New Writing
Through collaboration with the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club and other university drama societies, we aim to support and nurture student writers and help them to develop their work toward production.
As well as producing full productions of new work on our mainstage and in our sister studio venue, the Corpus Playroom, we also provide a range of other resources for student writers in the area.
Student writers are encouraged to pitch their new works to us to be programmed in our upcoming seasons. Whether you envision being highly involved, perhaps as a writer-director, or you want a different creative team to take the lead for bringing the show to life, you are more than welcome to apply to have your work programmed at our venues.
Our Larkum Studio is a smaller venue which is frequently used to present rehearsed readings of works still being workshopped. This opportunity can again be applied for through pitching your production to the theatre.
Societies also create opportunities for new writing to be showcased at our venues with their support. Smörgåsbord is a bi-annual showcase of new student-written theatre presented at the Corpus Playroom by the Fletcher Players Society. The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club and the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society both enable pieces of new student writing to go to the Edinburgh and Camden Fringe Festivals each summer, and CUMTS also produce a Freshers' Musical, which is written by a student and performed and produced entirely by people getting involved with the ADC for the first time.
Signing up for society mailing lists and keeping an eye on the Vacancies page of Camdram are excellent ways of staying informed about opportunities to showcase your writing that are being forged by the student societies.
The ADC Theatre is always supportive of new writing, and we often programme a number of original plays/musicals at the Corpus Playroom each term. Evidence of script development is often required during the application stage before a piece of new writing will be considered for a full week-long run. Less developed scripts can be pitched as a rehearsed reading in the Larkum Studio.
Opportunities for script development include Marlowe's HATCH night or the Fletcher Players' Smorgasbord event every term. We would also encourage you to gather feedback from your peers or try workshopping / a table-read.
It is very unlikely that we will programme new writing in the ADC Mainshow slot without considerable evidence of script development.
Find out more about the student show application process here.
Papercuts is our rehearsed reading programme.
We believe that the best way to help writers and their work develop is to get the script on its feet and spoken.
If a script demonstrates potential and we would like to help the writer develop it further, we can offer a public rehearsed reading of the work as part of our Papercuts programme.
Papercuts is produced in the Larkum Studio at the ADC Theatre, and is intended to let the writer see their work given a simple staging.
We provide basic production support in the form of a space and stock furniture if required.
There are often one-night events running at the Corpus Playroom or ADC Bar to support the development of new writing before you submit your play to the show selection panel. Smorgasbord is run by the Fletcher Players at the Corpus Playroom while HATCH is run by the Marlowe Society in the ADC Bar. Both events typically take place every Michaelmas and Lent term. Check out Camdram to see which events are coming up soon!