Papatango New Writing Festival 2012 Winners Announced

Following the huge success of the Papatango New Writing Festival 2011 in partnership with the Finborough Theatre which saw unprecedented press acclaim for the sell-out production of the winning play, Dawn King's Foxfinder, the partnership between Papatango and one of London's leading new writing venues, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre, continues...??This year's competition saw 700 entries from all over the world. The winners are:

In first place is Pack by Louise Monaghan which will receive a four week run at the Finborough Theatre opening Tuesday, 27 November 2012 (Press Night: Thursday, 29 November 2012 at 8.30pm). The script will also be published by Nick Hern Books.

In second place is Everyday Maps for Everyday Use by Tom Morton-Smith which will receive a three week run opening Tuesday, 4 December 2012 (Press Night: Thursday, 6 December 2012 at 6.30pm).

There will also be staged readings of the third and fourth place winners as part of the Festival – Back Home Contemplation by May Sumbwanyambe on Monday, 10 December 2012, and Photos of You Sleeping by Jane Wainwright on Monday, 17 December 2012.

This year's winning plays were chosen by a panel of judges that includEd Howard Davies (Director), Matt Charman (Playwright), Neil McPherson (Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre – with the exception of one recusal), Francis Grin (Literary Manager at the Finborough Theatre), Con O'Neill (Actor), Tanya Tillett (Knight Hall Agency), Blanche McIntyre (former Leverhulme Bursary Associate Director at The National Theatre Studio and the Finborough Theatre, and director of last year's winning play), and the writer of last year's winning play, Dawn King.

Papatango was founded by Matt Roberts, George Turvey and Sam Donovan in 2007. The company's mission is to find the best and brightest new talent in the UK with an absolute commitment to bring their work to the stage. Since then, Papatango have produced twelve pieces of new writing in such venues as the Tristan Bates Theatre, the Old Red Lion Theatre and the Pleasance London. 2009 saw the launch of their first Papatango New Writing Competition, which each year has gone from strength to strength. www.papatango.co.uk

Tuesday, 27 November – Saturday, 22 December 2012
Pack by Louise Monaghan
Directed by Louise Hill. Designed by Olivia Altaras. Lighting by Neill Brinkworth.

"This woman spat at me the other day. I could taste the saliva on me own tongue. And I don't blame her, not for one minute I don't. Because if someone beat my child half to death, I'd want to do the same."

As a BNP rally gathers momentum on the streets outside, four women meet to play bridge. Struggling to find common ground, they talk about the men they married, their gifted and delinquent children and what their own heritage means. But beliefs and loyalties are tested to the limit when Stephie's fourteen year old son, Jack, is implicated in a brutal racist attack that leaves an eleven year old Pakistani boy close to death.

A raw, uncompromising drama about bigotry and racism that explores the insidious rise of the British National Party.

Playwright Louise Monaghan was the winner of a Bruntwood Prize Judges' Award 2011 for Shadow Play. Her first radio drama Alone in the Garden with You, produced and directed by Jessica Dromgoole, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 earlier this year. In 2006, she was a member of 'The Fifty,' a new writing initiative run by The Royal Court Theatre in conjunction with the BBC. Her other plays include Beautiful – nominated by Out Of Joint Theatre Company for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2009, and Aurora which was a finalist for both the London Festival New Writing Award and Little Brother's Big Opportunity competition 2010. She was shortlisted for Theatre Centre's Adrienne Benham Award 2012 and is a member of their Skylines group.

Director Louise Hill has directed two sell-out productions of plays by J.M. Barrie at the Finborough Theatre - What Every Woman Knows and Quality Street, for which she was named Best Newcomer Director by the British Theatre Guide and nominated as Best Director at the OffWestEnd Awards – and the first London revival for many years of Sutton Vane's Outward Bound in February 2012. She trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and spent two years as Artistic Director of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival. Most recently, she directed David Mamet's Boston Marriage for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Other directing includes Spiders and Crocodile Tears (Soho Theatre Studio), To a Sunless Sea (Etcetera Theatre), Face to Face (Old Red Lion Theatre), The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew (Middle Temple Gardens), Tiny Dynamite (Alma Tavern Theatre, Bristol) and IAGO, her own adaptation of Othello, for which she won a Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Festival. She was Associate Director on Travesties and The Importance of Being Earnest (Birmingham Rep). Assistant Direction includes Blackbird and The Winslow Boy (both Salisbury Playhouse).

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