This page tells you what's happening behind the scenes at awl

• Read on for details of current (non-awl) plays and projects involving awl members.
• Click here (or scroll down) for other news of awl members (births, new websites, etc).
• Click here (or scroll down further) for awl International notices.
• Click here (or scroll down further) for non awl notices likely to be of interest to members.

Please email Stephanie Connell
to include your backstage listing on this page

Simon Nuckley and Lee Peck are directing a script-in-hand performance of The Proposal and The Wedding respectively, at Jacksons Lane, 269a Archway Road, Highgate, London N6 5AA.  The Wedding has the following awl cast:

Ros Adler	David Burgess	Helene Le Bohec	Nick Coote

Andrew Heart	James Price	Lewis Rae

Date: Wednesday, 14th May at 9.00pm. Tickets on the door.

Historia Theatre Company is proud to present a dramatic reading of Kate Glover's play An African's Blood, with Mike Goodenough playing Thomas Clarkson, Lewis Rae playing William Wilberforce and Kate Glover playing Hannah More.  An African's Blood charts the struggle of William Wilberforce and his fellow campaigners to expose the horrors of slavery and bring the law on to the statute book.  Performance atWISE (The Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, Hull).

Date: Monday 19th May at 2.30pm

click here to book by email

Then:

• 22th or 23rd May St Mary Woolnoth, London EC3
• 15th June at 3.00pm Museum in Docklands, West India Quay, London E14
• 24th-26th July Henley Fringe Festival Evening performance: details to follow
• 27th July International Slavery Museum, Liverpool  

Martin Baum's new book called To Be or Not To Be, Innit - A Yoof-Speak Guide to Shakespeare has suddenly gone large and articles about the book have appeared in almost every national newspaper in the country and papers all over the world from Christchurch, New Zealand to Cape Town, South Africa and even in GQ Magazine.

Martin has something of a busy week ahead with interest from The Graham Norton and Paul O'Grady Shows and radio interviews already lined up for Spain, Ireland and lots of local Radio too.

The book is now a core stock item at Waterstones's, who will stock it in all their branches.  It's a satirical take, on fifteen carefully abridged Shakespearian works, written in the style of the street.

Click on the image to buy a copy or to view press reviews

Paddy Gormley is involved with the Persuadem management training courses which are designed to help organisations exploit their creative and persuasive potential to the full.  You can view a video of Paddy leading a creative thinking class by clicking on the image below.

Radio Writing Showcase 2006

Live recordings of Radio Plays written, directed and performed by
awl members, now edited with full radio soundscape and effects. Available exclusively to awl members in a 2 x CD set £15 (£10 for a single CD).   Contact Paddy Gormley.

www.w4r.co.uk

Masterclass offers free talks and workshops with leading theatre professionals to young people between 17–30 years.

Launched by the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 1998, Masterclass has supported over 35,000 young people. The year-round programme of events focuses on all aspects of the theatre industry from acting and directing to writing and producing.

Click on the image above for further details

Unknown Voices is a project co-founded by Julie Hill of Women's Radio Group and Exciting Writing teacher Paddy Gormley.  The pilot phase of the project, completed in February 2008, had two objectives:

• to involve homeless and otherwise disadvantaged women in a training programme in which they could learn how to record and edit their own and other people's stories;
• to make digital audio recordings of the stories of other, similarly disadvantaged people, men and women, for presentation in this website. 

Click on the image for further information

Learn the facts from the professionals, brought to you by Lewis Rae (Voice Artist) and Jennifer Taylor Head of Shining Management (Voice Over Agency), by attending one of their classes.

Some of the topics discussed are:

• How to present yourself as a professional voice-over artist, even if you have never done a voice-over before.
• The best way to get a voice-over demo and what to be aware of.
• What your demo should and shouldn't include.
• The best ways to market yourself so you have the best chance of gaining representation and getting work.

Classes last for three hours and have a maximum of six people. All questions answered, time permitting.

Cost: £50 per person.

Click here for enquiries, or alternatively
contact Lewis Rae on 07956 251 412

The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition is a partnership between The Royal Exchange Theatre and Bruntwood and is a unique opportunity for anyone, aged 18 or over, to enter their original, full-length stageplay in a competition which aims to reward the best plays by writers across the country.

You can be anyone, of any experience, living anywhere in the UK and Ireland. You might never have written a play before. Or, you might have written lots. The key thing is, that entry is totally anonymous, so the competition is absolutely fair and inclusive to everyone.

The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition will offer awards of £15,000 as a First Prize and a following Second Prize of £10,000 and third prize of £7,500. There will also be a special Bruntwood prize of £5,000. This competition represents one the world’s biggest awards for playwriting.

The deadline for entry is 6pm on Friday, 13th June 2008. 

For further information on how to enter, click here

Peter Pawan shoots both indoors and outdoors using natural light, on digital format with optimum quality.  The session lasts 3-4 hours in a relaxed environment.

Peter will take about 100 photos; which can be viewed at full size, and then brought down to your top 10-20 images, (effectively this would be like the contact sheet stage).  Those are then cropped exactly as you want, to fit a 10 x 8 frame, any necessary re-touching is also done at this stage. They are then burned onto a disc at maximum resolution Tif format, as well as in Jpeg format for email/website purposes.

You leave the session, disc in hand, knowing exactly what you have got and feeling confident with the end result.  It can be taken to any reputable reprographic company who will print optimum quality images direct from your disc.

Peter's current fee is £160 with a maximum of two clients per day.  For members of awl, a substantial discount is being offered, only £100.  Peter Pawan Photography is based in South London, to view some samples of his work, click here.

Contact Peter Pawan Photography
by email or on +44 (0)7786 543 834

Bookhabit is holding an international "unpublished writers" competition which started on 3rd March.  It's free to enter and open to all genres for works of 50000 or more - top prize is NZ$5000. 

Round 1 - Each week 6 winners are chosen to go through to Round 2 over a period of 10 weeks.
Round 2 - 10 finalists are chosen from the 60 books Round 3 - Panel selects winning book.

Click here or on the image for further details.

Playing Your Part

awl is run for and by members on a purely voluntary basis. Members are actively encouraged to participate in the work of awl in as many ways as possible, for example as writers, directors, actors, discussion chairs, readers and administrators. Many members find that active participation brings rewards in terms of experience, professional contacts and friendship.

We aim to work to the highest professional standards at all times. Accordingly, participants in our readings are required to conform to awl guidelines. Click on any of the following links for the relevant set of guidelines:

• writers
• directors
• actors
• discussion chairs

The guidelines are adorned with more than thirty witty drawings by awl member Max India.

If you wish to participate in any other way, please speak to any member of the committee at a meeting or write to us via the contact page.