Mercury Theatre Colchester And Weinberger Present New Writing Competition

The Mercury Theatre Colchester has announced that they are joining forces once again with Weinberger publishing house to present the brand new 'Mercury Monologues in association with Josef Weinberger Ltd', as part of their 'Mercury Online' digital season. Following their successful partnership on the inaugural 2018 Mercury Weinberger Playwriting Prize, the companies seek to discover a new cohort of talent by engaging with aspiring writers and creatives during these uncertain times.

Launching today (Tue 31 Mar), Mercury Monologues in association with Josef Weinberger Ltd will see hopefuls submit a short monologue, lasting no longer than 4 minutes, each week. Submissions will be judged by a panel of professionals as selected by the Mercury and Josef Weinberger. Each week a new winner will be announced, earning themselves a £100 prize, and the chance to have their monologue read and streamed to the Mercury's social media channels and website, by a professional, paid actor. The deadline to submit the first monologue, which will be on the theme of "Temptation", is Sun 5 Apr. The first winning work will then be streamed the following Wednesday.

Ryan McBryde, Mercury Creative Director, stated today, "As we enter our second week of lockdown, we want to encourage the wealth of writing talent across our region to keep crafting, keep creating. So we're overjoyed to be continuing our collaboration with Josef Weinberger Ltd and launching Mercury Monologues, a weekly writing competition that supports solo voices with original perspectives. We can't wait to start reading the submissions and selecting the winners."

James Cawood, Head of Plays at Josef Weinberger, said today, ''Josef Weinberger has always been a proud home to the work of some of the finest playwrights of the last century. We are honoured to look after the stage rights of Bergman, Miller, Steinbeck and many others whose work entertains, engages and inspires theatre goers and practitioners across the globe. Whilst our history is a vital part of our identity we also look to the future and have over the years unearthed many exciting new voices. I want Josef Weinberger to be a name synonymous with new writing, a home where new writers are supported and developed and where their careers can flourish.

We are delighted to once again partner with The Mercury Theatre, Colchester having successfully joined forces on the Mercury Weinberger Playwriting Prize which unearthed some exceptional new talent. This time we are joining forces during a time of great uncertainty for the entire country and one which will be keenly felt by the performing arts and creative industries. Josef Weinberger is committed to making sure that as theatres fall dark, creativity can and will continue to shine. Mercury Monologues in association with Josef Weinberger, offers us the chance to engage artists in the new world we find ourselves in, creating original work and discovering authentic voices to communicate our shared experience whilst capturing individual responses."

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