New theatre company 45North, founded by award winning producer and director Jessica Rose McVay, has been launched to champion the work of emerging playwrights and theatre makers, and to present new writing to a variety of audiences. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before moving to the UK in 2016, company founder Jessica Rose McVay gives a nod to her hometown with ‘45North’ being the longitude coordinates of Minneapolis.
Having previously worked as assistant director on the Broadway show The Best Man, and having then gone on to produce a number of celebrated works over the past few years, in London and the Edinburgh festival including the 2019 critically Acclaimed Post Mortem and Leave a Message at Edinburgh 2019 McVay is now talking the opportunity to formalise her production company, appoint a number of staff, produce several London, Edinburgh and international shows in the coming 12 months and begin an immediate bursary scheme providing financial support to emerging artists
As vocal advocates of unheard and underrepresented work, 45North’s mission is to shift the spotlight onto creatives that put marginalised groups front and centre; starting with women. McVay is joined by Emily Carewe as Creative Producer for Theatre, with plans for a Creative Producer of Events to come on board mid-March 2020. The company is also committed to employing creative teams where women and/or trans and/or non-binary people make up at least 75% of the company.
45North already has plans in place for a series of productions with runs in London, tours across the UK, a season of four shows in Edinburgh, and shows in major Australian cities (more details of all shows below).
In addition, the company’s passion for supporting emerging creatives will be supported by the launch of two bursary schemes providing financial support to female, trans and non-binary emerging artists. details of how to apply can be found here
A short commission scheme, where artists will be given a day in 45North’s new studio in Hackney Downs to R&D new work, with the option for feedback from 45North and support in producing a public showing.
The second, more ambitious bursary will be open to playwrights, directors and divisors and will see creatives receive an initial grant of between £1000 – £1500 with 3-6 months access to the 45North studio and office space to create a first draft. They will also be given feedback and support from the team and if the resulting piece fits in with 45North’s core values, it will be commissioned and will receive further financial backing to a total of £5000 and a production produced by 45North.
McVay states: “45North was created with the primary goal of finding and promoting new work by theatre creatives who set out to tell stories that are all too often unheard – we want to advocate and amplify the amazing work that is out there when you step away from white-male dominated narratives. With the stage a prominent catalyst for social change, it’s more important than ever to put marginalised groups at the centre of creative work. I’m very excited to be embarking on this journey”.
