FIRST DATE Anne-Marie O’Connor 15 GETTING IT RIGHT Peter Spafford 22 RESULTS DAY Aelish Michael 28 CLOSE TO HOME Mary Cooper 35 WEIGHED DOWN Carla Jo Monvid-Jenkinson with Mary Cooper 43 GIGGSY’S LEGS Michael Harvey 52 Suggestions for Follow Up Work 59
M6 Theatre Company, founded in 1977 and based in Rochdale, is acknowledged as one of Britain's leading theatre companies specialising in creating and delivering high-quality theatre for young audiences Touring to over 12,000 young people per year, the Company is respected for its quality, diversity and innovation. M6 is committed to making a positive contribution to the lives of children and young adults through the medium of rich, creative and accessible theatre.Anne-Marie O'Connor writes for TV and Radio as well as having written two Irish best-selling novels; Everyone's Got a Bono Story and My Made Up Life. Her radio play, Out of Season was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2006 and she has written for the second series of BBC1's Waterloo Road. She has co-written a film for BBC America and UK Broadcast entitled Hash Granny and is working on a variety of projects both within the comedy and drama genres including a pilot comedy in conjunction with screenwriter Paul Abbott entitled Stage Fright. First Date was written as a monologue. It was her first writing commission and was based on the Machiavellian ways of the main girl bully at her school in Bradford.Peter Spafford's first commissions were large-scale community plays, two of them for the Shaw Theatre, London. Since then he has written plays for touring companies, including an adaptation of Silas Marner for Theatre Company Blah, Blah, Blah and Change Of Mind, a play about Alzheimer's Disease which was toured internationally by Mind The Gap. He has written plays for radio, including the verse play Soft Stones, and the trilogy The Wrong Side Of The River with Mary Cooper. Peter has also written for musical theatre and opera including, most recently, two operas for Ryedale Festival, Maggio's Magic and A Pig's Tale. Much of his work takes place in community settings, such as schools, hospitals and prisons. The monologue Getting It Right grew out of a two year residency with 'Father Figures' in Sheffield, an agency supporting lone fathers. He is currently writer-in-residence at The Royal Armouries in Leeds.Aelish Michael has been a playwright since completing her post-graduate diploma in writing for performance at Arden School of Theatre three years ago. As well as plays for young people, she has written a number of plays for adults. Flying Solo won a one-act play competition run by the Ashton group in Barrow-In-Furness (2006) and her full-length play, Children of the Moors, toured the North West in Autumn 2007. Results Day was written to highlight the huge responsibilities that some young people have to bear, and also as a result of talking to a group of young carers. Mary Cooper has written extensively for stage, radio and television. Her work for the stage has been performed and/or commissioned by companies throughout England and Wales including Eastern Angles, Red Ladder, Theatr Powys, Theatr Clwyd, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Sheffield Crucible, Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, Action Transport, Watford Palace, Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke and Remould Theatre, Hull. Breathing Space, was performed at the Toronto Young People's Theatre Festival in May 2003 where it was nominated for a DORA award. Wobbly Eggs, her first radio play, was short-listed for the Richard Imison Award and the Mental Health in the Media awards. Since 1997 she has written six single plays for BBC Radio 4 and a ten-part series Such Sweet Possession. For television, Alarmed, written with Peter Spafford was a winner in the Granada/Yorkshire Television New Voices Scheme. She has worked with Tutti Frutti productions and Clean Break Theatre.Michael Harvey first became interested in theatre when taken to rehearsals as a baby by his father who was a theatre musician. He started writing in earnest when he gave up teaching full-time. His first play Andy In Dire Straits about one man's response to having AIDS was produced by RealLife Theatre Company, who also produced his plays Skin, Threads and Billy Do. Paines Plough produced his Where The Sun Was. His commissioned play Black Love was produced by Black Arts Development Project in London and on tour. He wrote a dramatisation of Longfellow's poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish. He has been Writer-In-Residence at Arden Theatre School. He remembers what it was like to be a teenager and gay, and Giggsy's Legs was written with that in mind.
'Excellent - they were completely captivated by both the powerful scripts and performances.' Prestwich Arts College 'Spellbound! Throughout the performances and at the end of the session, our students asked mature & relevant questions' Woodhey High School 'Our Students had a fantastic experience. ALL TALK benefited all of our students, it gave them the opportunity to think and discuss.' Townley High school
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