Orange Tree Writers' Collective Cohort Announced by Orange Tree Theatre

Orange Tree Theatre (OT) announced their Orange Tree Writers’ Collective cohort for 2025-2026 - Hassan Abdulrazzak, Azan Ahmed, Martha Watson Allpress, Catherine Dyson, Lucy Phelps, and Ben Weatherill.

For over a decade, the Orange Tree Writers’ Collective has brought together a group of playwrights to spend a year at the OT to share practice, develop new ideas, and become engaged in the work of their theatre throughout the year.

The programme supports mid-career playwrights who have progressed beyond the early stages of their careers and are looking to take the next step. It offers professional development and a peer support network to help writers at a similar stage grow, connect, and thrive.

Selected participants receive monthly masterclasses with industry professionals, dramaturgical support for developing new work, and access to the Orange Tree's facilities including desk space, a large reference collection of published play texts, and complimentary tickets. The programme also includes a £1,000 tax-free bursary and culminates in a showcase of participants' work in the main auditorium for industry guests and the public.

For the first time, the cohort also includes a translator, Lucy Phelps, whose place in the Writers’ Collective is in association with the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT).

Previous members of the OT Writers’ Collective have gone on to be commissioned and produced by a wide range of companies. Alums include Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Crucible Theatre, National Theatre, Gillian Lynne Theatre), Anne Odeke (Princess Essex, Shakespeare’s Globe), Eve Leigh (Midnight Movie, Royal Court) and Joe White (Mayfly, Orange Tree Theatre).  

This year, the programme is led by Literary Associate, William Gregory, and Carne Associate Director, Georgia Green, who said today, “This year, we are very excited to be working with five extraordinary playwrights — and for the first time, a translator — as part of the cohort. Over the coming year, they will develop their writing through a rich programme of masterclasses, talks from leading industry experts, and ongoing dramaturgical support from William and myself. The Writers’ Collective is at the heart of what we do, and we can’t wait to have them in the building this year and see what they create.”

Hassan Abdulrazzak is of Iraqi origin, born in Prague and living in London. His credits as a playwright include The Special Relationship (Soho Theatre), And Here I Am (Arcola Theatre, international tour), Love, Bombs and Apples (Arcola Theatre, UK tour, Kennedy Center), The Prophet (Gate Theatre), and Baghdad Wedding (Soho Theatre, BBC Radio 3, Belvoir St Theatre). He is the recipient of the George Devine Award, the Meyer-Whitworth Award, and the Pearson Theatre Award, as well as the Arab British Centre Award for Culture. The script of his short film A Night of Gharam won the Unsolicited Scripts Short Film Grant 2022.

Azan Ahmed is an actor, poet, and playwright. His credits as a playwright include Statues (Bush Theatre) as well as Daytime Deewane (Half Moon Theare, UK Tour) which won the 2023 Off-West End award for Best Writing.

Martha Watson Allpress is a playwright and screenwriter from the East Midlands, currently under commission to Nottingham Playhouse. For stage, her credits include Lady Dealer (Bush Theatre, Paines Plough Roundabout), Disco Inferno (National Youth Theatre), Kick (Lyric Hammersmith) and Patricia Gets Ready (Brixton House, National Tour). She was announced as the winner for the 2023 Ambassador Theatre Groups Playwrights Prize for her script, Ask Her If She Still Keeps All Her Kings in the Back Row. As a screenwriter she has work in development with Red Planet Pictures, Various Artists Ltd and LA Productions; with the latter, her first television project will broadcast later this year. 

Catherine Dyson’s writing credits include The Luminous, On Track, Thunder Road (RedCape Theatre, UK tour), Peter Pan (Sherman Theatre), Bitcoin Boi (Riverfront Theatre), Believers (South Street Arts Centre), and Transporter (Theatr Iolo, UK and Kolkata tour). Her play The Last Picture was selected as one of the RSC’s 37 Plays and will be produced by York Theatre Royal, English Touring Theatre and An Tobar and Mull Theatre in 2026. Currently on a writing attachment at The National Theatre, she also won second prize in the Arch 468 Hope Playwriting Prize for I Will Still Be Dreaming. In addition, she was shortlisted and specially commended in the Wales Writer in Residence Award, and longlisted for the Funny Women Writing Award. Her audio credits include The Egg Man (BBC Radio 4) and Mansfield Park (Audible).

Lucy Phelps is a translator in association with the BCLT, and actress. As a translator, her credits include The Pulverised (Arcola Theatre), Point of No Return (Avignon Festival, La Colline Théâtre National), State of Vegetation (co-translate with Camila Ymay González, Out of the Wings Festival), The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing (Nour Festival), and The Royal Court Theatre’s International Residency for Emerging Playwrights projects. She is an alumni of the British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School.

Ben Weatherill is a writer from the East Midlands. His writing credits include Frank and Percy (Theatre Royal Windsor, Theatre Royal Bath, The Other Palace - which was nominated for a Sky Arts Award in the Times Breakthrough Artist category). Other credits include Jellyfish (National Theatre, Bush Theatre), As Waters Rise (Almeida Theatre) andChicken Dust (Finborough Theatre).