Leading UK theatre company Out of Joint has announced the line-up for Stockroom, a diverse collective of salaried writers charged creating work that is challenging, relevant and popular. This ground-breaking new initiative aims to redefine the process of making theatre for the mid-scale by abandoning the traditional model of commissioning individual playwrights and replacing it with a semi-permanent group of creatives from a variety of artistic backgrounds to make collaborative new work for the company to produce.
Out of Joint received over 750 applications for the initiative. Through a thorough and rigorous selection process, six writers representing a wide variety of skillsets have now been appointed. They are, writer and visual artist Maheni Arthur, Goldsmith’s graduate and theatre maker Georgia Crowther, actor, writer and director Tonderai Munyevu, award-winning comedian, writer, composer and actor Vikki Stone, film and stage writer and director Isaac Tomiczek and playwright Chris York.
Working closely with the artistic director Kate Wasserberg and Executive Producer Martin Derbyshire, the Stockroom team will share their areas of expertise to respond to clear and exact briefs. Work will begin immediately with the creation of two digital projects for the summer followed by a major new stage work for 2022. Details of these will be announced at a later date.
All Stockroom creatives will be on the Out of Joint payroll with no one paid less than half of the highest wage in the company. Stockroom’s long-term ambition is to create four new works a year for the stage, both on a commission and self-generating basis. Out of Joint Theatre Company has worked with the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain to maintain and uphold the agreed commissioning term already laid out by UK Theatre and WGGB and will adhere to these conditions under a new agreement with WGGB ensuring that all rights and royalties remain with the artists themselves.
Vikki Stone is an award-winning comedian, as well as a writer, composer, and actor. As a writer and composer Vikki’s debut musical #ZoologicalSociety has been commissioned by Theatre Royal and Derngate, Northampton, alongside a concept album of 11 songs recorded by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra and stars Jason Manford and Sharon D Clarke, which was released last year. She was due to write Aladdin for The Lyric Hammersmith in 2020, but this will now open later this year.
Other notable works include: Concerto for Comedian & Orchestra which premiered at Glastonbury Festival and Southbound, a female led comedy musical that has just been optioned for theatre. She had recently made her solo tv writing debut, with a new short film for the BAFTA award- winning BBC Ten Pieces, which makes classical music accessible for young people. As an actor and comedian, her TV appearances include Richard Osman’s House of Games for BBC2, BBC Three’s Uncle, BBC1’s Len Goodman’s Partners in Rhyme, ITV2’s Safeword, BBC1’s The John Bishop Show. She has voiced Bad Robots for E4, Blink for Channel 4 and Impractical Jokers for BBC Three. Vikki is a regular writer and performer on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, as well as being the writer and presenter of BBC Radio’s 3’s Proms Podcast.
On joining Stockroom Vikki Stone says - “I cannot wait to be part of the first team to work this way in UK theatre, and I’m very much looking forward to what we come up with together!”
Out of Joint has made plays for audiences around the world for over 25 years. Continually touring and bringing communities together with stories that reflect our humanity and unite us, Out of Joint work with artists from all backgrounds to deliver great writing. We develop and produce new plays and the very best existing titles; tour work to midscale venues and offer enrichment opportunities to every community we visit. Recent productions have partnered Out of Joint with The National Theatre, Royal Court, Sheffield Theatres and Northampton Theatres as well as touring venues throughout the UK.
