CREATIVES
VISION & MISSION | THE TEAM | SUPPORTERS | CREATIVES
ARDENT | ACTORS | DIRECTORS | WRITERS | PRODUCTION
DIANA NNEKA ATUONA
Writer
Diana Nneka Atuona is a British born, Nigerian writer from Peckham, South London. She studied International Politics at South Bank University and upon graduating, was awarded a scholarship from Gray’s Inn to study Law, though her first passion is has always has been to write for the stage and screen. She has been a member of the Royal Court’s Invitation Writing Group and was the Theatre Local officer for The Royal Court’s Theatre Local Project in 2011 and 2012. Her first play, Liberian Girl, placed top 25 in the Verity Bargate 2013 competition (Soho Theatre) and was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize 2013. In 2014, Liberian Girl was performed as a staged presentation at The Summit to End Sexual Violence and in January 2015, Liberian Girl received its full production at the Royal Court Theatre. She also took part in the Headlong writer’s group in 2014 and she is currently on commission at The Old Vic Theatre.
PRIMARY PURPOSE (Party Lines)
JOHN VAN DRUTEN
Writer
John Van Druten was born in London in 1901 to Dutch parents. He read Law at UCL and went on to practice as a solicitor before rising to prominence as a playwright in 1926. His first major success, Young Woodley (1925), was initially banned in London by the Lord Chamberlain's office for its controversial portrayal of a schoolboy falling in love with his headmaster's wife. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Young Woodley went on to have successful runs on Broadway and in the West End.
Van Druten became among the most prolific playwrights of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Thirteen of his plays had been produced before he wrote Flowers of the Forest in 1934. He emigrated to America shortly thereafter, becoming a naturalised citizen in 1944. It was during this period that he wrote one of his most successful plays, The Voice of the Turtle (1943), which ran for three seasons in New York and was subsequently filmed with Ronald Reagan.
Van Druten is best known today for I am a Camera (1951), a play based on Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin (1939). Both were used as the basis of Joe Masteroff's book for the Kander and Ebb musical, Cabaret (1966).
Aside from his playwriting, Van Druten wrote two novels and two autobiographies as well as directing several of his own plays before his death at Indio, California, in 1957.
LUKE BARNES
Writer
Luke Barnes is an award-winning writer. His Credits include: CHAPEL STREET (Bush Theatre, UK TOUR), BOTTLENECK (Soho Theatre, UK TOUR) WEEKEND ROCKSTARS (Hull Truck) THE SAINTS (The Nuffield, Southampton) WEEKDAY NIGHTS (Unicorn Theatre/ National Youth Theatre) BEATS NORTH (Northern Stage, Newcastle) WONDROUS PLACE (Royal Exchange, Manchester) and EISTEDDFOD (HighTide). TV Writing Credits include: MINTED (C4) DIALOUGES (BBC4). He was runner up for Best New Play in 2013 and Best New Writer 2012 at the off west end awards for Bottleneck and Chapel Street respectively.
THE MAN IN THE SKY (Party Lines)
PHILIP OSMENT
Writer
Philip read Modern Languages at Keble College, Oxford and subsequently trained as an actor. He has worked as a director, teacher, dramaturg and writer.
His first play was his autobiographical one-man show, Telling Tales(Oval House and Gay Sweatshop). This Island’s Minewas his first full-length play. Later came his trilogy of Devon plays (The Dearly Beloved, What I Did In The Holidays and Flesh And Blood) commissioned by Mike Alfreds and produced by Cambridge Theatre Company (aka Method and Madness). These were all nominated for Writers’ Guild awards, and The Dearly Beloved won the award for best regional play in 1993. His fourth play for the company, Buried Alive, played the southwest before being performed at Hampstead Theatre
Oberon has also published his plays for young people and children:Who’s Breaking, Listen, Sleeping Dogs, Wise Guys, Duck, Little Violet And The Angel(winner of the Peggy Ramsay award) and Wholeproduced by 20 Stories High which won a Writers’ Guild award.
Translations include Pedro The Great Pretender (Pedro de Urdemalas) by Cervantes for the Royal Shakespeare Company Spanish Golden Age Season and Gianina Carbunariu’s Kebabat the Royal Court.
His verbatim play Mad Bludabout the knife crime epidemic in 2008 was developed and performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and his adaptation of Kes with Kully Thiarai was performed at Cast in Doncaster in 2014
In 2010 he and his colleague Jim Pope set up Playing ON Theatre Company to produce his play about young fathers in prison, Inside. The company has since worked for several years in mental-health contexts, and he drew on those experiences when writing Hearing Things, most recently performed at the Omnibus Theatre.
He has also written and adapted plays for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.
He is currently working on his next script for Playing ON,Can I Help You?,which will be performed in Spring 2020.
SOMALIA SEATON
Writer
Somalia Seaton is a British writer and actress of Jamaican and Nigerian parentage, born and raised in South-East London. She trained at East 15 Acting school on the BA(Hons) contemporary theatre course. Her debut play Crowning Glory produced by Theatre Royal Stratford East was shortlisted for the 2014 Alfred Fagon Award Currently she is under commission and on attachment to Talawa, The Bush and Clean Break. Somalia is a current member of both the Orange Tree Theatre writers collective and BBC London Voices. As well as being artistic director of No Ball Games Allowed, producing theatre and programmes with young people at it's core, Somalia also colaborates with companies and theatres that work with young people, as both a writer and facilitator and has run projects for The Lyric Hammersmith, action on disability, ICT, GLYPT and many more.
FILTH (Party Lines)
STELLA FEEHILY
Writer
Game - Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Duck, Out of Joint and Royal Court co-production -Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds, Traverse, Edinburgh, the Royal Court and The Peacock, Dublin. O Go My Man Royal Court Theatre, 2006. (Joint winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, 2007.) Catch (written with four other female playwrights) Royal Court. Dreams Of Violence, Soho Theatre and national tour. Bang Bang Bang, Royal Court Upstairs theatre and national tour. This May Hurt A Bit –national tour and St James Theatre. Love and a Bottle was George Farquhar’s first play and written in 1698. Stella’s new version of Love and a Bottle was developed as part of the LAMDA Long Project and produced at Greenwich theatre in July 2014. Radio plays include: Sweet Bitter- Lyric Fm. Julia Roberts Teeth. Radio 3.
HOW TO GET AHEAD IN POLITICS (Party Lines)
TRACY RYAN
Writer
Tracy trained at East 15 Acting School. Recent productions as writer and/or director: Sure Thing (Dublin Fringe Festival), Trainspotting (Out of Time Theatre), Follow the Money (Theatre Uncut/ HatchLK), Guaranteed! (Fishamble Theatre, Asst. Director), REVOLUTION! (Collaborations Festival), At Our Boldest (Bush Theatre, reading), Ashland New Plays Festival (Guest Artistic Director; Oregon, USA). Tracy was founder member both of Studio 3 Arts and Angels Theatre Company as well as Associate Director with The Work Theatre Collective. Tracy is currently researching “The Artist as Activist in Contemporary Theatre”, a practise as research PhD at the University of Sussex.