Holly Arsenault Wins Papatango New Writing Prize for CHAMBER

Papatango has announced Holly Arsenault's play Chamber as the winner of the 17th annual Papatango New Writing Prize. At an awards ceremony held this afternoon at Park Theatre - who with Papatango will co-produce Chamber on the Park200 stage next autumn - Arsenault won the coveted award from a record-breaking 1,913 scripts.

She receives an £8000 commission, with Chamber co-produced by Papatango and Park Theatre, and published by Nick Hern Books. Chamber will open on 1 November 2027, with previews from 28 October 2027, and runs until 27 November 2027.

In a first for the company, the Prize also includes the Papatango Prize Discovery and the Papatango Playwrights' Progress programme offered to the shortlisted writers. This doubles the number of productions and commissions and increases cash awards, majorly expanding the Prize's pathways for new talent.

Naomi Soneye-Thomas was awarded Papatango's Discovery prize with her play One More Tune. The first winner of this brand-new strand of the award, Soneye-Thomas receives an £8000 commission plus further development support by Papatango, with an intention of a production in due course.

Shortlisted writers entered into the brand-new Papatango Playwrights' Progress programme are Simon Jaggers with his play Avalon Land, Íde Simpson with her play We're Still Here and Jesse Weaver with his play Satellite. The shortlisted writers each receive £1500 plus a year-long Continuing Professional Development programme with workshops, mentoring, and dramaturgy led by Papatango's Co-CEOs, George Turvey and Chris Foxon.

George Turvey says, “We're proud the Prize is doing more than ever to support new playwrights at this critical moment, with the number of new plays produced dropping by 30% since 2019 (according to British Theatre Consortium).

“Holly, our winner, will premiere Chamber with Papatango in partnership with Park Theatre; her hilarious yet chilling play is a knockout. This will put another remarkable new talent on the kind of major platform needed for careers not merely to start but to be sustained.

“Naomi is exactly the kind of exciting, distinctive voice Papatango hoped to find through the new Prize Discovery strand, and we can't wait to develop and ultimately produce her play, a punchy, funky tale of community and gentrification. It marks an expansion of Papatango's commissioning pathways, and ensures that the Prize can support writers of all kinds and plays of all scales.

“Finally, by launching Papatango Playwrights' Progress, we can for the first time bring our three shortlisted writers together in a year-long writing group, to fund their practice and build lasting creative relationships. We received a record number of scripts this year, and the remaining 1,908 Prize entrants have all been offered personal feedback. We are determined the entire Prize acts as a playwriting accelerant for everyone.”

Artistic Director of Park Theatre, Jez Bond, says, "After our huge success co-producing the last Papatango Prize-winner Hannah Doran's The Meat Kings! (Inc.) Of Brooklyn Heights – which garnered critical acclaim, terrific audience feedback and won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2026 – we're thrilled to be partnering once again with Papatango, to bring yet another terrific new play to the stage. Chosen from almost two thousand submissions, and developed with Papatango's expert dramaturgical support, Chamber is a relevant and powerful new play about young people navigating today's burning world.”

PAPATANGO NEW WRITING PRIZE 2026 WINNER

CHAMBER

By Holly Arsenault

“Look, it's probably Story A. But we can't rule out the possibility that it's Story B…”

The Easton High School Chamber Orchestra's got to practice. ChamberFest is just three weeks out and Bambi's still messing up the fermata. Then something happens – or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just a drill. Either way, this bunch of kids trapped in a soundproof room can only wait. Cut off from the world, they imagine what's out there with the savage wit – and chilling nonchalance – of a generation raised on TikTok and extremism. Chamber invites you into a roomful of funny, frank teenagers facing a world which may or may not be about to explode.

Holly Arsenault was born in Montreal, raised in various parts of North America, and now lives with her husband, son, and two dogs in Edinburgh. She's had the good fortune of working with teenagers throughout her career, most notably as Executive Director of TeenTix, an organisation radically dedicated to empowering teen arts audiences. Holly's plays have been developed at Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, Annex Theatre, _andfriends Glasgow, Script Club Cardiff, and others. She holds a BA in Drama from the University of Washington. She expects to graduate with an MFA in Playwriting and Screenwriting programme from the University of St. Andrews in November. Holly is an alumna of the Seattle Rep Writers Group and a member of the Scottish Society of Playwrights.

