Winner of Theatre503's 2018 International Playwriting Award announced

The winner of this year's Theatre503 International Playwriting Award has been announced.

Danusia Samal has been announced as the winner at a ceremony at the Bridge Theatre, hosted by Theatre503 chair Erica Whyman and artistic director Lisa Spirling.

Samal is an actor, writer and singer from London who spent part of her childhood in the Middle East. She receives a £6,000 prize for her play Out of Sorts, which will be produced at Theatre503 in 2019.

The play was chosen from a shortlist of five plays, selected from over 2,055 scripts submitted from 49 countries. The prize panel included journalist Lyn Gardner, Audible's commissioning producer for theatre Abigail Gonda, playwrights Stephen Beresford, Alice Birch, Chinonyerem Odimba and Roy Williams, and Theatre503 artistic director Lisa Spirling. The award is open to submissions from anyone who has yet to have had a full-length play produced professionally in a subsidised London, or major regional/international venue for 4 weeks or more.

The other shortlisted plays were: Milk and Gall by Mathilde Dratwa, Meat by Gillian Greer, In That Short Space by Joel MacCormack, and Before Evening Comes by Philana Imade Omorotionmwan.

The theatre also announces its new season, with There is a Field by Martin Askew and directed by Esther Baker running in February, Ross Willis' Wolfie, directed by Spirling, opening in March, The Amber Trap by Tabitha Mortiboy and directed by Hannah Hauer-King running in April and J'Ouvert by Yasmin Joseph and directed by Rebekah Murrell opening in May.