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Fifth Word
Playwrights

In partnership with Derby Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse, with support from Writing East Midlands and In Good Company.

Applications are now open for our brand new playwriting group

A free playwriting group for people aged 18+ living in or with a strong connection to the East Midlands.

Do you want to create new stories for the stage?

Are you a first-time writer or an early-career playwright with no more than two plays produced?

Do you have a passion for storytelling, a talent with words and an interest in writing for the stage?

Fifth Word Playwrights will get:

10 free workshops on playwriting, in-person and online, from November 2024 to May 2025, facilitated by playwright Zodwa Nyoni
Guest sessions, insights and exercises from exciting playwrights, theatre-makers and people working in the Industry
Your chance to create a brand new play
To experience an extract of your play performed by professional actors in an East Midlands theatre in Summer 2025
To connect to an ongoing network of writers in the East Midlands

Financial support is available to assist with travel & access costs.
No previous experience is needed.

Applications closed on Monday 30 September 2024.

To find out more please read the key information, eligiblity guidelines and FAQs below.

Apply now

KEY
INFORMATION

You are invited to apply in a way that feels best for you. You will be asked 3 short questions about your interest in playwriting, your writing experience and your connection to the East Midlands. And you’ll need to upload a short sample of your writing for performance, such as a document of no more than 5 pages (word and PDF accepted), or a video or voicenote that is no longer than 5 minutes (.mov, .mp4 accepted).

This can be writing for one character, a conversation between characters, short scene, or something more experimental. It should not be writing for film or television, or a short story. You do not need to submit the actual script that you hope to work on during the group. If you would like to suggest an alternative format, please contact us and we will do our best to help.

Everyone will be considered equally on content, not format, regardless of how they choose to apply. We will reply to all applications with a link to our equal opportunities form, please complete this.

Every writer who applies will receive a response by Wednesday 30th October 2024.

Up to 15 places are available in the group.

Fifth Word encourages people with little experience and/or who are under-represented on stages in the East Midlands to apply, including people who have socio-economic disadvantage, people of the Global Majority, people who are D/deaf and/or disabled, people who are LGBTQIA+ or gender non-conforming, although Fifth Word recognises that identity is multifaceted and nuanced.

Session schedule

Writers are asked to commit to attending all 10 workshops between November 2024 and May 2025 if possible. We understand that you will be juggling other commitments and life events, such as work commitments, planned holidays or medical appointments. If you know you will need to miss any sessions, please let us know in the application form provided. We will respond on a case by case basis. The session schedule is:

1. Saturday 9th November, 2pm-6pm, Derby Theatre
2. Wednesday 27 November, 6.30-9pm, Nottingham Playhouse
3. Wednesday 11 December, 6.30-9pm, Derby Theatre
4. Wednesday 15 January, 6.30-9pm, Online
5. Wednesday 29 January, 6.30-9pm, Nottingham Playhouse
6. Wednesday 12 February, 6.30-9pm Online
7. Wednesday 26 February, 6.30-9pm Derby Theatre
8. Wednesday 12 March, 6.30-9pm, Nottingham Playhouse
9. Wednesday 26 March, 6-8.30pm, Derby Theatre

(First Drafts to be delivered by Friday 11 April)

10. Between Monday 28 April and Friday 2 May: in-person or online individual feedback session

Updated draft for sharing due by Monday 26 May

Sharings of extracts: June / July 2025 at partner venue

ELIGIBILITY

You are eligible for Fifth Word Playwrights if you:

Are aged 18 or over
Are based in or have a strong connection to the East Midlands (please see FAQs for more detail)
Have had no more than 2 professional productions. (By “professional production” we mean a full-length play which was performed for at least 1 week at a professional venue, where you and the creative team making the show were paid)
Have not had a full-length play produced by Fifth Word