PAPATANGO PRIZE DISCOVERY WINNER

ONE MORE TUNE

By Naomi Soneye-Thomas

Derek's place is legendary in the club scene. Epic nights, birthplace of stars, a buzzing culture – and it's all about to be knocked down for a luxury hotel. You're invited to one last party before the wrecking ball hits. Join Derek, his daughter and rising music star Chantelle, and the friends and fans who made this place special. But as the night plays out, secrets will be spilled and a family pulled apart. A pulsating, funny and furious story of gentrification, selling out, and getting down.

Naomi Soneye-Thomas is a writer and filmmaker from East London. Her short film, Oya, Dance! was winner of the Grey Moth Originals Competition, and screened at multiple BAFTA and Oscar qualifying film festivals (including Aesthetica and London Short Film Festival). She wrote and directed BFI Network funded short, Losing Pace. In 2022, she wrote an episode of Casualty after taking part in the Fresh Perspectives Scheme with BBC Studios. Her play, Flux, had a short run at Theatre503 in 2021. She is an alumna of Soho Theatre Writers' Lab, BBC Writersroom London Voices and a current member of BAFTA Connect.

PAPATANGO PLAYWRIGHTS' PROGRESS

AVALON LAND

By Simon Jaggers

Somewhere off the motorway, near Britain's deepest lake, is Avalon Land. A clapped-out theme park staffed by bored teenagers in cheap Arthurian costumes. Wes is planning an epic end-of-season party but needs to find his brother, who's gone AWOL again. Kat and Tara are up for the same job, but both dream of something beyond the park. And Ronnie's, well, Ronnie, a grown man who's never left, because he knows what the water holds. The castle is plastic. The legends are real.

Simon Jaggers is a playwright and dramaturg from London. His debut play, GUN TO YOUR HEAD, sold out at VAULT Festival, toured East Anglia with HighTide and is published by Playdead Press. His work has been shortlisted for the Edinburgh Untapped Award, Theatre503 International Playwriting Award and Charlie Hartill Award, as well as longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize. He is an alumnus of the London Library Emerging Writers Programme (21/22) and Hampstead Theatre's INSPIRE Programme (25/26). His most recent production, all vibes based sad youtube play, was produced by Rose Theatre, Kingston, with members of its Young Company.

WE'RE STILL HERE

By Íde Simpson

The land is parched, the people more so. Jessica returns after decades in exile to clear her dead mother's home in the wilting Bluestack Mountains. Eli, who never left, is burning with his own questions. Over the course of one long night, they rake over the embers of their past and face a future which has burned out. Or has it? An unsparing account of an entanglement rooted in grief and love, and a world which may or may not be saved.

Íde Simpson is a writer and actor from Belfast. She was named one of the Arts Council Ireland's '21 Artists for the 21st Century', and her play Cailíní (Lyric Theatre Belfast), written in her final year at Trinity College Dublin, was celebrated as one of the British Theatre Guide's 'top 10 Northern Irish shows of the year'. She holds an MFA in Playwriting with Distinction from The Lir Academy. She was a 2025 recipient of the INVEST Fellowship with TDNI as well as being one of the recipients of the 2026 ACORNS bursary from An Grianan Theatre. As an actor she most recently shot with Breathing Films for their short 'One Way Past'.

SATELLITE

By Jesse Weaver

1978, and Marsha is desperate to go to the school Christmas pageant as a deep-space satellite, whatever her mom – who's finally noticed the costume – has to say about it. 2019, and Marsha is frantically trying to make contact with ICT-3, as it passes overhead for the first time in decades. Only her kid half-sister Sandra's just rocked up with some story about their mom… Criss-crossing forty-one years and three generations of women, bound together however far apart they travel, Satellite is a poignant depiction of the ties of family.