She’s a-live. Northumbria and Live Theatre announce new joint Writer in Residence

Lindsay Rodden is the new joint Writer in Residence at Northumbria and Live Theatre.

The former Literary Associate at Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse will split her time between the theatre and the University where she will contribute to the teaching of Northumbria Performing Arts (NPA) courses as well as undertaking collaborative research.  She will also work with the literary department at Live Theatre where she will be tasked with researching and developing an idea for a new play.

Lindsay said: "I'm delighted to be the second writer-in-residence in this fantastic partnership and follow in the footsteps of Paddy Campbell.  So many of the playwrights I greatly admire have lit up the stage at Live Theatre, making theatre that really matters.  It's a real privilege to be resident at Live Theatre and I hope I can live up to my predecessors.  Being based at Northumbria as well is so inspiring – the staff and students have made me very welcome and I can't wait to see what the next year will bring."  

Speaking about the announcement, Steve Gilroy, Northumbria’s Director of Performing Arts, said: “Students and academic staff are looking forward to an exciting year working with Lindsay and our partner, Live Theatre. At Northumbria Performing Arts we engage students in professionally focussed projects with high-profile industry partners and Lindsay has a great range of experience as playwright and dramaturge and will be making a valuable contribution to the delivery of our creative programme over the coming months. We’re hoping that our relationship with Lindsay extends well beyond the year of the Residency – she already feels like one of the team.”

Gez Casey, Literary Manager at Live Theatre added: “We’re delighted that Lindsay Rodden will be joining us as our writer-in-residence with Northumbria University for 2016-17. With her Literary Associate skills, Lindsay brings with her a wealth of experience in new writing script development but is also a fantastically talented dramatist in her own right. With family connections in the north east, she is very familiar with Live Theatre and we look forward to working alongside her in a number of exciting projects over the next twelve months and beyond.”

This is second of year of Live Theatre and Northumbria University’s three-year collaborative residency programme running between 2015-2018. The first joint Writer in Residence was Paddy Campbell, writer of Live Theatre successes Wet House and Day of the Flymo, and a Northumbria University graduate.

Previous Writers in Residence at Live Theatre include Lee Hall whose work includes Billy Elliot, The Pitmen Painters and Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, and Julia Darling whose plays The Last Post, Attachment and Personal Belongings were developed during her time as Writer in Residence between 2001 and 2003.

The writer in residence programme is the cornerstone of an exciting and innovative partnership between Northumbria University Newcastle and Live Theatre, that seeks to create cultural collaborations that connect with the people of the North East, enhance teaching and learning, inspire new research, and connect academic research with the world of professional theatre.