Pen Pals International

 

UK-based Box of Tricks partners with Singaporean company Centre 42 to launch Pen Pals International. Our Pen Pals exchange programme will match 6 pairs of playwrights to connect, share ideas and develop their craft. During the exchange, each Pen Pal will develop a full-length play – sharing thoughts and ideas along the way – and receive feedback from the Box of Tricks and Centre 42 teams. Since its inception in 2020 we have matched 60 writers across 5 cohorts.

In 2025 Pen Pals is going international! In partnership with Centre 42 in Singapore we will be matching 6 UK writers with 6 Singaporean writers for an international playwriting exchange, and for the first time our Pen Pals exchange will culminate in a live showcase at theatres in Manchester and Singapore.

Box of Tricks champions playwrights and empowers them to tell the stories they want to tell. Centre 42 is a theatre development space committed to the creation, documentation and promotion of Singapore theatre.

How does it work?

We will match 6 pairs of Pen Pals for a six-month period from January until June 2025. Each pair will send each other work-in-progress and maintain regular contact through online meetings.

Box of Tricks and Centre 42 will introduce Pen Pals online, discussing their ideas at the start of the process, and meet again for a midway catch-up. We will host an online scratch event halfway through the process to allow writers to hear extracts of their work in progress and receive feedback from their peers.

At the end of the exchange, all 12 Pen Pals will send their drafts to Box of Tricks and Centre 42 to be read ahead of a final debrief and feedback session. To celebrate our first international Pen Pals exchange we will present live events in Manchester and Singapore after the exchange to showcase the work of our 12 writers.

Eligibility Criteria

Our Pen Pals International programme is open to writers who have already got experience of writing for theatre. We define that experience as having written at least one full length script (60mins+), although this does not need to have been professionally produced.

UK writers must be members of Box of Tricks’ PlayMakers Network. Writers must also be 18+, and either resident in, or originally from, the North of England. Singapore writers must be Singapore residents and/or are residing in Singapore.

 Get in Touch

Interested writers can apply to be part of the next Pen Pals cohort via this online form. The application window will open on the 7^th October 2024, and the deadline for applications is 10:00 BST (which is 17:00 UTC in Singapore) on the 31^st October 2024.

The application consists of the following:

1. A short example of your playwriting (up to 15 pages). This can be a short play or an extract from a longer piece.

2. An indication of your level of writing experience. Please don’t worry if you don't have a traditional CV - just let us know what you have done to date.

3. A short statement expressing what inspires you to write for theatre, why you’d like to be a Pen Pal and what you’d hope to gain from the experience. UK playwrights please also indicate where in the North you are based or are from.

4. A brief pitch/treatment/outline of the piece you’d like to develop with your Pen Pal. If you’ve already started writing the script, feel free to include a short extract.

Questions? Check out our FAQ's >>> Fact Sheet

 

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