a multi-awarding Writer’s Guild nominated writer, winner of the Character 7 Prize and the Adrian Pagan Award 2018. She has worked with a number of established theatres and arts organisations including: the Royal Court Theatre, Punchdrunk, the National Youth Theatre, Cardboard Citizens and HighTide. For theatre, Nessah is presently under commission to the National Youth Theatre, The Brit School, the Young Vic, the Gate Theatre/Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, ATC Theatre Centre and COMMON. For screen, Nessah has written for Holby City and EastEnders: E20. She is the inaugural recipient of the Character 7 Prize and is currently developing a number of new ideas for television. 

Bethan is an award winning Welsh playwright. Awards include: Theatre Wales Award for Best Show for Young People, a Creative Wales Award, she was a finalist of the Wales Drama Award and the winner of the Iris Prize Welsh language initiative, Straeon Iris.  Her most recent productions, verbatim musical NURSES (Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru) and site-specific MOLD RIOTS (Theatr Clwyd) were sell-out shows with critical acclaim. Her past credits include productions for companies such as Birmingham REP, Paines Plough, Royal Shakespeare Company, Sherman Theatre and NTW. Bethan’s original TV series, THE TRAP is currently in development with Warner Media 150 and Severn Screen.  She is currently working on her first feature film, MADISON. 

Asif is an award winning writer and actor, born and raised in Bradford. His debut play COMBUSTION toured the UK in 2017 and was nominated for OffWestEnd’s Best New Play award and Best Writer in the Stage Debut Awards. It also Won Best Production at The Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Awards (2018) and at The Asian Media Awards (2017). In 2018 Asif Won the Channel 4 Playwright’s Scheme Award with RIFCO and Watford Palace Theatre, where he was commissioned to develop a new play. In 2019, his play IMAAM IMRAAN was produced by the National Youth Theatre, playing at the Bradford Literary Festival. He is a Tamasha Theatre Alumnus with whom he has developed two plays for teenagers. Part of the BBC Comedy Room in 2017, he was named on the BBC New Talent Hotlist (2017). He is currently commissioned by Birmingham Rep Theatre and is also developing a new play for children with Turtle Key Arts. 

Alex trained at LAMDA and is an actor, writer and producer. She is currently studying for a Masters Degree in Creative Writing and her plays have been performed at The Brighton Fringe Festival, The Cockpit Theatre and for The Miniaturists at The Arcola Theatre. Alex co-produces ‘Women’s Writes’ a new writing night for female-identifying playwrights which has had sell out shows at The Arcola Theatre and VAULT Festival 2020 and has featured on BBC Radio London, in DIVA Magazine, The London Theatre Podcast and The Stage. 

Amy is a British-Hong Kong playwright. Her plays include UNDER THE UMBRELLA (Belgrade Theatre Coventry – UK tour), ACCEPTANCE (Hampstead Theatre) and SHANGRI-LA (Finborough Theatre). Radio plays include TIGER GIRLS (BBC Radio 4) and KILBURN PASSION (BBC Radio 3). She is under commission to the Royal Shakespeare Company and ice&fire, and is developing her play THATCHER IN CHINA at the National Theatre Studio. She is also part of the inaugural Genesis Almeida New Playwrights Big Plays programme. Her new adaptation of Strindberg’s MISS JULIE will be produced at Chester Storyhouse in February 2020 and for TV she is working on original projects with BBC Studios and Merman.   

Ryan is an actor and writer, winning the 2018 Off West End Adopt A Playwright Award for his play RHAPSODY, which was produced at the Arcola in March 2018.  His play play QUEENS OF SHEBA won the 2018 Edinburgh Untapped Award having played to sell-out audiences at the Camden Peoples Theatre in October 2017.  Ryan’s latest play Typical will run for 4 weeks at this year’s Edinburgh fringe before returning to SOHO Theatre London for another 4 week run. Ryan is currently on attachment with the Royal Court Theatre and has also been commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre. Ryan co-created The Tide, Talawa’s first ever show created exclusively for outdoor performance. 

