The Bush Theatre today announced that it is the recipient of a major grant from the Jerwood Developing Artists Fund to support their new programme, ‘Staged by Jerwood’.
The two-year programme will enable the commissioning of four plays by the Bush’s Emerging Writers Group along with assisting with production costs.
The first production to benefit from the funding will be Kit Withington’s As We Face The Sun which will be presented by the Bush Theatre’s Young Company from 22 August. It will be directed by the Bush Theatre’s Artistic Director Lynette Linton and Young Company Director Katie Greenall. This year’s second play will be announced later in the summer.
‘Work with the Community along with talent development are central to everything we do at the Bush Theatre’, says Artistic Director Lynette Linton. ‘and it is important that this work is braided together with what we present on the Bush’s main stage. We are delighted that the first play supported by Jerwood Arts will see talent development with our community viewed and resourced in the same way as all our main stage work.’
Lilli Geissendorfer, Director of Jerwood Arts said ‘The opportunity to support the Bush Theatre’s exceptional playwriting programmes – which have gone from strength to strength under Lynette’s artistic leadership – is very exciting. We look forward to seeing what the additional resource will enable, not only in the productions but also behind the scenes in the literary team’s hard work to discover and nurture new voices for the stage.’
