Budding playwrights in Hull are invited to apply for the Middle Child Writers’ Group, which returns in January.
The free introduction to playwriting course includes five weekly workshops, designed to help people find their voice and start writing their first-ever script.
These scenes will then be brought to life by professional actors, in a rehearsed reading at next Fresh Ink: Hull Playwriting Festival 2025.
The group is led by Tom Wells, a local playwright whose work has been performed in theatres across the country.
Tom said: “It’s properly exciting to be running the Middle Child Writers’ Group again.
“Every year we find ace new writers full of characters, stories, warmth and humour and give them the tools to start turning those things into plays.
“I’m sure this year we’ll get another brilliant gang.”
Hannah Scorer took part in 2019 and has since gone onto receive paid commissions for Hull Truck Theatre: Digital Shorts and Fresh Ink: Hull Playwriting Festival 2024.
Hannah said: “I’ve gone from scraping together the confidence to apply for the Middle Child Writers’ Group to having work commissioned with them for the first time.
“A single parent in my 30s, I really thought I’d missed any kind of boat with writing and I wasn’t sure I had any ideas – or knew how to write them if I did.
“It’s not an overstatement to say that the entire experience, from the first group session to now, has been transformative for me.”
Chris Pearson also took part in the Writers’ Group and in 2023, now retired, wrote a play called Cuckoo for Middle Child and Silent Uproar’s Out Loud programme.
Chris said: “I went from joining Tom Wells with a few ideas, to a scratch showing at Out Loud and now have work that has a real chance of making the stage in 2025.
“So if you’re still weighing it up, my advice is to just go for it.”
Applicants don’t need to have written anything before or come from a theatre background.
Tom added: “All you need is a few good stories to tell – funny stories, sad stories, tough stories, tender stories – stories we’re eager to see on Hull stages.
“Whether you’re burning to put something on stage, or just curious to see whether you can write a play, we’d love to hear from you.”
Applications are now open to anybody aged 18 and above, living in a HU postcode. They close at midday on Tuesday 26 November.
Full details about the Writers’ Group and how to apply are on the Middle Child website: www.middlechildtheatre.co.uk/writers-group