RSC ISSUES OPEN CALL FOR PLAYWRIGHTS TO JOIN INAUGURAL COHORT PROGRAMME
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The RSC have today announced that applications are now open for its newly launched COHORT programme; an artist-led playwrighting programme offering six of the UK’s most exciting playwrights the opportunity to have their work commissioned by the company as part of a nine-month programme of peer-to-peer support, in-person residencies and creative masterclasses.
Created by RSC Writers in Residence Zoe Cooper and Stewart Pringle and inspired by Sir Peter Hall’s founding vision of a ‘company’ of actors who share life and the experience of Stratford-upon-Avon with one another as they work, COHORT brings together six writers engaged in the distinct but shared endeavour of writing a new play for the RSC’s stages in a mutually supportive, non-competitive creative environment.
Across a series of five-day residences in Stratford-upon-Avon, the six writers will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in RSC theatre-making practice. During residencies, COHORT members will be invited to meet and develop relationships with artists from across the RSC and to participate in a range of masterclasses and creative encounters to help expand and enrich their research, planning and writing process.
In addition to five writers invited to join the first RSC COHORT, the company is also seeking a sixth writer via open application.
RSC Writers in Residence Zoe Cooper and Stewart Pringle said: “From the early days of the Company, Stratford-upon-Avon has been a place where artists of all stripes can take risks, create bold new work, grow together and collaboratively in an environment that fosters innovation.
Writing a play for a theatre can be a lonely thing to do in the early stages. One of the great benefits of being joint Writers in Residence at the RSC has been working so closely with one another to share best practice, ask questions and offer invaluable peer-to-peer support. We wanted to find a way to expand that out to a wider pool of writers.
The six members of our Cohort will all be writing for the RSC for the first time (just like we are). We hope that by creating links between playwrights, as well as other creatives and professionals in the company, we can help to foster a collective body of work that is responsive, creative and confident, and which is alive to the possibilities of the future lives of plays, as they are being written, whilst also making the experience of our writers richer, more collegiate and more rewarding in the process.”
RSC Co-Artistic Directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey said:
“As Co-Artistic Directors of the new RSC, one of our guiding principles is to place artists at the heart of everything we do. This exciting new initiative from RSC Writers in Residence Zoe Cooper and Stewart Pringle is the result of many months of conversations with playwrights and has been developed in direct response to their feedback.
By creating a resident ‘ensemble’ of writers operating from Stratford-upon-Avon, we hope professional playwrights of all backgrounds will feel inspired by the unique storytelling potential of our stages and come away equipped with the tools, relationships and practical, working knowledge to help them scale up their ambitions, and make that next vital step on their commissioning journey.”
Applicants should be available to attend a minimum of three paid residencies at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon between October 2025 and June 2026 and should have prior experience of the theatre commissioning process for full length works. The programme is seeking experienced writers with a proven track record. Applicants should have received and delivered at least one full-length commission, with runs lasting three or more weeks at a professional producing theatre within the UK.
Applications are open to working playwrights of any background. The RSC is particularly interested in finding voices that are currently under-represented on our larger stages and in the wider industry, including Black, Global Majority, D/deaf & disabled writers.
All applications will be assessed by the RSC’s Writers in Residence Zoe Cooper and Stewart Pringle, alongside members of the New Works department and a diverse pool of freelance readers.
How to apply:
Interested applicants are invited to submit a copy of their CV detailing their writing experience to date (two pages maximum) alongside a one-page covering letter outlining their suitability for this role and a sample of their work in the form of a full-length play for the stage (of no less than 50 minutes, produced or unproduced) via www.rsc.org.uk/cohort
Full details of the chosen playwrights will be announced in October this year.
ENDS
For further enquiries, please contact: Kate Evans 07920 244 434, kate.evans@rsc.org.uk
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NOTES TO EDITORS
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC is generously supported by RSC America
New Work at the RSC is generously supported by Hawthornden Foundation and The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s mission is to bring people together to experience stories that deepen our understanding of ourselves, each other and the world around us, and that bring joy. Shakespeare’s restless exploration of all of human nature is our inspiration and touchstone.
The Company’s roots lie in the bold vision of a local brewer, Edward Fordham Flower, who in 1879 established a theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon with his son Charles. The RSC as we know it today was formed by Sir Peter Hall, whose ambition was to produce new plays alongside those of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. We continue this today across our three permanent theatres in Stratford – the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Swan Theatre and The Other Place – and indeed online and around the globe. We believe everybody’s life can be enriched by culture and creativity. Our transformative Creative Learning and Engagement programmes reach over half a million young people and adults each year. We have collaborated with generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future.
Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk
