the inspire programme

INSPIRE is a year-long programme that supports writers to develop new plays under the mentorship of the award-winning playwright Roy Williams and Hampstead’s artistic associates.

The INSPIRE programme provides one-to-one dramaturgical sessions, readings and tailored talks by established playwrights ending with a sharing of their play in an industry showcase at the end of the academic year. Joining the programme is by invitation only.

The 2024 INSPIRE writers are: Naomi Denny, Nancy Farino, Elisabeth Gunawan, Aaron Kilercioglu, David Perason, Katie Redford, Kate Reid and Amy Powell Yeates.

INSPIRE is made possible through the kind donations of our supporters:
Fenton Arts Trust, Garrick Charitable Trust, Zmira & Rodney Hornstein, The Klein Family Foundation, Anatol Orient, Jon & NoraLee Sedmak.

INSPIRE 2024 WRITERS’ BIOS

Naomi Denny 

Naomi is an Bajan & English writer and actor. She is a Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab Alumni and the first recipient of Tamasha Theatre Company’s artist mentorship programme. Recent work includes Still We Roar (Wembley Stadium), Unseen Unheard (Theatre Peckham), Pride (National Trust), All The Happy Things (Tony Craze Award Shortlisted, Theatre 503), Sunrise Madelines (Omnibus Theatre, 37 Plays longlist), and Essentially Black (Soho Theatre, Camden Peoples Theatre, Camden Fringe). She has also written for Rikki Beadle-Blair’s anthologies for young actors, Lit and Fierce, and her play Essentially Black is now being adapted for TV.  In audio, her narrative podcast The Waters Of Lethe was shortlisted for NBC’s Overheard podcast competition and is currently in development. Naomi’s aims as a writer are to bring the untold stories of Global Majority individuals to the forefront, and to approach difficult topics from a place of joy and love.

Nancy Farino

Nancy Farino is a writer and actor from the West Midlands. She trained in acting at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has since worked with Netflix, Apple, BBC and Sky. She began co-writing and producing plays in 2017, credits include; Twenty Something (Old Red Lion, Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Blessings (Camden Peoples Theatre). Most recently, her latest play, Fatherland, had a week of development at National Theatre Studios. Alongside this, Nancy has been developing projects for TV with a focus on comedy.

Elisabeth Gunawan

Elisabeth Gunawan is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning writer and performer. As founder of the artistic collective Saksi Bisou, her work seeks to decolonise the imagination, to empower people and create spaces of belonging. Her work has been supported by partners including New Diorama (Intervention01), the Royal Court, Barbican Centre (Open Lab), Lighthouse Poole (Sanctuary Program), Kakilang, Shoreditch Town Hall and The Pleasance, among others. She wrote and performed Unforgettable Girl, which had its world premiere at Edinburgh Fringe 2023 at Pleasance as one of the winners of the Charlie Hartill Fund. The piece has received critical acclaim including 5-star reviews from The Stage, Theatre Weekly and The Reviews Hub, and won multiple awards including the OFFFest award at VOILA! Festival, Best Performer in a Play in The Stage Debut Awards 2022 and Best Writing from Theatre Weekly’s Best of the Fest. SAKSI BISOU is currently developing three new pieces: Stamping in the Graveyard explores the trauma of displacement and rootlessness through the figure of an AI Chatbot at the end of the world; Three Sisters: Subtle, Vague & Ambiguous is a dark comedy that explores stories as sites of struggle; Prayers for a Hungry Ghost uses the myth of hungry ghosts to uncover the dehumanising logic of model minority narratives. She is also conducting her practice-based PhD at Goldsmiths University researching the bouffonesque and the grotesque through the lens of decolonization and intersectional feminism—a research that was rooted in her Developing Your Creative Practice project ‘Myths, Stories and Worlds’ research (née ‘Mythical Storytelling’, 2021) and her residency at the Grotowski Institute (2021-2022). As an actor and deviser, she has performed across the UK in the Bristol Old Vic, Soho Theatre, HOME Manchester, and Northern Stage, with companies and artists including Ad Infinitum, Flabbergast Theatre, and the filmmaker Eelyn Lee.

Aaron Kilercioglu

Aaron is a writer and director based in London. He is currently writing his debut feature film for Karga7 Pictures, an original play for Eleanor Lloyd Productions in London, and an adaptation of a TV series for Zorlu PSM in Istanbul. His most recent play The EU Killed My Dad, won the Woven Voices Prize. Staged at Jermyn Street Theatre, the show was nominated for 2 Offie Awards. His previous play, For a Palestinian, enjoyed a sell-out 3-week run at the Camden People’s Theatre, before transferring to, and selling out, the Bristol Old Vic Theatre. Both are published with Methuen Drama. His previous work has been shortlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Prize, and won the BOLD Playwrights Prize as well as the Methuen Drama ‘Other’ Prize. Aaron has been a member of numerous associations and groups including, the Old Vic Playwriting, Bush Theatre Emerging Writers, Royal Court Young Agitators, and London Library Emerging Writers. His short films have been screened at festivals across the globe. His latest, produced by Milk Machine and Shy Girl, is beginning its festival circuit in early 2025. He also translates between English, German, and Turkish.

David Pearson

David Pearson is a playwright from Reading. His short and one act plays have been performed in Bedford, Reading and across London, including his monologue Behind You which was staged at the Camden Fringe Festival and The Churchill Theatre in Bromley. His short radio play The Visit was performed on Ocean City Radio and his play From The Trees To The Dirt was shortlisted for the Bold Playwrights Scheme. He has been longlisted for Pint-Sized, HighTide and Ink Festival and was a member of Broken Silence Theatre’s 2023 Playwrights Hive.

Katie Redford

Katie is a BAFTA Rocliffe TV Comedy Winner. She was on the BBC Comedy Writersroom and Soho Theatre Writers Lab. Her short film GHOSTED starring Alison Steadman, which she co-wrote, produced & performed in, was supported by BFI Network and Film Hub Midlands. Her debut audio drama Yellow Lips aired on BBC Radio 4 in 2021, which she also plays the lead in and was nominated for The Imison Award. Her debut stage play Tapped opened at Theatre503 in 2022 and went on a UK regional tour the following year, which Katie received an Offie nomination for for Most Promising New Playwright. In 2023, she was a writer in residence with Theatre Centre who commissioned her next play Wish You Weren't Here, which opened at at Sheffield Theatres in 2024, followed by a UK tour including Soho Theatre and Northern Stage.

Kate Reid

Kate Reid is a Northern Irish-English writer and performer. She trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (2016-18), Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab (2021-22), and the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course (2023-24). Her writing credits for stage include: A Girl, Standing (Theatre503), Refract (King’s Head Theatre) and The 4th Country (Park Theatre). Her writing credits for screen include: Age Of Outrage (BBC One) and The Other Half (Dave). Last year she won Theatre Royal Haymarket’s Pitch Your Play Competition, and in 2024 she was selected for NFTS & Sony's Diverse Writers Development Programme and the BBC Comedy Collective. (www.katereid.co.uk / @Kate__Reid / k8.reid)

Amy Powell Yeates

Amy is a Welsh playwright and screenwriter with a background in devised approaches. Her debut full-length play, Little Deaths, premiered at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe 2024 programme. Her short work has been staged at Theatre 503, Arcola, Vaults, Betsey Trotwood and the Glitch. Previously she was selected for the London Library Emerging Writer's Programme for her playwriting. She trained at the Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds.