Podcast Pilot Series 2020
Writers
Amy Ng
Amy Ng is a British-Hong Kong playwright.
Her plays include UNDER THE UMBRELLA (Belgrade Theatre Coventry, UK Tour), ACCEPTANCE (Hampstead Theatre) and SHANGRI-LA (Finborough Theatre). Adaptations include MISS JULIE (Chester Storyhouse). Radio plays include TIGER GIRLS (BBC Radio 4) and KILBURN PASSION (BBC Radio 3). She is under commission to the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida Theatre, and ice&fire.
She was invited to take part in the BBC Writersroom 2017 Drama Room, and was later named on the BBC’s New Talent Hotlist. She is adapting her play UNDER THE UMBRELLA for TV with Merman.
Amy is also a historian, and is the author of ‘Nationalism and Political Liberty’ (Oxford University Press). She is fluent in English, German and Chinese and regularly translates Chinese plays into English.
Buhle Ngaba
Buhle Ngaba is a multi-award winning South African actor, writer and speaker.
She studied Acting and Contemporary performance at Rhodes University and Processes of Performance at the University of Leeds (UK). She performed in the world premiere of John Kanis play Missing at the Baxter Theatre (SA)and went on to tour internationally with the production, which earned her nominations for “Best Supporting Actress” for a Fleur Du Cap Theatre Award as well as the Naledi Theatre Award.
In 2016, Buhle was awarded the Brett Goldin Bursary, with the opportunity to expand her knowledge and acting ability of Shakespeare at The Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford, UK). It is during her time there that Buhle began to conceptualise and write her first play Swan Song. Recently, she was nominated onto the Shakespeare Society of South Africa Executive Committee (Theatre portfolio, 2020).Ngaba was named as one of the Mail and Guardians Top 200 Young South Africans (2016) and voted number 1 by the public in The Superbalist Top 100 Entrepreneur List (2016) -definitive list of young creatives redefining the future of creative culture and entrepreneurship as well as acknowledged with a Gauteng Youth Premiers award for excellence.
As an author (The Girl Without A Sound), Buhle seeks to promote diversity in children’s literature and to develop the legacy of storytelling amongst the youth. Buhle recently localised The New Girl Code; an initiative of Inspiring Fifty; a non-profit initiative- funds made with the book are used to support activities to increase diversity in STEM.
In 2019, Buhle was invited to participate in the International Writing Program’s Women’s Creative Mentorship Project (University of Iowa) courtesy of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs U.S Department (ECA). Buhle was recently awarded the “Rising Light” award at the Mbokodo Awards for Women in the Arts.
babirye bukilwa
babirye bukilwa is an actor, model, poet (SISTA!, THE COLOUR OF MADNESS) podcaster and a songwriter.
Most recently seen returning to the National Theatre stage opposite Cate Blanchett and directed by Katie Mitchell, her notable work includes the Royal Court, the Hampstead, The Nottingham Playhouse, the Arcola, Soho, The Leicester Curve, BBC, UKTV, Channel 4 and the ICA. babirye was shortlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting Shortlist 2019 with her debut play ...blackbird hour.
babirye co founded the award nominated podcast ‘SISTREN’; a podcast and collective founded in 2015 to amply the Black, femme Queer British experience, modelling for Burberry, Adidas, Macy’s, Dr Martens and Blue magazine.
She was also noted by the guardian newspaper as ‘One of ten, female creatives 2019’.
babirye has also been invited to join the BBC London writers room, being long listed for their Drama room 2019, as well as the royal court writers room 2019.
She is currently an artist in residence at Theatre Peckham 2020, with her second play ‘...cake’ an origin story to her debut play ...black bird hour.
Eve Leigh
Eve Leigh is a writer for performance.
Plays include Midnight Movie (Royal Court - Berlin Theatertreffen Stueckemarkt selection 2020); While You Are Here (The Place/Dance East); The Trick (Bush Theatre, national tour); Spooky Action at a Distance (Royal Court/RWCMD); The Curtain (Young Vic Taking Part); Stone Face, and Silent Planet (both Finborough Theatre).
Games include The Delegation (Coney); A Day In The Life of Someone Else (Oscar Mike).
Installation work includes Movimento/Variations (36 маймуни/Bulgarian National Theatre Festival); Your Future (HAU/Sophiensaele/Ballhaus Ost/Camden People’s Theatre).
Dramaturgy includes How To Win Against History (Young Vic). Commissions include National Theatre Connections, Bush Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Sheffield Theatres.
Leigh was one of the Royal Court's two Jerwood playwrights of 2019, and artist-in-residence at the National Theatre of Greece 2017.
Josephine Starte
Josephine is an award-winning writer-performer.
Also an improv comic she’s an associate of Live Beasts (‘A reason to be cheerful’, Tim Crouch), and co-founder of GUM Improv (nominated for Phoenix Remix’s Best Comedy Group 2019).
As a writer she’s been long-listed for the Bruntwood and the BAFTA Rocliffe award amongst other prizes, and was an invited writer at the Alpine Fellowship’s Venice 2018 Symposium alongside Polly Stenham and Emma Watson. Her most recent play, KILLING IT, was at VAULT Festival 2020, starring Janet Henfrey (Wolf Hall, The Crown) and Doña Croll (Eastern Promises, Doctor Who); 'Truly breathtaking and beautiful theatre that cannot be missed … a prescient and hilarious script. One to watch’ (A Younger Theatre).
As an actor she's won Best Actress in the NoBudge Independent Film Awards for BLUE MONDAY (dir. Charles Chintzer Lai), and Best Duo in the LA Independent Short Awards for I DON’T WANT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE (dir. Marcus Liversedge).
Marie Bjørn
Born 1991. Marie Bjørn is drawn by the grotesque and magical, and she believes that reality is greater than realism. Her language is a mixture of the mundane and the poetic.
In June 2019, Marie graduated as a playwright from The Danish National School of Performing Arts. This year she’s Reumert nominated Playwright of the year, for her debut play, Apocalypse, that played on a small underground scene in Odense, Denmark in February 2020.
Marie is also studying scriptwriting at Super16, a community of young filmmakers in Copenhagen. She is very drawn to collective and cross-aesthetic collaborations.
Tamara von Werthern
Tamara von Werthern is a German-British writer. She studied at QMUL and CSSD and trained at the Royal Court YWP.
As a playwright, her work includes The White Bike, directed by Lily McLeish (The Space, London, 2017). Her work has been shown at the Royal Court, the Arcola Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, the Lion & Unicorn Theatre, The White Bear Theatre, Summerhall & Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh. She also co-writes with Jack Hughes (Jackpot, Monster Munch, Balls, Save Me & Wilding)
Her writing has been long-listed for the Papatango Prize (The White Bike) and BBC Writersroom Drama Room (Jackpot).
For screen, her film I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire (directed by Anna Marsland/Marcus Liversedge) won Best Screenplay Lift-Off Season Award 2019. She has had plays, poetry, short stories and novels published, both in English and German.