Ayesha is a playwright and performer.

She trained in stage and screen with National Youth Theatre and the BFI, and on the 20 Stories High Writers Lab. She is currently studying for a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Liverpool, from which she also holds a degree in History and Politics.

Ayesha’s play R v Campbell was performed at Edinburgh Festival, dramatising the trial of a young woman who had killed her assaulter. She is co-writing a new play, Triage, exploring women’s experience of state healthcare.

@ahseya_rawna

Elinor is a queer playwright, poet, and dramaturge from the Wirral whose work focusses on women, whimsy and challenging prejudices. She holds a Masters in Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Her play Hopes, Dreams and the Bits Inbetween played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and she was commissioned by the National Trust to create a site-specific piece titled Suffrage Scenes: Our Deeds and Our Words.

Elinor’s play The Days Between Spring and Summer won the 2025 Homotopia Writer’s Award.

@elinor.j.boult

Kirsti is a performer and playwright from Norway, who has lived in the UK since graduating from LIPA in 2018 with a BA in Acting.

Her writing has been performed at Gothenburg Fringe, Lahti Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe, with rehearsed readings at Tromsø’s Rådstua teaterhus and Oslo’s Vega Scene. Her work has been developed with funding from Dramatikkens Hus and Kulturrådet, and she has participated in professional development courses including Unge Viken Teater’s Debutantprogrammet, RadArt’s Uredd ran by RadArt (Tromsø), and at the Davvi Centre for Performing Arts.

In the UK, Kirsti has worked as a performer and/or puppeteer for companies including Rusticus, Wild Rumpus and Rubbish Shakespeare Company.

@kirstiheitmann

Dan is a scriptwriter, producer and community arts practitioner, and was part of the British Film Institute & Film Hub North’s Script Lab Programme (2024).

He is the writer on the Royal Exchange’s Creative Exchange piece One for the ROAD (2026), working with Associate Director Emma Baggott and Tameside residents to create a site-specific performance piece responding to Jim Cartwright’s hit play, Road.

Other recent playwriting credits include: Millennium (R&D), Toxic (Divided Culture, UK Tour), The Plot Thickens (Just Some Theatre, UK Tour) and Daily Bread (Bradford Playhouse & Theatre Royal Wakefield).

@danlovattwrites

Victoria is a writer, actor and producer from Liverpool.

Victoria’s play Stayin’ Alive (commissioned through The Unity Theatre’s Talent Development Programme) premiered at Liverpool’s Royal Court Studio and toured to 53Two, Manchester, with critical acclaim.

As an actor, theatre includes: Stayin’ Alive (Liverpool’s Royal Court Studio & 53Two), Much Ado About Nothing (Hope Mill Theatre & Shakespeare North), Boys from the Back Stuff (West End & UK tour), Dancing Out and Vagina Cake (HER Productions).

Television includes: Brassic (Sky) and Jeremy Kyle: Death on Daytime (Channel 4).

@vickyoxley

Hayley is an actor and playwright from Liverpool, with a practice deeply informed by the communities and experiences around her. She is also the founder of Second Skin Theatre and has been members of the Yard Theatre, Hammersmith Lyric and Almeida young companies.

As a writer and actor, theatre includes: What We Crave (Yard Theatre, co-written with The Yard Young Company), Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire (Union Theatre; with readings at Bush Theatre, Young Vic & Actors East Theatre), Lego Flowers (showcase, Hackney Showroom) and Iss Right! (Pleasance Theatre; reading, Hackney Showroom).

As an actor, stage includes: Reverb (Almeida), Romeo & Juliet (Collective Theatre).

Screen includes: WAVES written & directed by BIFA-award winning Kosar Ali.

Hayley has been shortlisted for the Charlie Harthill Fund, and twice longlisted for the Mustapha Matura Award.

@hayleyschiffer

Ruby is an actor, writer and theatre maker based in Liverpool, whose work combines theatrical playfulness, lyrical writing, and big questions.

She studied Acting and Performance Practice at Newcastle College, and holds an MA Acting (Company) from LIPA.

As an actor, she has performed with companies including Northern Stage, Theatre Space NE, and Shakespeare Speakeasy.

As a writer and actor, she toured her solo show Unstitching around the UK, performing at The Space (London), The Arts Bar (Liverpool), Camden Fringe, Brighton Fringe, Newcastle Fringe, Kings Head Theatre (London), and Edinburgh Fringe.

@Ruby_Shrimpton

Oliver is a writer from Liverpool. He is Co-Artistic Director of new writing theatre company Silent Gutter, and a graduate of both the Young Everyman & Playhouse Writers’ Programme and Liverpool Royal Court’s Stage Write Development Programme. He was also a finalist in Pulp Idol 2025, a novel-writing competition run by Writing on the Wall. 

