Hackney Showroom has announced Why I Make, a new podcast series celebrating some of the artists who have helped shape the organisation over the past decade.
Hosted by Hackney Showroom Co-Artistic Director Sam Curtis Lindsay, the bi-weekly series launches with episodes featuring Travis Alabanza, Lucy McCormick and Sutara Gayle.
The podcast explores artists’ creative practices, their routes into the industry, sources of inspiration and the realities of making work today. Each full audio episode will be available across podcast platforms, while specially filmed excerpts will be released via YouTube and Instagram.
The films have been shot by Griff Lynch and directed by Sam Curtis Lindsay, with the episode featuring Sutara Gayle also including a special appearance from Azara Meghie as Young Sutara.
The announcement comes as Hackney Showroom prepares for a new phase in its history, following the launch of Hackney Showroom at The Lyric, a new partnership with Lyric Hammersmith that will provide a dedicated space for the company to develop and present new work.
The residency will open with NICE PAIR, a festival celebrating double acts, running from 8 to 20 March 2027. Applications are currently open for four creative partnerships to develop and present brand-new productions as part of the festival.
Sam Curtis Lindsay said: “For over a decade, Hackney Showroom has collaborated with some of the most exciting, inventive and fearless artists working in theatre today. Together, we’ve created award-winning shows that open up new possibilities for theatre. I’ve always been fascinated by what drives artists to make work: their early influences, the conditions that shaped them, what sustains them now, and what it really takes to bring something into existence. This podcast series gives us the opportunity to explore those questions and, in doing so, to pull back the curtain on the creative lives of the artists we work with.
“These are honest, insightful and brilliantly funny conversations that get to the heart of what it means to own the title of artist. I hope the series will be as entertaining for anyone curious about the creative process as it is inspiring for theatre-makers, both established artists and those just beginning to imagine making shows of their own”.
The first episodes of Why I Make are available now across podcast platforms, with further episodes set to follow.
More information can be found here.
