New Connections
Young talent bring new plays to life at The Lowry…
New Connections
The Lowry, Tue 5 – Sat 9 May 2009
Press night: Tue 5 May, 6.30pm
The annual season of exciting new plays for young actors returns from 5 – 9 May as The Lowry play host to one of 16 regional showcases for New Connections, a nationwide celebration of new writing for young people.
Each year new plays are commissioned for and about young people from some of the best contemporary playwrights, for performance by schools and youth theatres from all over the UK and Ireland, making New Connections one of the world’s largest celebrations of youth theatre. New Connections is produced by the National Theatre Discover programme and supported by Bank of America.
Eleven local groups will bring these exciting new plays to life at The Lowry. Each play features the recurring theme of the forging of first friendships and some of the high profile playwrights include influential American dramatist David Mamet, author of the hugely successful Alex Rider Series, Anthony Horowitz and award-winning poet, Nick Drake. Stockport’s Ben Power, Literary Associate of Headlong Theatre, has written The Things She Sees especially for the festival, a play based on the novel by Charles Boyle.
New Connections culminates at a celebratory Festival from 1-7 July at the National Theatre in London, where twelve companies from the nationwide festivals will be invited to perform. All twelve plays will be published in an anthology by Faber & Faber, and a copy sent to every secondary school in the country.
Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre, said: ‘Bank of America’s continued and generous support will enable New Connections to develop an even more imaginative programme, to support aspiring young talent, and inspire and entertain audiences.”
Posted on Wednesday, 22 April 2009 under Press Theatre Press