Applications are now open for our Local Young Writers 2025 course. If you are aged 16 - 30 and interested in scriptwriting, we want to hear from you.

We are thrilled to be re-launching our acclaimed, six-month scriptwriting course for young writers aged 16 – 30 who are based in the West Midlands.

Through a series of in-person and online workshops, young writers will be guided and supported by experienced scriptwriters and a professional director to develop a new short script. Learning and working collaboratively throughout the course, your script will come to life with help from a professional creative team and ultimately performed by professional actors as part of our annual Young Writers Festival in July 2025.

No previous experience of playwriting is necessary as this programme is aimed at young people who may not even know they’re writers yet, as well as those who have some experience of writing.

We are committed to making rural theatre accessible and inclusive, and to telling stories that resonate with our diverse rural and urban audiences nationwide. We seek to work collaboratively and with care across a range of training and learning environments, with bespoke access solutions provided and best practice safeguarding underpinning all of our programmes.

We particularly encourage applications for our Local Young Writers 2025 course from people living with a disability, D/deaf people, and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, as these groups are currently under-represented in the cultural sector.