Shortlisted Candidates For ETPEP Award 2021 Announced

The ETPEP Award has announced its three final shortlist candidates for the 2021 Award. They are Nicole Joseph, Wela Mbusi and Nina Millns.

The ETPEP Award is a playwriting prize for new UK playwrights who work or have worked in the theatre industry, run by the Finborough Theatre in association with the Experienced Theatre Practitioners Early Playwriting Trust (ETPEP).

The ETPEP Award is open to UK residents of any age who have not had a play professionally produced, and who have worked front of house, in administrative roles, on stage, backstage, lighting, design etc. or in a creative capacity in theatre for at least two years, either now or in the past. The award is intended to target and encourage those who are currently working in theatre but who are new to playwriting.

Judged completely anonymously until the final shortlist and interview stage, the overall winner will be announced soon.

The winner will receive a prize of £6,000, a development relationship with the Finborough Theatre including one-to-one dramaturgy with Finborough Theatre Artistic Director and playwright Neil McPherson; a rehearsal workshop with actors and a director to develop the play; and a staged reading performance of the winning play either at the Finborough Theatre, London, pandemic permitting, or online; and publication by Salamander Street, independent publisher of theatre, performance and live art. There will be ten runner-up prizes of £300 each.

The three finalists are:

NICOLE JOSEPH
Nicole Joseph is a writer and theatre-maker from West Yorkshire. She loves connecting and caring for communities and her writing spans diverse genres/themes through this broad purpose. Nicole aims to contribute to positive and truthful representation for those who are under and mis-represented, bring beauty, joy, warmth, humour and atmosphere to audiences and connect them through her stories. Her debut play, Blessed Spirits, has been listed by The Royal Court Theatre (2020 and 2021), shortlisted by Sphinx Theatre (2020), shortlisted by the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, reached the BBC WritersRoom Alfred Bradley Bursary Award longlist and was selected from Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester's anonymous script window, following which Nicole earned a place on their The Hustle writers group (2021). Nicole has had commissions with Cast, Graeae, Tamasha Theatre and Leeds Playhouse.
https://storiesbynicole.co.uk

WELA MBUSI
Wela is an award winning actor and writer.
He trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has consistently worked at venues such as The National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in the RSC's Histories where he played Prince Edward/Dorset and the boy in Henry V for which he won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Acting Company.
As a writer he was Long listed for the Alfred Fagan Award in 2020 for A Far Cry From Home and is currently commissioned by Home Manchester Theatre to develop a series of works for their forthcoming 2021 season.
He is also currently developing a new screen play called Take Me Home and various other pieces of work for theatre and television in development.

NINA MILLNS
Nina is a writer and script editor who studied English Literature at Sheffield University and Acting at East 15. She studied improvisation with the Free Association, Showstoppers and Monkey Toast and trained in Clown with the infamous Phillippe Gaulier. She is a member of the Criterion New Writers and the School of Hightide, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Sphinx30 program, a writers' development programme for female playwrights.
Nina's play Delete was longlisted for the PapaTango Award and featured on BBC Radio 4. Her second script Service was placed in the top 2% of BBC Scriptroom Drama submissions. Recent commissions include writing the BBC Sounds series Mortem which was honoured at the Webby Awards, and Doctor Who for Big Finish Productions.
As an activist, Nina was celebrated by the Huffington Post on International Women's Day for her involvement in the UK #MeToo movement. She has consulted on Equity Union's report on sexual harassment in the industry, attended the House of Commons and works with On Road Media, a charity supporting activists engaging with the media.
Nina is a proud Londoner of mixed heritage who speaks four languages. She comes from a musical family and was named after Nina Simone. She also works with young people as a tutor and mentor and is passionate about helping them fulfil their potential.

The ETPEP Award 2022 has also been announced and will be open for entries from 8 November 2021 - 30 April 2022.

The prizes have been increased from the 2021 competition, and the 2022 winner will receive a prize of £8000, a development relationship with the Finborough Theatre including one-to-one dramaturgy with Finborough Theatre Artistic Director and playwright Neil McPherson; a rehearsal workshop with actors and a director to develop the play; and a staged reading performance of the winning play either at the Finborough Theatre, London, or online; and publication by Salamander Street, independent publisher of theatre, performance and live art. There will be ten runner-up prizes of £400 each.

The judges for both the 2021 and the 2022 Award will include Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre and playwright Neil McPherson; Literary Manager of the Finborough Theatre and playwright Sue Healy; producer Ameena Hamid; actor, playwright and activist Athena Stevens; and Clive Webster of the Experienced Theatre Practitioners Early Playwriting Trust, which founded the award.

For full details on entry for the 2022 competition, please visit https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/etpep-award-2022/

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