Rose Theatre Kingston today announces Eoin McAndrew, Eilidh Nurse and Sid Sagar have been chosen to have their new plays The Devil's In The Chair, Miles and Dark Faces in the Night worked on and performed as part of its inaugural New Writing Festival, a week-long event running from 9 – 13 September. The festival will feature rehearsed readings of the three new plays as well as arts engagement workshops for young people focused on new writing.

The winners were selected from a field of 400 entrants by Rose Executive Producer, Jerry Gunn and inaugural Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellow, Fay Lomas who will also direct the plays. The playwrights will have their scripts developed, before being performed by professional actors to a public audience. Following each play, there will be a debrief session which will consider future development for the piece.

Successful playwrights will host rehearsed readings at Rose Theatre Kingston:

The Devil’s In The Chair by Eoin McAndrew – Wed 18 Sep, 2:15pm – Gallery
Dark Faces in the Night by Sid Sagar – Thu 19 Sep, 2:15pm – Gallery
Miles by Eilidh Nurse – Fri 20 Sep, 2:15pm – Gallery

This project has been generously supported by Arts Council England.

Fay Lomas said today, 'We were blown away by the number and quality of the submissions – it was a privilege to read so many fantastic pieces of work. We are very excited to be working with three exceptional winning writers: the plays by Eilidh, Sid and Eoin are outstanding pieces of theatre and we can't wait to bring them to life through these readings. I'm also very much looking forward to meeting the eight shortlisted writers, and to getting to know them and their work better.'

Sid Sagar’s previous writing credits include The Tutor, Disruption, Dark Faces in the Night, The Affairs of Men, The State We’re in and Raj.

Eoin McAndrew’s previous writing credits include The Spandex Barstards, The Girl Who Was Very Good at Lying, The Optimist, Embalmers, The Soldier at the Door and Talk.

Eilidh Nurse is currently working as a trainee producer at The Watermill Theatre; this is her debut play.

Fay Lomas is Rose Theatre Kingston’s inaugural Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellow. Her directing credits include the forthcoming Out of the Dark (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Crucible (Royal & Derngate Northampton Community Company), The Winter’s Tale (St Peter’s Church, Northampton), Bérénice (The Space) and Blood Wedding (The Bread and Roses). In addition, she has directed new, short plays at Arcola Theatre, Theatre503 and Southwark Playhouse. As an assistant director her credits include The Model Apartment (Ustinov Studio), Macbeth (National Theatre/UK tour), Trouble in Mind (Print Room), Death of a Salesman (Royal & Derngate Northampton/UK tour), Great Expectations (Royal & Derngate Northampton), Annie Get Your Gun (Sheffield Theatres) and Half Life (Theatre Royal Bath).

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