Michael Grandage today announces the recipients of the fifth annual MGCfutures Bursaries awarded across a range of theatrical disciplines including directing, writing, producing, designing, choreography, digital, casting and performance-makers. A registered charity, MGCfutures offers both financial and ongoing mentoring support to the recipients who come from across the UK.
This year, in a major expansion to the bursary programme, there are thirty-three recipients: Waleed Akhtar, Tom Bellerby, Rebecca Brewer, Teresa Burns, Ghost Chan, Zhui Ning Chang, Liz Daramola, Beth Flintoff, burn/gobscure, Sam Hardie, Natalie Haslam, Kitty Hawkins, Courtenay Johnson, Eve Kann, Júlia Levai, Tom Lightbody, Rafaella Marcus, Tony Mills, Will Monks, Madelaine Moore,
Laurie Motherwell, Anna Orton, Nisha Oza, Claire Rimington, Luke W. Robson, Nye Russell-Thompson, Lucía Sánchez Roldán, Amber Sinclair-Case, Freya Smith, Lexie Ward, Naomi Westerman, Christopher Worrall and Lilac Yosiphon – taking the total of MGCfutures’ bursaries awarded to over 100 in just five years. This year’s bursaries include new partnerships with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre for a Literary Associate (Trainee) and Pilot Theatre for two Creative Assistants.
Michael Grandage said today, “This year it feels more vital than ever before to support and nurture the theatre makers of the future and to create new work by offering them money, time and mentorship. I’m enormously proud of the achievements of our past bursary recipients - to witness their work and growth as artists is a wonderful part of this initiative. The charity continues to support the vast network of jobs that make up the whole theatre ecology as we believe it is only this way we can build an industry for the future. We’re grateful to the Theatre Community Fund whose generosity has enabled us to award our largest ever number of bursaries in honour of the fifth anniversary of the scheme.”
Michael Grandage founded MGCfutures in 2013 - a charity designed to encourage and support the next generation of theatre-makers and theatregoers. The bursaries programme was launched in 2016, and reaches out across the UK to seek the very best creative talent showing a commitment to their chosen career and looking to progress to the next stage of their development. Applicants can apply for bursaries of up to £5000.
The expansion of this year’s bursaries to celebrate their fifth anniversary has been made possible due to the generosity of the Theatre Community Fund, spearheaded by Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Francesca Moody which has donated £300k to MGCfutures to help support and provide bursaries for the next 3 years. When they launched the Theatre Community Fund in July 2020 in response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, they committed to provide hardship funding, and bursaries for creation and innovation. They continue to provide hardship funding through the Royal Theatrical Fund; and this donation sees them realise their aim to provide funding for bursaries.
QUOTES FROM BURSARY RECIPIENTS:
Liz Daramola – Lyric Hammersmith Theatre Literary Associate (Trainee)
“I'm ecstatic to be a recipient of an MGCfutures Bursary and to be joining the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre as Literary Associate (Trainee). This bursary and role will afford me the time and space to learn from leading industry artists and I cannot wait to get started! Thank you MGCfutures for this opportunity and support.”
Lilac Yosiphon - Director
“I'm delighted to be awarded an MGCfutures Bursary to adapt my grandfather's book The Shoes of Tanboury into a show for young audiences. This bursary will enable me to lead a week of R&D focused on the BSL translation of the adaptation, in collaboration with performers and a BSL consultant. I'm so incredibly honoured to have the opportunity to explore this Iraqi folk tale which I grew up reading again and again - and cannot thank MGCfutures enough.”
Christopher Worrall – Casting Director
“After the most challenging year for the theatre community, I’m honoured to be awarded the MGCfutures Bursary. Due to my newly freelance status, I’ve been ineligible for any government support during the pandemic and it has been devastating to say the least. This bursary will help safeguard my career so that I can be ready to bounce-back when theatres reopen. I’m especially grateful that MCGfutures have awarded someone in Casting for the first time. Thank you for recognising Casting as a viable and deserving craft within our industry.”
THE LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE BURSARY FOR A LITERARY ASSOCIATE (TRAINEE)
This is an opportunity for Liz Daramola to work at the heart of a major producing theatre in London, under the Artistic Directorship of Rachel O’Riordan – and is the first literary role in the company’s history.
Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director and CEO of Lyric Hammersmith Theatre said: “We’re delighted to welcome Liz Daramola to the role of Literary Associate (Trainee) at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre thanks to the support of Michael Grandage Company and MGCfutures. In this newly created role, Liz will gain first-hand experience in the inner workings of a major producing theatre while having a real input to the Lyric’s work across our producing department, script development for productions, Studio programming, Young Lyric and all upcoming projects. Liz’s commitment and vision as a writer and producer is incredibly impressive and we’re honoured to be supporting such a bright and promising talent in the next step of her career.”
THE PILOT THEATRE BURSARY FOR A CREATIVE ASSISTANT
Pilot Theatre is an international touring company based in York, creating work for, by and with young people. Due to the strong field MGCfutures and Pilot Theatre have awarded two bursaries to Júlia Levai and Claire Rimington.
Esther Richardson, Artistic Director and Joint-CEO of Pilot Theatre said, “We are delighted to be supporting two artists of exceptional promise to work across our upcoming projects in 2021 as Creative Assistants. Throughout this challenging period, Pilot has continued to support freelancers, and we look forward to collaborating with Claire and Júlia to inspire young people through their creative practice.”
FULL LIST OF BURSARY RECIPIENTS:
WALEED AKHTAR - THEATRE-MAKER
Waleed will write and develop a new verbatim piece which looks at Islamophobia both in Britain and globally.
TOM BELLERBY – DIRECTOR
The bursary will support a research and development week of Helen by Hull based writer Maureen Lennon and time to develop a new theatre company.
REBECCA BREWER - THEATRE-MAKER
This bursary will support Rebecca in an R&D of her new project All the Places We Cannot Go, a piece of gig theatre about trespass.
TERESA BURNS - WRITER
Teresa plans to develop a community play with Lutonians for Lutonians based on the town’s industrial evolution.
GHOST CHAN – DIGITAL
This bursary will enable Ghost Chan to develop Minute Moonshine, an alternative reality game aiming to combine artwork with non-linear storytelling.
ZHUI NING CHANG - THEATRE-MAKER
The bursary will support an R&D period to create a new podcast musical exploring a queer, hopepunk approach to storytelling.
LIZ DARAMOLA - LYRIC HAMMERSMITH THEATRE LITERARY ASSOCIATE (TRAINEE)
This bursary will support Liz as the Trainee Literary Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, developing her skills around new writing and working closely with the artistic team.
BETH FLINTOFF – WRITER
This bursary will allow Beth to develop her new play about cleaners and the other support staff that work behind the scenes in the House of Commons.
burn/gobscure – WRITER
This bursary will enable burn/gobscure to write their new solo show have a heart, as well as being able to spend time being mentored by Third Angel.
SAM HARDIE - NICOLE KIDMAN BURSARY
Sam will spend time researching and developing a new devised show The Very Famous Hercules… The Bear, exploring identity, belonging and family.
NATALIE HASLAM – CHOREOGRAPHER
This bursary will enable Natalie to complete a training course in creative coding to aid the development of immersive dance theatre pieces.
KITTY HAWKINS - STEPHANIE ARDITTI BURSARY
Kitty’s bursary will allow her to purchase essential costume reference books.
COURTENAY JOHNSON – PRODUCER
Courtenay will complete an R&D to develop Sea Girl, a new production for young audiences using interactive decision-making game software.
EVE KANN - STEPHANIE ARDITTI BURSARY
This bursary will enable Eve to make five costumes to showcase her design and making skills. As well as conducting research into props costume by speaking and spending time with industry professionals.
JÚLIA LEVAI - PILOT CREATIVE ASSISTANT
Júlia will work with Pilot Theatre to create exciting new participatory projects for young people.
TOM LIGHTBODY - LIGHTING DESIGNER
Tom will spend time as Assistant Lighting Designer on multiple projects enabling him to learn essential skills from the Designers he assists.
RAFAELLA MARCUS – DRAMATURG
Rafaella will establish a new script-reading service for writers without access to essential feedback.