Leo J Skilbeck is a writer and director. They are the Artistic Director of Milk Presents, an associate company of Derby Theatre and formerly the Bush Theatre. Leo’s recent work includes BULLISH – a transmasculine odyssey (Milk Presents UK tour 2018), JOAN – a drag king play (Milk Presents/Derby Theatre, winner of Fringe First, Off-West End Award) and Big Ben (a monologue for the Young Vic’s My England film series). As director Leo’s work includes: Chekhov’s The Bear / The Proposal (Young Vic),  and as Associate Director: Fun Home (Young Vic) and Herons (Lyric Hammersmith). 

Roy Williams began writing plays in 1990 and is now arguably one of the country’s leading dramatists. In 2000 he was the joint-winner of The George Devine Award and in 2001 he was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He was awarded the OBE for Services to Drama in the 2008 Birthday Honours List and was made a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature in 2018. 

His plays include: THE FIRM (Hampstead Theatre, Downstairs), SOUL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF MARVIN GAYE (Royal and Derngate/ Hackney Empire, ANTIGONE (Pilot Theatre/UK Tour), WILDEFIRE (Hampstead Theatre) ADVICE FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART (Theatre Centre), an adaptation of THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER (Pilot Theatre/ UK Tour), SUCKER PUNCH (Royal Court Theatre, nominated for Olivier Award for Best Play), KINGSTON ’14 (Theatre Royal Stratford East), CATEGORY B (Tricycle Theatre), ANGEL HOUSE (Eclipse Theatre, UK Tour), DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE (RSC), JOE GUY (Tiata Fahodzi), THERE’S ONLY ONE WAYNE MATTHEWS (Polka Theatre), BABY GIRL (NT Connections), ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS (Lyric Hammersmith), LITTLE SWEET THING (Nottingham Playhouse), SLOW TIME (NT Education), FALLOUT (Royal Court Theatre), SING YER HEART OUT FOR THE LADS (NT), CLUBLAND (Royal Court Theatre), THE GIFT (Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre), LOCAL BOY (Hampstead Theatre), SOULS (Theatre Centre), LIFT OFF (Royal Court) , STARSTRUCK (Tricycle, Winner of John Whiting Award, Alfred Fagon Award & EMMA Award for Best Play), JOSIE’S BOY (Red Ladder Theatre Co), THE NO-BOYS CRICKET CLUB (Theatre Royal, Stratford East) and ). He also contributed to the Royal Court’s PECKHAM THE SOAP OPERA. 

Geraldine Lang is a writer and literary assistant from Glasgow. She is a recent graduate of the University of Manchester with an MA in screenwriting. In 2019 she was a finalist for BBC’s Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for her first feature film script ‘Dirty Money’. Her short plays have been performed at Theatre 503 and Paines Plough Roundabout. She is currently working on a full length play. 

Lettie is a British playwright, poet, author and artist from Sheffield currently living in London. Winner of the Royal Court and Kudos Fellowship 2019. In 2018 they completed BBC London Voices Writers’ Room and the Graeae Write To Play year-long attachment. As part of Queer Upstairs their play THE GREY AREA had a rehearsed reading at the Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Upstairs in 2019. Their first full length play, THIS IS US, developed on attachment with Graeae, had a rehearsed reading in 2019 at the Bush Theatre, in association with Talawa and Tamasha and Graeae theatre companies. Previous work has been showcased at Soho Theatre, Oval Playhouse, The Arcola and Theatre Royal Stratford East. They became a published author in 2018, and are under commission from Audible for a 4 part adaptation, the BBC for an episode on THE BREAK, and BBC Radio for an episode on THE VERB. 

Zinnie Harris is a playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. Her new adaptation of John Webster’s THE DUCHESS (OF MALFI), which she also directed, opened at the Lyceum in May 2019. In 2017 her play MEET ME AT DAWN premiered at the Traverse Theatre, while her new adaptation of Ionesco’s RHINOCEROS and a revival of her trilogy THIS RESTLESS HOUSE opened as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.  MEET ME AT DAWN and RHINOCEROS have received multiple nominations for the 2018 CATS Awards  and THIS RESTLESS HOUSE, which first premiered at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow (2016), was winner of Best New Play at the same awards in 2016 and shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2016/7.  Other plays include HOW TO HOLD YOUR BREATH at the Royal Court Theatre (2015), which won the Berwin Lee Award; THE WHEEL for the National Theatre of Scotland (2011), which was a joint winner of the 2011 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award and won a Fringe First; MIDWINTER for the RSC (2004), which won her an Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for playwriting; and FURTHER THAN THE FURTHEST THING at the National Theatre/Tron Theatre (2000/1), which won the Peggy Ramsay Playwriting Award, the John Whiting Award, a Fringe First, a special commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and got her short-listed for the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award.

