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Flipping the Script

LIVE STREAMED NEW PLAY READING: WHITE PAPER, by Stevie Amuzu – 8TH SEPTEMBER @ 7PM eventbrite event here, hashtag: #scriptflipping

Flipping the Script image -Talawa

This is just a quick blog post asking you all (arts folk or no) to get involved in a new writing theatre event next Tuesday (8th September) at 7pm. You can do so entirely from the comfort of your own home, because Theatre Writing Partnership (TWP), Talawa and The Young Vic are going to be working together to live stream a new reading of a piece of theatre. Watch it, comment on the stream, tweet about it, the hashtag for the event is #scriptflipping.

I have been doing some work with TWP (@TWPGoSee) this summer,  and am really excited to be working with them on a couple of very cool projects aiming to bring the arts world into the digital one. I’m not blogging on behalf of them right now though, this is just me asking you to tune in. Pioneering events like this need uptake, if people don’t participate; arts orgs just become more and more reluctant to be involved.

Theatre and digital tech are the basis of my PhD, I love both worlds, I think theatre plays a massive role in showing us the society we live in, in exploring big political and intimate personal questions, but I don’t think it will be able to continue to do so if it resists involvement in the digital world(s). I think the ethics emerging from the digital world(s) will have a lot to do with changing the way things work IRL (politics, media, collaboration and distribution) and I think the arts need to be at the forefront of these new worlds, pushing and questioning these new ways of creation, proliferation and collaboration.

Live streaming readings provides work in development with a very cheap and instant audience, it provides a new work with feedback from all over the world (breaking down that London-only barrier of the majority of the new theatre writing world), and opens up the writing process. This allows a theatre and a writer to make new work less of a risk, and at the same time engage with potential audiences.

These kind of events are still very new, and experiments more than anything, so that’s why I’m asking you to be one of our early adopters and get involved.

Let people know about the event, or add it to your diary via our Eventbrite page from there you can push it to various social networks, or email your friends.

And after all that: here’s the blurb about the piece being aired!

Talawa presents an exciting development in its Flipping the Script readings at the Young Vic. Live streaming of the readings will allow writers across the UK to join in and comment on what we consider to be the best untold Black British stories as Talawa continues to pursue a UK wide discussion around Black British work.

The series has always proved to be a sold out success but has been limited to London audiences.  Now, Talawa wants the writers of Theatre Writing Partnership to share in the rich abundance of plays reaching Talawa’s offices and that would otherwise remain unknown.

The first play, WHITE PAPER, by Stevie Amuzu, is a heart-rending and wickedly funny investigation of generations of a mixed race family and the false loyalties of parentage. Its style is unusual – subtle story telling emerging from a storm of words – and we’d like your comments.  Does this approach represent a new direction in story telling?

Please join us on September 8th at 7 p.m. at  http://www.livestream.com/talawabroadcasts for live streaming of the event and join in the continuous online chatroom feedback. It’s time to talk to each other.

As soon as I can release the details, I’ll let you know about the other exciting things I’ve been working on, in the meantime, get involved with Flipping the Script. I’ll be blogging, tweeting etc., from TWP in Nottingham (if any local bloggers/twitter folk want to get involved, let me know). See you then.

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Theatre People I Follow On Twitter

So quite a few people have added me recently after reading my guide to Twitter for Arts Orgs which I put out into the ether. I love that it’s out there getting people trying new tech. Because I know it can be a bit daunting trying to find people to follow at first, I was going to do a quick #theatrethursday to suggest a few fellow theatrical tweeps, but the list got too long, so I decided to blog it instead.CAVEAT: I still think there’s much more value in finding interesting people, before things you are interested in , and also something wonderful in the discovery of new people through serendipity, so please, please don’t add everyone on here. Make sure you are interested in what they are saying. It’s not a networking opportunity, it’s a conversation, that conversation might lead somewhere, but that shouldn’t be the main aim of it. Some of the big names aren’t on here because I don’t like the way they use Twitter, always just putting in plugs for shows, rather than participating. However I obviously do think these people worth following, because I do, so I’m not too worried about putting it out there- just use it wisely :) and if you’re new-don’t fill your stream up too soon!Finally, the list is by no means exhaustive, and I may also have missed big people off if a) I don’t know about them myself, or b) I don’t know a particular person I follow is a theatre person, as opposed to just an interesting person. If you have any to add, tweet with the #theatrethursday hashtag, or comment here and I’ll add them!

So, in order of most recent to oldest follow:

@braduniarts the theatre venues at the University of Bradford
@dastheatre a ‘theatrically confrontational’ Leicester/London based theatre company.
@hellohoipolloi the lovely hoipolloi, presented on their excellent use of video blogging at Shift Happens arts/tech conference.
@EdinburghFringe No explanation needed hopefully, does anyone want to pay for me to go? Please? Pretty Please?
@Goldele theatre maker
@danielbuckroyd Artistic Director of New Perspectives
@trestletheatre my first theatrical experience (aside from Panto) was a Trestle Workshop. Ace.
@stevebct co-artistic director of Black Country Touring, who facilitate and create theatre in the Black Country. Brilliant company.
@untheatre Unlimited Theatre based in Leeds, they did The Moon The Moon recently, which was lovely.