FAQ’s

All eligible script submissions will go to a panel of readers who will create a shortlist of up to 24 writers. These writers will be invited for a short Zoom meeting to talk about their hopes for the group and their hopes for their writing. These meetings will include Zodwa Nyoni (group facilitator) and Nic Wass (Creative Associate). They will be informal and take around 10 minutes, and we will send you the questions beforehand that we’ll want to ask you. The panel will discuss and reflect on the meetings, basing decisions on the content of the conversation and ideas, not the format. Fifth Word will be in contact by Wednesday 30 October 2024 to confirm whether a place is offered on the group. Up to 15 places are available, and all writers who attend a meeting but are not allocated a place this year will be offered a half hour artist meet on Zoom (or alternative, as needed) with Nic Wass, Creative Associate at Fifth Word, which will be led by each writer’s needs and wishes. For example, you might want to discuss a specific piece of writing, questions about your career, the theatre industry, or other opportunities or companies that might interest you. Every writer who applies will receive a response by Wednesday 30 October 2024.

Names and information about the guest speakers will be added here soon. We will accommodate requests from the group as far as possible so that the guest sessions can respond to their interests and needs.

Individual feedback will not be offered. Unfortunately, Fifth Word does not have the capacity to do this but every writer who applies will receive a clear response on whether they have a place on the group by Wednesday 30 October 2024. With your consent, Fifth Word will keep in contact with you by email about future opportunities, productions and news. You can sign up to the mailing list when you apply for the playwrights group, or by visiting the contact us page on our website.

Fifth Word Playwrights is designed to support writers in or with a strong connection to the East Midlands. We do not want to restrict eligible applicants to postcodes, as we recognise that being from a place can be more complicated. When we ask this question, we want to understand your connection to the East Midlands. This may be because you grew up here, because you lived here, or other reasons. Fifth Word wants to be inclusive of your relationship to the East Midlands, so please do tell us about it in your own words.

Yes, all venues are fully accessible.

If you have any need for this information in a different format or need any access support in applying, please contact us and we’ll do our best to help.

Fifth Word is offering bursaries for travel expenses / access requirements if needed. This will be individually arranged at the point of offering a place, and if you have any questions about this, please contact us via email.

Each writer can only apply with one script each year. Writers are welcome to reapply in future years.

Yes. Please submit a single application, together. Please do contact us if an alternative format is needed.

Yes. Please be aware that you are applying to focus on your writing skills. Please also be aware that other directors or actor/s may perform your work when it is shared.

No, you are welcome to submit to Fifth Word too.

To keep Fifth Word as representative as possible, we collect some information about everyone who undertakes activity with us and everyone who applies for our opportunities. Whatever you tell us will be confidential and all data will be securely kept and anonymised. This personal data will not be shared with third parties. You have the right to request access to your personal data at any time and can ask to be removed from the database. Any answers given in the equal opportunities form will not be used to make a decision about places on Fifth Word Playwrights.

Fifth Word asks writers to commit to attending at least 8 of the workshops (see dates list above). We understand that you will be juggling other commitments and life events. With limited places available, we have to ensure that everyone who receives a place has sufficient availability to engage fully with the Group. If you know you would have to miss more than two sessions then you won’t be eligible this time, but please do apply again in a future year.

All of the plays will be directed by one of two directors, and performed by a diverse company of actors who will work across all the plays. Writers will be expected to attend rehearsals to collaborate in script discussions and the rehearsal process.

Fifth Word offers regular opportunities including free workshops, collaborative projects, short commissions and full-length theatre productions. To find out more about our work please click here. We can’t guarantee to produce any of the plays that come out of the group, as we have projects that are already awaiting production, but Fifth Word is actively looking to produce more work by East Midlands writers, in a wider range of formats and locations. We will keep in touch with the group about future opportunities including commission callouts, workshops, productions and projects. Writers will also be encouraged to develop relationships with the project partners through guest sessions, ticket offers, and other opportunities that will be shared with Fifth Word from Derby Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Writing East Midlands and In Good Company. Please click on Fifth Word’s artist support page for more opportunities.

Fifth Word is a non for profit organsiation with chartiable aims and is currently registering as a charity through The Charity Commission. All of our work is made possible through the generosity of donations, sponsorships and funding partners. If you’d like to support our mission to ensure that anyone’s story can be told and heard, please contact us.

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