Recent directing work for theatre includes GUT (Traverse, 2018), A NUMBER (Lyceum, 2017) for which she won Best Director at the 2017 CATS awards, THE DUCHESS (Lyceum 2019)

Zinnie has also written for television and radio, with two 90 minute dramas for Channel 4 called BORN WITH TWO MOTHERS and RICHARD IS MY BOYFRIEND and episodes for the BBC One Drama Series SPOOKS. She was lead writer on the series PARTNERS IN CRIME for Endor/BBC 1 (broadcast in 2015), starring Jessica Raine and David Walliams and which was based on the Agatha Christie Tommy and Tuppence novels.

Zinnie is currently an Associate Director at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.

Julie Tsang is an award winning writer from Glasgow. Recent credits include: PLAYING WITH TALES (Lyceum Theatre and RSC),  FIX (Pleasance Theatre and reading at Soho Theatre), THE FAMILY UNIT (Barons Court Theatre, and longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize 2019).   In 2017 Julie won the Scotland Short Play Award in association with Cumbernauld Theatre. She is a former mentored playwright with the Playwrights Studio Scotland in 2012. Julie was selected as one of the writers on Yellow Earth’s Professional Writer Programme 2018-2019 in London. Other credits: TROON (Theatre 503) THE STORY OF THE ANGEL AND THE BEAR (Tron Theatre, Home – The Wee Theatre Festival) CRUELLEST MONTH  (In Motion Theatre) and shortlisted for Progressive Playwright Award, LIKE THIS (Tron Theatre). 

She is one of the UK’s leading writer’s and her work is performed worldwide. She is the recipient of numerous awards including an Olivier Award and the New York Drama Critics Award for OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD and a Writers’ Guild Award for THREE BIRDS ALIGHTING ON A FIELD. JEFFERSON’S GARDEN won the 2016 Writer’s Guild Award for Best Play and opened in Washington in January 2018. Other plays include: WINTER HILL, MY FATHER, ODYSSEUS, MAGNA CARTA PLAYS, WE SELL RIGHT, WALKING, THE LINE, GALILEO’S DAUGHTER, CREDIBLE WITNESS, THE BREAK OF THE DAY, THREE BIRDS ALIGHTING ON A FIELD, THE GRACE OF MARY TRAVERSE, ABEL’S SISTER, ASH GIRL and AFTER DARWIN. Timberlake has undertaken many adaptations for radio including WAR AND PEACE and Elena Ferrante’s Neopolitan quartet. Timberlake is currently working on new commissions for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shared Experience Theatre. 

Daniel is a writer and actor from South London. A graduate of the NYT and LAMDA, he has performed in theatres all over the country whilst continually writing and honing his artistic voice. His debut play THE CANARY AND THE CROW opened at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival to rousing accolades and sold out performances and went on to receive the Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence before embarking on a UK tour, which included runs at both Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Arcola, subsequently picking up the WGGB Award for Best Play for Young Audiences in January 2020. He is currently developing an exciting selection of new work across theatre, film and television.

Eoin McAndrew is a Northern Irish playwright and actor. He was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize and shortlisted for the BBC Comedy Writer’s Room in 2019. His play ‘The Devil’s In The Chair’ was one of the winners of the Rose Theatre Kingston’s New Writing Festival, and was performed as a rehearsed reading at the Rose. He is currently part of one of the Royal Court Theatre’s Invitational Writer’s Groups. He has also had short plays performed at the Southwark Playhouse, Theatre503 and The Other Room, Cardiff. 

Jon Brittain is a playwright, television writer and director. His critically acclaimed play ROTTERDAM premiered at Theatre503 in 2015 before transferring to Trafalgar Studios where it earned him a nomination for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2016. It later transferred to 59E59 in New York and the Arts Theatre in the West End, winning an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2017. Other work includes MARGARET THATCHER QUEEN OF SOHO and A SUPER HAPPY STORY (ABOUT FEELING SUPER SAD). He was staff writer on Series 3 of The Crown for Netflix and Leftbank Pictures.