Following last week's unveiling of our latest PlayMakers season, meet our new Literary Team who will be supporting all our work with Northern playwrights. Our new 'Literary Avengers' are all freelance writers and dramaturgs and join the Box of Tricks family to increase literary capacity, offer new pathways for PlayMakers and instigate positive change within the industry. We can't wait to get started working with the awesome foursome...
Billie Collins is a writer from the Wirral, based in Manchester. Her debut play TOO MUCH WORLD AT ONCE will be produced by Box of Tricks at HOME Manchester in March 2023, before going on tour. She also has projects in development with ThickSkin Theatre and Toastie Animation and was selected for the 2022 BBC Writersroom Northern Voices scheme. Billie has been a script reader for organisations including the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, the BFI, and Film4, and was previously Coordinator for The Writing Squad. She likes stories with lots of heart, big ideas, and good jokes.
Paddy Hughes is a scouse playwright, dramaturg and script reader. His passion is supporting and developing new writers in the North West of England. After spending the last five years in London working with National Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith he is back home and well chuffed to be working with Box of Tricks Theatre.
Conway McDermott is a trans non-binary writer from Liverpool, with a passion for juicy, accessible stories which ask big questions. They first started working with Box of Tricks after winning the Screen/Play Award in 2021 and are buzzing to be continuing that relationship as Playwright-in-Residence. They’re currently writing for BBC’s EastEnders, and as part of Screen Yorkshire’s FLEX 2022 Programme, and have had work commissioned by The Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Popelei Theatre Company, and the Liverpool Light Night Festival, as well as working as an artist and performer with FACT, the Liverpool Biennale, Creative Europe, and a handful of other organizations across the UK and Europe.
Karla Marie Sweet is a British-American, Manchester born and based actor, writer and dramaturg. Previous theatre credits include: Cheetham Hill (written for Royal Exchange whilst Playwright-On-Attachment), Leaving (The Bunker, to be transferred to the Pleasance), This Little Relic (BBC Radio 4 and the Belgrade Theatre) and, most recently, Othello (adapted for the Watermill Theatre), a reversioning The Guardian and WhatsOnStage awarded four stars each, calling it a "dramatically taut" and "remarkable" adaptation that "moves with the pace of a thriller." For television, Karla has written seven episodes of Hollyoaks. These included a special unconscious bias focused episode which was hailed as "the best ever episode" by The Mirror and was the cornerstone of the soap's RTS Best Continuing Drama Submission - an award they subsequently won. Karla has also participated in multiple TV writersrooms including the room for BBC/Netflix drama Get Even. She is currently writing on Waterloo Road and is under commission with The National.