Summer Workshops

The records deal with aspects of organising the workshops and include a large quantity of correspondence. The matters covered range from very practical, such as arrangements with the theatres concerned, contracts with actors and distributing leaflets, to evaluative reports on the whole experience by the writers, dramaturgs and directors.

Until 1998 North West Playwrights held annual workshops as a block, usually in the summer. A deadline for plays to be submitted was published and a short-list drawn up from those submitted. A Sub-committee of the Board selected the final few for workshopping. The numbers chosen varied, but usually about six plays were chosen. There was obviously a competitive side to this process. After the workshops of 1998, it was decided that to concentrate on workshopping plays as a group at the same time could be a disservice to the writers. There was also a concern that the quality of plays might not necessarily remain consistent if a particular number was being sought each year. Writers are now given workshops as and when their script is deemed likely to benefit from the process. This means that the workshops themselves are less high profile, but that the writers are felt to benefit more.

The records were originally kept in large files, one for each year, with a degree of overlap. Each of these large files has been kept as a series, with the original subdivisions being used to form separate files at item level.