JMK Trust, the theatre charity—with funding from the Victoria Wood Foundation—is launching new opportunities for theatre directors.
Hosted at Manchester Royal Exchange and Northern Stage, Newcastle, two new bursaries will see recipients work alongside, and receive mentorship from, Roy Alexander Weise MBE and Maria Crocker, both previous beneficiaries of the trust.
In addition, there’s to be a six-month mentoring scheme for 24 theatre directors around the country, funded by the Noël Coward Foundation. As the industry returns to life, this gives access to monthly one-to-one sessions with a mentor and the opportunity to meet and work with fellow directors. The mentors are directors Nik Partridge, Piers Black, Atri Banerjee and Nel Crouch.
The bursary at the Exchange Manchester enables a director to assist Roy Alexander Weise on a new production of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop this autumn.
At Northern Stage, an associate director will work with Maria Crocker on her production of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, opening November.
The JMK Trust was founded in memory of James Menzies-Kitchin, a young director who died at the age of 28. Each year, it gives one prestigious award to enable an outstanding applicant aged 35 or under to create their own production of their choice of text.
Chair of the JMK Trust, Stephen Fewell, commented, “many will know Victoria Wood’s own career journey led her eventually to direct her own work. We hope these new bursaries in her memory provide similar chances for talent to be inspired and recognised. As her comic voice endures, we hope they’ll attract people of all varieties to make themselves heard in positions of creative leadership.”
Details about how to apply are on the JMK Trust web site