Recipients Of The Third Year Of MGCfutures Bursaries Announced

Michael Grandage today announces the recipients of the third annual MGCfutures Bursaries awarded across a range of theatrical disciplines including directing, writing, producing, designing, composing, choreography and performance makers. Offering both financial and ongoing mentoring support from the MGCfutures team, the recipients come from across the UK.

The recipients of this year's bursaries are NG Choon Ping - Director, Maria Crocker- Director, Amy Draper - Director, Afsaneh Gray - Writer, Sue Healy - Writer, Tom Hughes - Director, Quang Kien Van - Choreographer, Rachel Mars - Theatre-Maker, Kay Michael - Theatre-Maker, David Ridley for Bucket Club - Composer, Vikki Stone - Composer, Hannah Sullivan - Theatre-Maker, Hannah Tookey - Producer, Tom Wentworth - Writer and Abi Zakarian - Writer.

This year, for the first time, the company has partnered with The Gate Theatre to offer a £2500 bursary for a BAME designer to work as design assistant on a show in the Gate's new season - the recipient of which is Sandra Falase. As well as working full time on a show at the Gate, Sandra will receive mentoring and support from the Gate's Associate Director, Anthony Simpson-Pike and their Associate Artist Rosie Elnile. She will also receive support through a career clinic workshop and help in making connections with other designers whose work she admires. Finally, she will become a Gate Theatre Alumni Artist after the project, with access to all of the ensuing support that brings, as well as further mentorship from MGCfutures.

Artistic Director Michael Grandage said today, "MGCfutures is at the core of everything we do as a company - as a director who has been fortunate to forge a career over many years, I feel it essential to support and help bring forward the theatre makers of tomorrow. It's heartening to see the bursaries grow each year, and we're beginning to see their impact in the careers of previous recipients.

"This year's recipients are an extraordinarily talented group of people, with ambitious and varied projects which we are delighted to be able to support. The reach of the bursaries continues to broaden, with composers receiving awards for the first time. We welcome this continued increase of skill sets, and hope next year as we continue to expand, to see more applicants from technical fields within the industry.

"We are thrilled this year to partner with The Gate Theatre in awarding a bursary to Sandra Falase who will not only have the chance to work as a Design Assistant on a production in their theatre's new season, but will also benefit from invaluable mentorship from both companies."

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.

QUOTES FROM BURSARY RECIPIENTS:

Amy Draper: "I am thrilled to be a recipient of an MGCfutures Bursary to develop a new project in Bristol. The bursary will enable me to do a week of R&D on an adaptation of a beautiful children's book and start to make work in the South-West, where I have moved quite recently. The recognition is very validating and I'm excited to get started!"

Sandra Falase: "I'm relishing the opportunity of being awarded the MGCfutures bursary in conjunction with The Gate Theatre. Working as Assistant Designer at the Gate has encouraged me to cultivate, interrogate and redefine the ways in which I can evolve as an artist, translating my artistic style into the physicality of spaces. I have been provided with access to resources, a breadth of knowledge and insight."

Quang Kien Van: "I am absolutely thrilled to be awarded an MGCfutures Bursary, giving me the opportunity and means to dedicate time, energy and resources to developing a long gestating seed idea. I'm super excited that this much sought after artistic enquiry has been made possible through the support and generosity of MGCfutures, and looking forward to working with collaborators to bring the ideas alive."

Rachel Mars: "I'm delighted to be a recipient of an MGCfutures Bursary. It allows me to spend a week at the Royal Exchange Theatre Studio experimenting with cross-genre collaborators for my new project FORGE. I'm just at a moment in my artistic career when I want to be taking bigger risks, asking difficult questions and seeking out new audiences. The Bursary is brilliant as it is supporting me as a mid-career artist who is at a crossroads in my practice."

Tom Wentworth: "I'm so excited to be a recipient of an MGCfutures Bursary which will provide me with those most invaluable commodities of all - time and space. I will be able to spend a week working with terrific collaborators on my new play BULLY. The Bursary will help me to make work which can be accessed by all, as much of the time will be spent exploring how access tools such as BSL and captioning can be incorporated into the very heart of the piece. This is a fantastic opportunity to take myself from passive playwright to active theatre maker in the rehearsal room."

Abi Zakarian: "I'm so unbelievably thrilled to be awarded an MGCfutures bursary - not only will it enable me to fund a trip to Armenia to research and write my play: Mountain Warfare, about the 1915 Armenian genocide, it also means I get to be supported by a brilliant team of people who are excited by my work, are there to support and mentor me, and are clearly invested in my future as a writer. It's an incredible opportunity!"