RTST and Sheffield Theatres Announce Shortlist for RTST Director Award 2016

The Royal Theatrical Support Trust (RTST) and Sheffield Theatres are delighted to announce the shortlist for the RTST Director Award 2016.

The new RTST Director Award Scheme offers the chance for an emerging director to create and direct a fully-funded production of a play by an internationally renowned dramatist at a selected regional theatre. The inaugural Scheme is being run by the RTST in collaboration with Sheffield Theatres. The emerging director who wins the RTST Director Award 2016 will be given the exciting opportunity to direct a play at the Crucible Studio Theatre as part of Sheffield Theatres' 2017 spring season.

After a successful national call-out for entries for the 2016 Award, an official short-list of seven candidates has now been chosen by the prestigious Selection Panel.

The shortlisted director candidates are: Marieke Audsley, Rebecca Frecknall, Max Gill, Kate Hewitt, Sean Linnen, Jonathan O'Boyle and John Wilkinson.

The seven now go forward to the final stages of the Award selection process. They must demonstrate their directing skills in workshops with actors, which will take place in London over the weekend of 28/29 May. The Selection Panel will observe and judge each candidate's performances in these workshops, and select and interview finalists in order to determine the Award winner and an official runner-up. The winner will be announced shortly after the workshop weekend. There will be an Award ceremony in London later in the year.

The Selection Panel, chaired by Daniel Evans, the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres and Artistic Director-designate of Chichester Festival Theatre, comprises Sir Ian McKellen, Dawn Walton, Richard Wilson and Penelope Wilton.

The RTST Director Award Scheme was launched by the RTST in February 2016. It involves a collaboration between the RTST and a regional theatre, and a competitive process among eligible emerging directors to find a winner who will be given the opportunity to direct a play at that theatre. The 2016 Scheme is being run in collaboration with Sheffield Theatres. The candidates for the RTST Director Award 2016 were required, when entering, to submit in writing ideas for directing a play at Sheffield's Crucible Studio Theatre. The play could be any play of the candidate's choosing provided it is the work of an internationally renowned dramatist (living or dead), and in English, and it requires no more than eight actors. A long-list of candidates was selected from initial entries, and a short-list of candidates has now been chosen by the Selection Panel. Shortlisted candidates will now go forward to the final stage(s) of the selection process summarized above.

The winner will direct a play at the Crucible Studio Theatre. This will be a Sheffield Theatres production supported by a grant of £25,000 from the RTST to Sheffield Theatres, applied towards the costs of the production.

The RTST intends to run the Scheme annually, and to work with different regional theatres. For more information, visit the RTST website at rtst.org.uk/directoraward2016.

The RTST is a charity whose mission is to promote the public's knowledge, experience and appreciation of theatre and drama, and thereby play a part in securing the future of British theatre. The charity is supported by many of the leading names in British theatre.

The RTST aims to fulfil its mission by diverse means, including: supporting new and established theatre companies, including regional and repertory companies; supporting up-and-coming theatre practitioners; promoting the works of major internationally renowned dramatists; and encouraging theatre-going. Support is provided in the form of grants and in other forms including the RTST Director Award, profile-raising through some of the leading names associated with the RTST and awareness-building through its developing promotional channels. Visit www.rtst.org.uk.

The RTST is registered as a charity in England and Wales with registered number 254671. The RTST is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 921909. Registered office: First Floor, 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DH.

Sheffield Theatres is the largest producing theatre complex outside of London. Its track record for creating ambitious and exciting work on its three stages was recognised in 2013 and 2014 when Sheffield Theatres won the Regional Theatre of the Year Award for an unprecedented two consecutive years in the Stage Awards.

Across its three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Studio, the company produces and presents a diverse programme of work including the best of drama, dance, comedy, musicals, opera, ballet and children's theatre. Sheffield Theatres has attracted widespread national and international acclaim for its productions.

Following a £15m refurbishment in 2010, the Crucible re-opened with a revival of An Enemy of the People starring Sir Antony Sher. Since then, Sheffield Theatres has gone on to produce six of Shakespeare's greatest plays: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, Twelfth Night (in collaboration with English Touring Theatre) and Romeo & Juliet; four writer's seasons - celebrating the work of Sir David Hare (2011), Michael Frayn (2012), Brian Friel (2014) and Sarah Kane (2015), and major musical productions of Me & My Girl, Company, My Fair Lady, Lionel Bart's Oliver!, Anything Goes (in association with Stage Entertainment) and Show Boat. Its production of The Full Monty enjoyed a three week, sell-out run at the Lyceum in 2013 before touring the UK and then transferring into the West End. In the same year the Theatres also enjoyed international success with the transfer of Mike Bartlett's Bull to the 59E59 Theaters in New York as part of the Brits Off-Broadway Festival. In 2014, following a £1.93 million refurbishment of the Lyceum Theatre, the Theatres re-staged its award-winning production of This Is My Family, before taking it on a national tour.

Over the last decade, Sheffield Theatres is proud to have collaborated with a long line of eminent actors, including Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Antony Sher, Frances Barber, John Simm, Michelle Dockery, Dominic West, Clarke Peters, Siân Phillips, and Patricia Hodge. It has also provided a springboard for a host of emerging artists including James Norton, Carly Bawden, Patrick Walshe McBride, Lily James, Ashley Zhangazha, Freddie Fox and Morfydd Clark. Combining classic and contemporary programming with a bold and ambitious approach, Sheffield Theatres has firmly established itself as one of the country's leading theatres.

Find out more at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.