Theatre News

Shortlists and judges announced for Kevin Spacey award

Recipients receive £10,000 in funding and year-round support for their projects

Killian Donnelly and Cynthia Erivo are among the judges in the Musical Theatre category
Killian Donnelly and Cynthia Erivo are among the judges in the Musical Theatre category
© Dan Wooller

The Kevin Spacey Foundation, official charity of the WhatsOnStage Awards, has announced the shortlists for its Artists of Choice 2016.

KSF Artists of Choice is a pioneering funding and mentoring initiative, which supports a range of artists working four different disciplines in the UK, US and Canada.

Recipients receive £10,000 or $10,000 in funding, year-round in kind support from the Foundation and an industry mentor.

The judging panel includes playwright Anna Ziegler, director Lyndsey Turner and actors Beverley Knight, Killian Donnelly and Cynthia Erivo.

The twelve winners will be announced in mid May 2016.

Kevin Spacey, Founder of KSF said: "I am proud to say that our Artists of Choice program has become hugely successful in the discovery of new work by some incredible emerging artists. And once again I am heartened by the calibre of the judging panel who are so eager to give back and support these hugely diverse artists."

Full shortlist of KSF Artists of Choice 2016

Theatre

Hardline Productions Redpatch; Playing with Crayons Secrets; Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre Except in the Unlikely Event of War; The Red Light District Lulu; PO Box 38 Jazz; Andy Bragan Theatre Project Don’t You F**king Say A Word; Hook and Eye Theater She/She/She; This Is Not A Theatre Company Subway Play,; Matthew Barbot El Coquil Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom; Murphy & Co. Carry on Jaywick; Nabokov’s Slug; Squint Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail; Not Too Tame Blood is Thicker than Water and FIO Untitled.

Dance

Frog in Hand Creature; Inverso Productions Spooky Action at a Distance; Aeriosa Untitled; Social Growl Dance Drunk on Fiction; Eryc Taylor Dance Inc. Lumen; Arias Company A Rather Lovely Thing; Ephrat Asherie Dance Riff This, Riff That; J Chen Project The Shadow and The Like; Traverse City Dance Project Dances of the Present Millennium; Protocol Dance Company Untitled; Neoballet Untitled; Autin Dance Theatre A Positive Life; Decalage Fantom Limbs and Impermanence Dance Theatre Untitled.

Musical Theatre

Touchstone Theatre The longing and the Short of It; Urban Ink Productions Children of God; Atomic Vaudeville Action Revue Feel the Fight; Naomi Matlow ThreeTimesFast; Kamala Sankaram The Privacy Show; Prospect Theatre Company; Inc. Soldiers’ Heart; Nick Luckenbaugh Royal Fables; The Lizards Untitled; Adam Lenson/Christopher Ash/Carl Miller Wasted; Chris Turner Cuckoo’s Nest; Eamonn O’Dwyer Fanny and Stella; Rhys Jennings The Wicker Husband.

Film

Shervin Kermani Untitled; The Same Page Untitled; Nick Citton Mary God of War; Bright Shadow Productions Inc. Unintentional Mother; Green Brothers Monsters of Men; Crone Heights Heather Has Four Mommies; Cynthia Silver The Shallow End; Lioneyes Pictures Little Boxes; Kimberly Hwang Walk Home; Picturewheel Films Untitled; Oscar Hudson Untitled; Bear Print Films Out of his Misery; Pratyusha Gupta and Emma Duffy Oysters; Isabella Wing-Davey Unable Worms.