Hello! We are very happy you have chosen to read this. This document will tell you all you need to know about Live Drafts The Yard’s festival of new ideas, and how to submit your work to us. Live Drafts is an opportunity to test an idea with a live audience. This could be the first time it’s been put before an audience, or it could be the second, third or fourth time you’ve tried it out Either way, your idea is a working, live, draft. We look forward to hearing from you. ABOUT THE YARD "There is too much looking back in the world of theatre. The Yard is about the future and ensuring that art can be accessed by the many both in terms of writing and watching." Audience member ​ Founded in 2011 by Artistic Director Jay Miller, The Yard is a multi-award winning theatre in Hackney Wick, East London. The Yard is committed to providing a space for artists to test and grow new ideas, and for audiences to be united in experiencing something new. In six years, The Yard has become “the most important theatre in East ​ London” (Time Out), committed to: ​ ● Producing ground-breaking new work ● Discovering and developing vital new voices ● Telling urgent stories about our world today We discover and develop artists whose work fuels the theatre of the future, often first meeting artists after they send in an idea to our open submissions. Artists who have made work with us this way include: ● Michaela Coel: As a local 19 year old, Michaela applied to The Yard with her show Chewing Gum Dreams. Following its run at The Yard the show ​ ​ went on to receive the Alfred Fagon Award for Best British Black Play, transfer to the National Theatre, tour internationally, and become a BAFTA award-winning series for E4. ● Josh Azouz: Josh’s first show as writer, The Mikvah Project, played a ​ ​ sold-out, extended run at The Yard, receiving substantial acclaim. Josh has since received commissions from Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Bush Theatre. In The Yard’s short existence we have played to countless sold-out audiences, transferred two shows to the National Theatre and received numerous awards including two Peter Brook Empty Space awards. Success has also led to partnerships with leading organisations including Fierce Festival, the Young Vic, 2 Royal Court Theatre, HighTide Festival Theatre, Clean Break and many more. In 2017 we were invited by Arts Council England to join the National Portfolio 2018-22. We’re not showing off. We’re just trying to persuade you to write to us. “The future has arrived in Hackney Wick in the form of The Yard” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian THE YARD PROGRAMME The Yard is about new ideas, new writing and the live event. Our work bridges ‘theatre’ and ‘performance’. This means sometimes we make shows led by writers/directors, and sometimes we make shows by performers/makers. But definitions, or defined processes, don’t really matter to us. We’re interested in work which is about contemporary stories and ideas, that are communicated in the present moment, that remind us of our lived experience. The Yard has a flexible programming structure, designed to adapt to shows at all stages of their development, and to artists who make work across the spectrum of theatre and performance. Our yearly programme includes: - Live Drafts, a public sharing of a new idea. - NOW, our festival of new performance in double-bill over 5 performances. - NEXT, a new festival launching in 2018, which will showcase artists who we think will be redefining theatre in the very near future. - 2 - 5 week runs of new shows, produced by us or made in collaboration with other artists and companies who we commission. 3 THE BUILDING Designed and built within a disused warehouse overlooking the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, The Yard is split into two sections – one housing the theatre, and the other holding the bar. Made with recycled and reclaimed materials, the theatre seats 110 in a fully raked amphitheatre, a fusion of classical architecture within a modern, industrial environment. The stage is large (8m x 8m), with a somewhat uneven (if beautiful) concrete floor - dance artists please note this. There are four performer entrances and exits and excellent acoustics. In our bar we serve great drinks, and food from resident chefs The Omni Collective. Alongside our theatre we have an inspiring music and events programme, including parties every Friday and Saturday, which have people dancing at The Yard until late. 4 ABOUT LIVE DRAFTS Live Drafts - which was previously First Drafts - is a chance for artists to develop new ideas and stories, and test them in front of an audience. We first launched First Drafts back in 2015, when we worked with 5 artists to develop and test new shows, including those which would become Made ​ Visible written by Deborah Pearson, and Removal Men written by M. J. ​ ​ ​ Harding. Last year’s First Drafts festival saw the first outing of Company Three’s The Act and A New and Better You written by Joe Harbot and directed ​ ​ ​ by Cheryl Gallacher, now full length shows in our Spring/Summer 2018 Season. Live Drafts is a permanent and essential part of our programme It is The Yard’s entry-point for new work, and one of the primary ways we get to meet artists. There will likely be two Live Drafts festivals per year. Live Drafts is a platform to share new work, but it’s also the start of a journey. We want Live Drafts to be a place to grow from, as we form an artistic relationship which we hope will lead to further conversations and support for what you want to make. Please note. In the past we have opened submissions for NOW festivals, because we hosted a double bill on each week, and one of the artists had submitted an idea to us. We are changing things. Live Drafts is now the only way you can submit an idea to us to test on The Yard stage. If you’re invited to be part of Live Drafts, we’ll help grow your idea by offering practical support and an environment in which to take risks. We’ll offer artistic/producing/technical resource (e.g. tech time, reading your funding applications), rehearsal space, and the theatre space for a sharing of your idea in double bill with another artist. Your work will probably be between 20 and 45 minutes in length. We’ll be around for cups of tea and post-sharing evaluations. We’ll invite you to see other Live Drafts sharings and have a conversation about what work excites you. 5 WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR We’re looking for ideas and stories that are still being developed - rather than finished scripts or shows. Ideas that will benefit from the Live Drafts format, and are in need of our support. Your idea could be at an embryonic stage and live drafts is the first time it is tested out in front of an audience, or you may have shown the idea once or twice before but you want to try something new or developed. What’s important is that your idea is a living, working draft and that putting it before an audience will help its development. Because The Yard programmes work that sits at the meeting point between genres of theatre and performance, we want the range of Live Drafts sharings to reflect this. So we’re looking for new work from writers, directors, makers and performers. Artists who make ‘new writing’ and those who make ‘live art’ - as well as artists who don’t know how to categorise their work, or don’t want to. We want Live Drafts to be a space where new artists can flourish but also where more experienced artists can try something too. Live Drafts doesn’t discriminate between people, it only differentiates between the ideas that are sent to us. So we’re also looking for artists at all experience levels - everyone from those just starting out, to those who’ve made a few shows before but want to try something new. WHAT IS A SHARING? A sharing is an informal performance of your show. It can have many different forms. Here are some options: ● It might be a ‘roughly-made’ portion of a show that you want to make. ● It is unlikely to just be a sit down reading. It might be a ‘staged’ reading - something that shows how the writing could be made to live. ● It might be a dance. A sharing in the context of Live Drafts is essentially just that - a living draft and this may be interpreted in a number of ways. What’s most important though, is that this is not a finished show. We are excited to read how you interpret the phrase. The only catch is that we ask each idea to not rely on technical provision in the theatre. We can offer basic support - which probably means the hosting of a few props, a few lights, and a few sound cues, but not much else. If you need any more tech in the theatre then this may not be the right opportunity for you. So. The common thread tying Live Drafts ideas together is that they are a working draft they are about our world today, and they’ll benefit from a sharing on The Yard stage. 6 PLEASE NOTE: we are focussed on supporting artists who do not currently have access to resources and networks through which to share their work.