Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) and Musical Theatre Network (MTN) have been awarded funding from The Mackintosh Foundation to support four placements as part of the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Scheme over 2023-2025.
We are delighted to announce the next two placements: MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton will host a two-person Resident Musical Theatre Writing Team to start in June 2024, and the National Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow will host a Resident Musical Theatre Composer to start in September 2024.
Through this scheme, professional musical theatre writers are paired with a company and given the opportunity to be involved in a range of work which could include writing/composing assignments on the host company’s projects, shadowing development/rehearsal processes, and working on development of their own musical theatre material. Recent hosts have included the Royal Shakespeare Company; Theatr Clwyd; Octagon Theatre; Hope Mill Theatre; The Lowry; and British Youth Music Theatre.
The successful recipients will receive an all-inclusive grant of £13,000 per individual writer, thanks to the generous support of The Mackintosh Foundation.
The MAST placement is expected to run June-November 2024 and the NTS placement to run September 2024 – February 2025, and applicants should be free to commit throughout that period. The successful recipient receives a grant calculated to cover six months of their time, sometimes spread over a longer period with gaps if by mutual agreement. The exact timetable and the projects to be worked on will be agreed in consultation between the composer and host organisation. The opportunity is open to any applicant resident in the UK. It’s expected the successful applicant will be based in Southampton or Glasgow for at least a significant portion of the six-month placement. MAST, NTS, MMD and MTN are committed to diversifying voices in new musical theatre writing and broadening the art form, and writers from backgrounds under-represented in musical theatre writing are encouraged to consider applying.
If you are interested in applying and for more information, please visit the Mercury Musical Developments website.
Sara Scott, Executive Director of MAST Mayflower Studios said: “We are delighted to be working with MTN and MMD to offer a placement for a writing team through the Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Scheme. We are really looking forward to them getting involved with us as we work towards our exciting celebration of Jane Austen in 2025. At MAST we are committed to artist development and the nurturing of new work so can’t wait to be involved in this important initiative.”
Jackie Wylie, Artistic Director – National Theatre of Scotland said: “We are delighted to be working in collaboration with MTN and MMD to host a Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer. Musicals play an important part in our artistic programme and offer to Scottish audiences. Successes include ‘My Left Right Foot – The Musical’ and most recently ‘Orphans’ and we have a number of new large-scale musicals currently under commission. We celebrate the opportunity to work closely with a Composer and MTN to help support our musical theatre ambitions.”
Natalia Scorer, Executive Director of Mercury Musical Developments (on behalf of co-ordinators MTN & MMD) said: “The Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer placements provide a fantastic opportunity for musical theatre writers to become embedded in a producing theatre or company, and we’re so happy to be launching these two exciting new placements for 2024. MAST and the National Theatre of Scotland are both committed to a culture of artist development and supporting new musicals and we look forward to working with both organisations to increase opportunities for new MT writing across the UK.”