TONY MILLS – CHOREOGRAPHER
Tony will complete a research and development period for his new project Ally Oop, a piece that will blend dance and basket-ball for young audiences.
WILL MONKS - VIDEO DESIGNER
The bursary will allow Will to purchase essential equipment and to spend time with a performance collaborator to explore new ways of working digitally which will help him develop as a Video Designer.
MADELAINE MOORE – DIRECTOR
Madelaine’s bursary will allow her to complete an R&D of her new project, the (beat) rover, a Beat Poetry inspired adaption of Aphra Behn’s proto-feminist play, The Rover.
LAURIE MOTHERWELL – WRITER
This bursary will give Laurie time to write his new play Diss, as well as completing an R&D with a DJ, an Actor, and Dramaturg to develop the project for the stage.
ANNA ORTON – DESIGNER
The bursary will allow Anna to buy essential equipment to continue her design work in the most efficient and sustainable way possible.
NISHA OZA – PRODUCER
Nisha plans to develop her producing career, through business and financial training for her company The Lot Productions. She will also acquire the rights to two texts for adaptation, to further her goal of making independent work with an inclusive mindset.
CLAIRE RIMINGTON - PILOT CREATIVE ASSISTANT
Claire will work with Pilot Theatre to create exciting new participatory projects for young people.
LUKE W. ROBSON – DESIGNER
This bursary will allow Luke to purchase design software, receive mentor support and begin to develop a design-lead re-imagining of Hogarth’s A Rake's Progress.
NYE RUSSELL-THOMPSON – PRODUCER
The bursary will support Nye in finalising and releasing content to generate interest in his upcoming new show, and further developing his producing skills for his theatre company StammerMouth.
LUCÍA SÁNCHEZ ROLDÁN - LIGHTING DESIGNER
The bursary will allow Lucía to purchase a software programme to assist her development as a Lighting Designer.
AMBER SINCLAIR-CASE - THEATRE-MAKER
Amber’s bursary will enable them to complete a research and development period for their new project (Wo)man Monster which will explore the black trans experience *and OCD*, blending dub-poetry and traditional African music.
FREYA SMITH - COMPOSER
Freya’s bursary will allow her to spend time writing her first draft of a new musical about mental health.
LEXIE WARD – DIRECTOR
Lexie will spend time researching and developing a new multidisciplinary verbatim piece that exposes the pressures of Cumbria’s Mountain Rescue.
NAOMI WESTERMAN – WRITER
Naomi will use her bursary to finish writing her new play about the links between mental illness and the environment.
CHRISTOPHER WORRALL - CASTING DIRECTOR
The bursary will help Christopher to establish himself as a freelance Casting Director and cover the cost of essential equipment, subscriptions and software.
LILAC YOSIPHON – DIRECTOR
This bursary will support a week-long R&D to create the BSL translation for the adaptation of The Shoes of Tanbury by Shimon Ballas, a show for young audiences.
MGCfUTURES
The future of theatre depends on young people. They are the theatre makers and theatre goers of tomorrow. MGCfutures reaches out to people of different ages and backgrounds, providing information, guidance and support through mentorship, the Bursary scheme, online resources, workshops and participatory activities. It is also committed to enabling young people to visit the theatre who might otherwise not be able to do so.
MGCfutures is a charitable organisation, governed by a Board of Trustees. It is also supported by the charity's patrons: Judi Dench, Dawn French, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Daniel Radcliffe, Simon Russell Beale, Sheridan Smith, Aidan Turner, David Walliams and Ben Whishaw.
“MGCfutures understands that artists need practical support, as well as encouragement and mentorship, in order to be empowered to make good work. It's exactly the investment I need at this stage in my career to keep raising my ambitions.”
Isley Lynn - MGCfutures Bursary recipient
To find out more about the charity’s work, and how to get involved, please contact Andrew Broadley andrew@mgcfutures.com
The MGCfutures Bursaries are funded through money raised by the company itself, through donations and the support of generous individual givers
The recipients of the awards are selected from an industry panel including Michael Grandage. After the panel, each recipient will be met with to discuss their bursary and the support MGCfutures will give each one moving forward.