@claireridgway West Midlands creative looking to hook up with local companies.

@RDouglasJohnson writer of plays and text-adventures (he’s done a hillarious Hamlet one, check out his blog for a link) Also has a play ‘Broken Holmes’ on at Edinburgh this year. One of the wittiest writers I know.
@battersea_arts Battersea Arts Centre (the clue’s in the name)
@lpostlethwaite Theatre maker, community artist, and educator.
@AbbigailWright Head of comms at York Theatre Royal (Shift Happen venue, and home to Pilot Theatre)
@KatHetherington lovely, met at Shift Happens, can’t for the life of me remember her title, but she’s a theatre person.
@Jakeyoh young critic-blogger
@scbedford from HoiPolloi, charming.
@Dramagirl theatre lover, actor, voice coach and web 2.0 superwoman.
@Geraldinecoll Apples and Snakes performance poetry – seen at Shift Happens
@scarahnellis another Apples and Snakes type…
@Robintheoffice -Birmingham Royal Ballet New Media Officer, not strictly theatre, but a brill example of an arts organisation using Twitter well.
@Katherine_Ann over saw much of Shift Happens 2.0, organisation queen, like a Tasmanian Devil, but in reverse.
@willsudlow another creative project manager type
@adrianslatcher of the Get Ambition tweeps
@eatsoupandroll Leeds based playwright
@mediasnackers they enable digital participation in lots of areas, including theatre.
@getambITion The ACE digital tech and theatre touring workshop
@hannahrudman queen of the above and cultural leader.
@thisisdavid has a show on in Edinburgh this year
@digijamie Get ambITion and local arts bod
@ammonite pervasive gaming, so awesome, the bleeding edge of digital/performance cross over. If you don’t know what any of that means, go find out!
@IanAspin does a lot of work with creative industries
@WirelessTheatre online audio theatre company – radio plays, stories and sketches for free download.
@Traversetheatre the brilliant new writing theatre and excellent Edinburgh venue
@pcmcreative does lots of things that combine social media and the digital world with theatre
@TWPGoSee Theatre Writing Partnership – new theatre writing in the East Midlands, brilliant company who gave me my first ever taste of playwriting back in 2004 (I currently do some freelance online comms for them)
@citizendan performer and writer
@scriptonline Regional development agency for theatre writers in the West Midlands
@michelleyascapi General Manager of Foursight Theatre, future cultural leader
@Foursightheatre My first ever ‘proper’ job in the arts was as their Administrator. They are a lovely West Midlands based, female-led devising company. Best known for Thatcher The Musical! But they also do some lovely site specific community based work.
@Danielbye writer and director
@uglysisterprod Ugly Sister Productions
@BushTheatre The Bush, look out for their excellent Bush Green new writing initiative – it’s going to change the way the system works.
@easternangles I have much love for companies working the East of the Country – Eastern Angles
@HullTruck well known Yorkshire based company
@markball London based producer
@finkennedy had a big argument with The World about the funding new writers get. It was in the Guardian. Also a playwright.
@Half_Dextrous actor/writer
@CreativeSelby Arts Administrator
@andytfield ‘maker of unusual things’ a lovely fellow
@sohotheatre The Soho Theatre, innit.
@Lizzieroper actor
@bottc Box of Tricks Theatre Company, new writing, they run Word:Play new writing events, [PLUG] in which I am to have a short play early next year [/PLUG]
@librarytheatre Library Theatre Co. Manchester
@c_and_t TIE company – check out their brilliant ‘living newspaper’ project. And an excellent example of how many people can tweet for one organisation. Really on the ball with using new tech.
@arvonfoundation they do beautiful writer retreats with workshops, decent amount of theatre and radio writing opportunities. I wonder if I big them up enough they’ll give me a free place? THEY’RE FUCKING BRILLIANT (Pretty please?)
@DaveMoutrey Arts Manager based in Manchester
@shift_happens THE arts and tech conference in the UK. Run by Pilot Theatre.
@DanRebellato playwright, academic, and general evil genius. Very funny, a masterclass in the subversion of the Twitter ‘form’.
@LondonTheatre Theatre researcher/maker/blogger
@Paul_Sutton Artistic Director of C&T
@pilot_theatre bloody brilliant York-based theatre company. Ran Shift-Happens. Pushing boundaries, making wonderful messes.
@MarcusRomer the daddy of Pilot Theatre and Shift Happens, lovely, generous, and very, very on the ball. A must-follow.
@mzendle journo and critic.
@MBDtweet metro-boulot-dodo are a leicester-based arts organisation. They do a combination of performance, installation, audio tours and site-specific stuff. Ch-ch-check them out.

Phew! Have I missed you? I’m sorry, there’s only so much space in my brain! Comment, and I’ll add you :-)

I’m all hyperlinked out…