17 September 2023
Newsdesk
British Youth Music Theatre is pleased to announce the applications are now open for the 2024 New Music Theatre Award. The award seeks to find and support exciting new voices in UK Music Theatre, giving them a platform to develop a brand-new piece to full production with the young people of the BYMT company.
Writers, lyricists, composers, music producers and creators under the age of 30 and based in the UK or Ireland are invited to submit a synopsis, outline or concept of up to 2,000 words along with supporting music, script, recordings and references via the BYMT website by Monday 16th October 2023 for consideration.
The intention of the Award is to:
support the writer/creators in their chosen path
push the boundaries of what music theatre can be
highlight the voices wanting to diversify and challenge traditional notions of musical theatre
share the resources BYMT has to develop and showcase the writers of the future
inspire young people to engage with writing music theatre
Previous NMTA Winners include Jack Godfrey and Martha Geelan whose musical Babies just announced a series of concerts in the West End (What’s on Stage story here) and Lewis Cornay, with Harry and Greta which saw its first fully realised staged production with BYMT this summer in the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich.
Chief Executive & Creative Director Emily Gray says “This process enables us to meet and work with composers and writers who are at the stage of developing their first full scale musical production. Our young people are hungry for epic stories with relevant themes that will inspire them, their audiences and the sector to question what a new musical can be. This year we have enjoyed working with Lewis through the challenges of writing for a large company and we have also been able to support and develop other fantastic ideas that the shortlisted writers brought to us. It’s exciting to await the possibilities for our 2024 NMTA show and hope innovation leads the way!”
