Boundless Theatre Selects Four Artists for Accelerator Programme

Boundless Theatre has announced the four artists selected for the next iteration of its yearlong Accelerator artist development programme, created in response to the shrinking landscape of opportunity for theatre and performance makers in the UK to experiment, develop and test new work. Emily Faye Baldwin, Isaiah James-Mitchell, Néa Ishana Ranganathan and Sam Smith will be supported to develop new performance works in response to a creative brief written by the Boundless young Advisory Group, titled Rage, Revolution, Grief, Love.

Previous editions of Boundless Accelerator have supported early-stage development of works such as For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy by Ryan Calais Cameron and Eat the Rich (but maybe not me mates X) by Jade Franks, along with artists such as Bruntwood Prize-nominated Yasmine Dankwah.

The four projects ask what happens when the future becomes uncertain, impossible or radically different; what we hold on to, and how we find new ways to live, connect and imagine what comes next. From bodies shaped by the systems around us, to alternative maps of London and artists trying to create and love in the shadow of an apocalypse, each project explores transformation, unknowing and the possibility of building something different.

Actor, writer and movement artist Emily Faye Baldwin who recently graduated from Trinity Laban, is developing a dance-play inspired by her own experience of ballet training, exploring femininity, teenage culture, pleasure and shame in the Ozempic era.

An alum of Emma Rice's School for Wise Children, actor-writer Isaiah James-Mitchell is developing Requiem for a Failed Minstrel, a one-man black comedy about a professional cellist who, on the brink of a life changing orchestral opportunity, is forced to reconsider his future by a sudden onset disability.

Durational live artist, transmasc Tamil archivist and anti-imperialist organiser Néa Ishana Ranganathan is creating A London Hour, an imagined oral history and auto-performance of a lost tube line which stretches across a liberated South London.

Award-winning queer and trans* writer, director and dance-artist Sam Smith who is also the Founder of Mad Jacks Theatre, is developing BIG SKY!, a play with dance and music about young artists navigating love, art, grief and political uncertainty against an on-crushing apocalypse.

Accelerator supports early-career performance makers from underrepresented backgrounds, with a particular focus on Global Majority, migrant, trans and disabled artists, from or living in Croydon and South London.

Throughout the programme, the artists will receive financial support to the sum of £4,800, a collaborative residency, mentoring and creative development time, alongside a culminating showcase at New Diorama Theatre.

Pavlos Christodoulou, Creative Director & Co-CEO of Boundless comments: 'The Boundless Manifesto invites us to care more, to dream and be curious. These values were embedded in this year's Accelerator, within the call out, the selection and the design of the programme itself. I'm most excited by our residency this month, which will resource the artists to have time to focus on creative practice. Residencies have increasingly become a part of our programme and feel vital in a time where artists have so little space to dream, build community and take risks. Like the work the artists are developing, we are keen to respond to the moment, and our antidote to the times we are living in is to create the space to play, fail and care for artists, young people and ultimately everyone we work with.'

Boundless Accelerator 26-26 is supported by the Idlewild Trust and Cockayne Foundation, along with Arts Council England through National Portfolio Organisation funding.

Now celebrating their 25th year, Boundless Theatre makes space for young people to create, connect, and lead. Rooted in Croydon, they support young creatives across the UK, working with 15-25-year-olds, co-creating projects that put young voices in charge. Their flagship programme, Accelerator, provides money, space and time for early-career young creatives to make new work, and previously supported the early-stage development of For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy and Eat the Rich (but maybe not me mates X). Boundless' other programmes include the bcc, which provides access to creative resources, masterclasses, show trips and mentoring; YoCo, their theatre making programme for 16-21-year-olds in collaboration with Zoo Co; Summer pop-up events at the Southbank Centre; and a recent UK tour of Blue Mist by Mohamed-Zain Dada, in association with Tamasha. Boundless is currently a member the Community of Practice for Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Kinship, which is exploring the skills, experiences, and relationships that young people want and need to help them build a more hopeful future together.

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