Theatre credits include: Trapped (Liverpool Theatre Festival); SHEEP (Angel Field Festival); Professional (Hope Street Theatre); Playtime (Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Caged Time (Shakespeare North Playhouse). 

Dora is a queer, neurodivergent writer and performer with a passion for biographical and social justice themes, infused with humour, absurdism, and the everyday. She studied Contemporary Theatre at Dartington College of Arts (2008–2011) and holds a master’s in applied Theatre from Central School of Speech and Drama 

Writing credits include: The Lodger (2024, an ACE-funded production exploring home instability) and ADHD The Musical (2021-2023, a national touring musical comedy about living with ADHD). 

Jade is an actor, writer and director who is interested in socially engaging, comedic work. She also collaborates with venues and producers as an outreach manager to engage and invite audiences who may not otherwise come to the theatre. She is currently working on a one woman show called Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x) which will be at Pleasance this Edinburgh Fringe.

Everyman & Playhouse assistant director credits include: Cuckoo (Royal Court & Liverpool Everyman).

As a writer and actor her credits include: SAGA (BBC Radio 4); Hot In Here (Gate Theatre); One Night Stand with Felix Mufti (Royal Court) and Run, Painkiller (Stratford East).

As an assistant director her credits include: Liberation Squares (Brixton House & UK Tour).

Outreach credits include: Retrograde (Apollo); Death of England (Soho Place); Hot Wing King (National Theatre) and For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy (Royal Court & West End).

TV & film writing credits include: Jess was part of BBC Writers’ Academy 2019 and went on to write for EastEnders; Casualty and Holby City before joining the writers’ room and writing an episode for Curfew from Vertigo for Paramount+. She’s written for Wondery podcast; British Scandal and is currently developing original TV dramas, feature films and adaptations in the UK and US.  

Poetry and spoken word credits include: Jess is an award-winning performance poet, building a following in 2013 with her viral poem Dear Mr Gove. She is BBC Slam Champion and has performed at Glastonbury, Latitude, Bestival and BBC 6 Music Festival. Her shows Burning Books and A Self Help Guide To Being In Love With Jeremy Corbyn received 5* at the Edinburgh Fringe and were published by Burning Eye Books. Her most recent collection, Dressed As Love (Burning Eye Books) was published in 2024 and she was commissioned by the BBC to write the Liverpool Eurovision spoken word piece on behalf of Ukraine, performed by Luke Evans. 

Theatre credits include:  The theatre adaptation of Burning Books toured nationally including a performance at The NUTNational Conference. 

Hannah is a playwright and academic from London, who moved to Liverpool in 2022. She is fascinated by theatrical form and has written a book, Radical Realism in Contemporary Theatre: Rethinking Feminist Form in Plays by Women, which will be published by Bloomsbury in August. She is also a theatre critic and has written for Exeunt Magazine and The Stage.   

Theatre credits include: Andromeda (Camden People’s Theatre), directed by Charlotte Vickers and funded by Arts Council England; Goldfish (Pegasus Theatre), devised with young company as SPARK Artist; This Much I Know and Cashiered (Burton Taylor Studio); Canon Warriors (Paradise in the Vaults, Edinburgh Fringe). In 2023, her play Four Letter Words was shortlisted for the Homotopia Award.  

Mariam Jama is an actor and writer. She graduated from University of Salford with a bachelors degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She is also a student at ActUpNorth and a member of the BlackFest Script Club which focuses on plays written by Black and Global Majority artists.  

She is currently pitching her first play ‘Early Bird Catches the Coffee’ to theatre companies 

Anna is a genderqueer Irish artist living in Merseyside. They are the Creative Director of Cult Collective, a company focused on bringing opportunities to emerging artists in the south-east of Ireland. Anna was part of the BBC Writersroom Voices Programme in 2023 and Screen Ireland’s Spotlight scheme in 2024.Their new show This Is Not My Beautiful House plays at the Shakespeare North Playhouse studio on May 8th and 9th. 

Theatre credits include: This Is Not My Beautiful House (writer/director, Shakespeare North Playhouse), Exit Music (For Our World) (writer, Galway Theatre Festival), HOME (writer, Kilkenny Arts Festival). 

Charlie is a writer, director and filmmaker from Merseyside. He has been writing and directing both theatre and film for the past 5 years. Charlie is the Artistic Director of Dogtale Theatre – a theatre company focusing on new writing and new talent, who made their debut show at The Unity Theatre. 

Theatre & filmmaking credits include: Boxes: Three Stories (Unity Theatre), Boxing (Hooley Theatre); The Horse’s Mouth (Edinburgh Fringe) and Flying (The Cluny). He has also made over 27 short films – the latest receiving a special mention at the latest BFI Academy/Film Hub North DIY filmmaking festival.