Playwrights Zoë Cooper and Stewart Pringle are the new Writers-in-Residence for London's Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).
In their new roles, the writers will lead the New Works team at the RSC as well as develop their own work. With the team, they will mentor playwrights, develop new ideas, and establish new support systems for writers. They will begin their work in November.
Said Cooper, “I am so thrilled to be coming to the RSC alongside the brilliant Stewart Pringle. To be given the opportunity to call somewhere home as a playwright is really rare. Rarer still in a theatre that has such a rich history and as it starts to write its next exciting chapter. I am greatly looking forward to being part of a team that I know will help lots of other writers feel like the Company can be a home for them too. Can’t wait!”
Cooper has previously been shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award, the Women’s Playwriting Prize and was the winner of the Off West End Most Promising Playwright Award. Alongside her work as a playwright, she has a background in dramaturgy and literary management. Cooper will be seconded from her fractional role as a senior lecturer in Theatre Script at Newcastle University, where she has worked for the last 8 years after completing her PhD.
Pringle added that “I'm over the moon to be joining the RSC at this incredible moment in its history, and to be working with Zoë Cooper, one of my favorite playwrights. The RSC has long been a powerhouse for new work, and it's going to be such a thrilling journey to become part of that team, supporting and nurturing writers, as well as developing our own work alongside. Dream job! Let's go!”
Pringle is a writer and dramaturg from the Northeast of England, currently based in London. Stewart was previously the senior dramaturg of the National Theatre, and before that the associate dramaturg of the Bush Theatre. Outside of this, he has worked for many years as a culture journalist, and has written extensively within the Whoniverse, usually with his wife Lauren Mooney.
