Jenny trained as an actor at LAMDA. In 2022 she was part of Broken Silence Theatre’s writing programme Hive, and The Living Theatre Whitwell commissioned her to adapt Jane Austen’s novel Emma for their main house summer show.
Previously she has been part of a writing group run by Margaret Perry, and worked writing, directing and facilitating with youth theatres. Catalyst was her first residency.
Taiwo Ava Oyebola is an interdisciplinary artist based in London working across theatre, literature and arts & heritage. Centring the voices of historically overlooked communities is the thread that runs throughout her creative practice. She is currently the Producing Assistant at the Yard Theatre and the Trainee Assistant Director for Stratford East’s Young Company 22/23.
Simon Marshall is a playwright, writing facilitator and participation producer from Derbyshire, living in Sheffield.
He is an Associate Artist of Derby Theatre, including co-writing 2023 Stage Award-winning VR audio-play Odyssey with Plus One, a creative group for care-experienced young people. His work often explores the rural queer experience and sense of place.
Previous writing includes Bonfire (‘honest, brave and acutely-written’, Lyn Gardner) and the audio-play kilburn (not london) (profiled at London Podcast Festival 2021). He has recently written Main Character Energy for 1623 Theatre at Theatre Deli, Sheffield, and The Fossil Kids with Sheffield Theatres’ Young Company (June 2023).
Roann Hassani McCloskey is an Algerian-British storyteller. Her work includes her 2019 award-winning sell-out, one-woman show, My Father the Tantric Masseur – an autobiographical exploration of sexuality, sexual trauma and familial relationships. Her second show (Popcorn group award longisted), Who Murdered My Cat? shines a light on memory, its inconsistencies and its power in forming our identities.
Roann has co-written ReMythed (4 stars – The Guardian) that won ‘Show of the Week’ at Vault Festival 23. She is currently writing a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama TV series Lights, Camera, Couscous in which her Algerian mother, who informs so much of her creative work, has the starring role.
Roann’s writing finds the heart and humour that runs through tragedy, and centres around her curiosity and passion for bringing stories usually left at the margins to the centre where they belong.
Yasmine Dankwah is a British-Ghanaian spoken word poet and writer born raised and based in South London.
Inspired by her family’s photo albums and her parents’ mini suitcase of CDs, her writing is musically infused, nostalgic and lyrical. Her work examines how resistance in form of identity based discrimination can be a springboard for joy.
Yasmine was a Roundhouse Poetry Slam Finalist in 2022, an alumnus of the VAULT New Writing Programme 2020 and Soho Writers’ Lab 2021/2.
Olivia Munk is a theatre director originally from Queens, NYC.
She is Artistic Director of Part of the Main Productions, a theatre company whose work is political, provocative and accessible. Recent productions include The Tinker and Bloody Mary: Live! at VAULT Festival 2023.
Forthcoming work includes Associate Director on Ride, a new musical, at Leicester Curve and Southwark Playhouse, and a work-in-progress of her playwriting debut, Acorn, at Omnibus Theatre’s Engine Room. Olivia is a co-curator and producer of The Miniaturists, London’s longest-running short play night.
Sam Parker is a playwright born in Torbay and now based in Plymouth.
Sam has a background in community theatre and facilitation in a range of settings, most recently working as a writer-in-the-room on Quizzy Rascals: an evening with the Barbican Legends and Ernesettlers, both of which were staged at Theatre Royal Plymouth.
Sam is the co-director of Down Stage Write CIC and the Pathways Producer for Doorstep Arts CIC. He has also worked as a script reader for Papatango, The Bruntwood Prize and the RSC new work department. Sam has just finished a second phase of R+D on his new play White Belt, a seed commission with Theatre Royal Plymouth.
Dale Edwards is an early-career director. He has previously worked as an assistant director at The Royal Exchange and Bolton Octagon. He was shortlisted for the JMK Award 2022 with the play Hang by debbie tucker green. Current work includes an ACE DYCP project and a commission for Dukes Lancaster Blast Festival.
