The Woven Voices Prize For Playwriting In Association With The Gate Announces 2025 Winners

The Gate Theatre and Woven Voices have announced José Socrates Delos Reyes as the 2025 winner of the Woven Voices Prize for Playwriting for his new work In the Remains, an epic and deeply human drama exploring the aftermath of the 2017 Siege of Marawi in the Philippines.

Through the intertwined stories of militants, soldiers, and refugees — all victims, all yearning for home — In the Remains asks what survival looks like when both a city and its people must rebuild from destruction.

The first runner-up is Where the Shadow of Her Magnolia Falls by J Min Wang, with All the Beasts of the Earth by Christopher Adams-Cohen and A Burst of Light by Soria Hamidi both receiving commendations.

Now in its third year, the Woven Voices Prize celebrates and champions migrant playwrights, providing meaningful pathways for their work to be read, developed, and shared. The winning playwright receives a £3,500 commission and a bespoke R&D process for their script. The first runner-up receives £750, and along with the commended writers, will be invited to create a filmed reading of their work.

The 2025 judging panel was chaired by Tanika Gupta MBE, joined by Aaron Kilercioglu, Joel Tan, Natasha Kathi-Chandra, Sara Amini, and Zachary Fall — leading voices from across theatre, literature, and the arts.

“All of the shortlisted plays showed bold voice, theatrical ambition, and urgency of storytelling, but the panel was unanimous in awarding the prize to In the Remains,” said Tanika Gupta MBE. “José’s play confronts the horrors of war with lyrical precision and devastating honesty. In a world where conflict displaces millions and migrant voices are silenced, this script refuses to look away.”

José Socrates Delos Reyes is a London-based Filipino playwright, screenwriter, and theatre-maker. A member of Papatango’s Studio writers’ group, his work explores displacement, colonial legacy, and the spaces where history and personal memory intersect.

“It’s an honour to receive the Woven Voices Prize,” said Delos Reyes. “I’ve seen Filipinos on stage, but rarely Filipino stories. To see this play recognised is validating — both as an artist and as a Filipino. Treasure the connections we have and our communities, because that’s how we fight against a harsh world.”

The 2025 shortlist included:

A Burst of Light – Soria Hamidi
All the Beasts of the Earth – Christopher Adams-Cohen
Anatolia – Rosie Hilal
Danzig – Sofia Reggiani
debt – Carla Grauls
In Their Image – Jimin Suh
In the Remains – José Socrates Delos Reyes
Where the Shadow of Her Magnolia Falls – J Min Wang

Full details on the longlist, shortlisted writers, and past winners are available at gatetheatre.co.uk and wovenvoices.co.uk.