INSPIRE is a year-long programme that supports writers to develop new plays under the mentorship of the award-winning playwright Simon Stephens 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 2026 INSPIRE writers are: Shona Bukola Babayemi, Anjeli Chapman, Fergus Church, Hannah Doran, Kerry Fitzgerald, Logan Jones, Rianna Simons and Corey Weekes.
INSPIRE is made possible through the kind donations of our supporters: Andor Charitable Trust, Zmira & Rodney Hornstein, The Klein Family Foundation and Anatol Orient.
2026 INSPIRE Writers
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SHONA BUKOLA BABAYEMI
SHONA BUKOLA BABAYEMI
Shona Bukola Babayemi is a Writer and Actor from London; her first full play Boxes was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and performed at Soho Theatre. She was recently published in More Than One Story: An Anthology of Monologues on Homelessness and Poverty which debuted at Trafalgar Studios. Shona’s writing explores the lives of women living in the fractures of society; the failures to protect these women and how laughter is marbled in the grief of survival.
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ANJELI CHAPMAN
ANJELI CHAPMAN
Anjeli Chapman was part of David Byrne’s first playwriting group at the Royal Court in 2024. She used the program to develop her debut play Flinch. In 2025, Flinch won the Edward Albee Fellowship. It was performed as a staged reading in the main space at Soho Theatre in January 2026 and in February, Chapman won the Jerwood x Royal Court Commission for a new play.
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FERGUS CHURCH
FERGUS CHURCH
Fergus Church is a playwright and screenwriter from London, whose work uses folklore and history to explore contemporary queerness. Natural People, his debut play, was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize and received a rehearsed reading at Theatre503. His next play, Unidentified Objects, was written for the West London Playwrights’ Group at the Bush Theatre and was selected to be performed as part of the Omnibus Theatre’s Engine Room: Next Page festival in January 2026. He has also written three children’s books for Ladybird and has been a script reader for Sky, the BBC, and the Royal Court Theatre.
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HANNAH DORAN
HANNAH DORAN
Hannah Doran is a British-Irish playwright and screenwriter. Her debut play The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights won the 2024 Papatango Prize and the 2026 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She was nominated for Most Promising Playwright at the 2026 Critics’ Circle Awards, and for Best Writer at the Stage Debut Awards. The Meat Kings received its world premiere production at Park Theatre in 2025. Hannah is currently on attachment at the National Theatre, and is a mentor for the Jerwood HighTide Writers Group. Hannah’s short plays include MEGAman (Women+ On Democracy festival, 2026) and A Last Night On Earth (Aspen/NYC, 2017).
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KERRY FITZGERALD
KERRY FITZGERALD
Kerry Fitzgerald is a London-Irish working-class writer, actor and theatre-maker who writes darkly funny work about class, gender and social systems. She trained as an actor at Central School of Speech and Drama, on a scholarship. Her monologue Balloons was published by Nick Hern Books in Cardboard Citizens’ More Than One Story: An Anthology. In 2026 she contributed to Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s All The Rage at Theatre Deli. She is co-artistic director of punk feminist company Purple Ostrich Productions, whose work has toured across the UK and Denmark. Her screenwriting has been shortlisted for the BAFTA Rocliffe and she has multiple projects in development.
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LOGAN JONES
LOGAN JONES
Logan Jones is a writer from Bedford whose work explores loneliness, memory and masculinity. His play Age was longlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award and performed at Riverside Studios. As a member of Ricochet Theatre he established Bulletpoints, a series of new writing showcases, and was also shortlisted for the Charlie Hartill Award. He has written plays for St Paul’s Girls’ School and the West London Partnership youth theatre. His work has been described as ‘deeply affecting’ and ‘delicately understated’ by The Stage.
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RIANNA SIMONS
RIANNA SIMONS
Rianna Simons is a Bermudian-British playwright and writer. Her debut play White Girls Gang was shortlisted for the 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize and longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting as well as the Mustapha Matura Award. Rianna has worked with the Almeida Theatre as a part of their Anthem writer’s group and at the Royal Court Theatre on attachment as well as Playwrights Horizons (US), Williamstown Theatre Festival (US), and Soho Theatre as a part of their ReDraft writers’ group. She currently works at the National Theatre Archive.
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COREY WEEKS
COREY WEEKS
Corey Weekes is a writer, actor and musician whose credits include Grimeboy at Birmingham Rep, Miss Julie at Doncaster Cast and Netflix/BBC musical drama Champion featuring his original music. A Soho Theatre Writers Lab alumnus, his debut show Rapsody, co-written with Oli Dunbar, received the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Theatre Reserve and played Edinburgh Pleasance. He won the Off West End Adopt A Playwright Award 2023/24 and the Paines Plough 2025 Playwright Fellowship. Corey co-founded That’s A Rap touring a rap musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in 2025, and delivering creative programmes in Alternative Provision and Youth Justice. He is passionate about main-staging underrepresented voices told by those with lived experience.
