Katherine Parkinson's debut play to be produced by BBC Arts in Edinburgh

The IT Crowd star and actress Katherine Parkinson is to have her debut play staged at the Edinburgh Festival as part of a new initiative from the BBC.

The play, called Sitting, runs as part of the Gilded Balloon's Edinburgh season, which was announced today, and runs throughout August. It has been commissioned by BBC Arts as part of Debut, which encourages writers who have never penned anything for the stage to write a play.

Other names in the scheme are Bim Adewunmi, the senior editor for BuzzFeed News and Guardian columnist, TV writer Beryl Richards with Diamond , and comedian Frank Skinner Nina's Got News.

The writers were approached at the beginning of the year and asked to submit an hour-long first draft of a play.

Parkinson is due to star in the National Theatre and Theatre Clwyd's production of Home, I'm Darling later this year.

Elsewhere in the Gilded Balloon season, Niall Ransome's FCUK'D will run following a staging in London, while Scottish theatre and talent at the venue includes Morna Young with Aye Elvis and Ruaraidh Murray, who writes and stars in The Junkies.

Luisa Omielan, Henry Naylor, and David Baddiel also feature in the programme.