In line with the HighTide’s renewed dedication to becoming wholly writer-centred, Clare Slater announces the opening of the first script submission window since her appointment as Artistic Director. Script samples are invited from all levels of playwright – aspiring to established – who come from, or live in the East of England. Chosen playwrights will then join the new HighTide Writers Group, offering six playwrights from the East of England a paid year-long development programme facilitated by leading playwrights Juliet Gilkes Romero and Tim Price.

Clare Slater Artistic Director of HighTide said today, “The HighTide Writers Group is core to our new artistic mission: championing playwrights from our region. I warmly encourage writers from the East of England, from all backgrounds and all levels of experience (and no experience!) to apply. The Writers Group is an amazing chance to meet a cohort of other writers and learn from the friendly facilitators, Juliet and Tim – exceptional playwrights in their own rights. We’re eager to read your work and get to know you, so please get writing.”

Building on HighTide’s celebrated legacy as a new writing company, the HighTide Writers Group aims to support the company’s goals of nurturing and producing work from the pool of playwriting talent in the region, working in collaboration with local partners, to create a thriving community of playwrights in the east.

The script submission window opens on 11 September and closes on 23 October.

Full terms and conditions and details of how to apply at https://hightide.org.uk/playwrights/

The new HighTide Writers Group is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation.

Tim Price’s plays include For Once, Salt Root and Roe (Trafalgar Studios), Demos, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning (National Theatre Wales), I’m With the Band (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, St James Theatre), Protest Song (National Theatre) and The Internet Is Serious Business (Royal Court Theatre). He is associate playwright at the Traverse theatre and co-founder of Welsh new writing company Dirty Protest.

Juliet Gilkes Romero’s theatre credits include The Whip (Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre), The Gift, 15 Heroines: The Labyrinth (Jermyn Street Theatre), Day of the Living (The Other Palace), Uppercut (Southwark Playhouse), At the Gates of Gaze (Birmingham Repertory Theatre and UK tour), and Bilad Al-Sudan (Kiln Theatre). Her television credits include Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle. She is currently under commission with Neal Street Productions, Royal Shakespeare Company, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and Synergy Theatre.