For the last decade West Yorkshire Playhouse has spotted and shaped emerging scribes through its So You Want To Be A Writer scheme giving some gradates the chance to embark on professional careers.
But this year the playhouse is launching So You Want To Be A….which for the first time invites budding actors, directors and arts practitioners to apply for a free place on this prestigious course.
Successful wannabe luvvies will get challenging tutorials with seasoned industry professionals like playwright/screenwriter Mark Catley, who co-wrote the Playhouse’s smash hit show Angus, Thongs and Even More Snogging.
All you have to do is send an A4 letter to the Playhouse’s Associate Director Literary Alex Chisholm telling her about yourself, what kind of theatre you’d like to create and why you want to join. The deadline is 5pm on Friday 16 March and candidates will be notified by Tuesday 20 March ready to start the five week course in April.
Applications are open to anyone over the age of 16, with little or no formal training in their chosen field, who must show a flair and passion for writing, performing, directing or working behind the scenes and would like to learn how to forge a career in the creative industry.
A total of five directors, up to ten performers, ten writers and a cohort of theatre-makers such as designers, producers, dramaturges and movement directors will be chosen to take part after an audition/interview process for selected candidates.
The course runs weekly on a Monday or Tuesday evening (7-9pm) from Monday 16 April and candidates must be available to attend all sessions. Participants will be put into mini companies to create a ten minute piece which will be showcased as part of the Playhouse’s New Writing Season which takes place from Monday 28 May – Friday 1 June.
Those lovely people at WYP have given you some top tips to give yourself the best chance and avoid making an arse of yourself:
1. This isn’t a job application. Phrases like ‘I am a goal-orientated individual deeply committed to a writing career’ don’t tell us anything except that you can write formal letters. We want to hear what you sound like.
2. There is no ‘right’ format. We’ve taken people who have written short handwritten notes and full 1 page A4 close written type. It is how you write not what you use to write with that counts.
3. This is not the X Factor. A sob story does not automatically mean inclusion. You may have had the most boring life ever but if you can write about yourself in an interesting way – you’re in.
4. Don’t write it in the form of a script. Every year someone tries. It never works.
5. This is not for people who are looking for an opportunity to develop a script they have already written – the script reading service is for that.
6. The course has a regional bias so the further away from Yorkshire you live the less likely it is that we will take you. We are not going to take someone from London for five week evening course.
7. The course is aimed at people with little or no experience but that doesn’t mean you are automatically disqualified if you have studied theatre at any stage. We reserve the right to occasionally bend our own rules.
8. One of our aims is to try to get a diverse group of people together across age, background, gender and style. This is because we think the course works best with lots of different kinds of people rather than a group of all 21 year old college leavers. A lot of our applications do come from younger people just out of college. However, if that means we have to take fewer in that category, the upside is there are usually more opportunities out there for young people.
NOTE: this is a non-email entry process.
Deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 16 March 2012. Applicants selected for interview will be notified by Tuesday 20 March.
PLEASE PUT ALL CONTACT DETAILS ON YOUR APPLICATION INCLUDING ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND EMAIL WHERE POSSIBLE.
Address for SYWTBA… applications
Alex Chisholm
Associate Director (Literary)
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Playhouse Square
Quarry Hill
Leeds LS2 7UP
PLEASE MARK YOUR ENVELOPES WITH WRITER or DIRECTOR or ACTOR or OTHER. Only postal applications will be accepted. No emails please.