Michael Grandage awards 13 bursaries including placement year at Derby Theatre

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MGCfutures bursary winners 2025

Director Michael Grandage has announced the recipients of his eighth year of bursary funding for up-and-coming theatremakers, including support for a year-long placement at Derby Theatre.

The MGCfutures scheme will this year support projects including the development of a new musical about Jewish immigrants in Renaissance Italy, a sea-inspired family show and a play set in a haunted pub.

In addition, a new partnership between MGCfutures and Derby Theatre will support a 12-month placement at the venue as an engagement communications producer, with the theatre’s artistic director, Sarah Brigham, welcoming Cai Kennedy to the team.

She said: "We are thrilled that Cai Kennedy has been awarded the Derby Theatre bursary and will be joining us as our engagement communications producer. This role will be instrumental in sharing the story of Derby Theatre as a theatre with its civic purpose at its heart, amplifying the voices of our communities and ensuring everyone feels a part of what we do. We can’t wait to see the impact Cai will make as part of our team."

The 13 recipients range from a video designer to the bursary scheme’s first ever theatrical tailor.
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Writer Rachel Bellman and composer Eden Tredwell will put the funding towards developing a musical about the Jewish community spurring on the historic Italian cosmetic trade, while designer Layla Bradbeer will embark on a reading and development process aimed at exploring the language of puppetry.

Director Imy Wyatt Corner received the Nicole Kidman bursary to develop a play about a woman who conned her way into the all-male elite magicians’ society, the Magic Circle, while Emergency Chorus leaders Ben Kulvichit and Clara Potter-Sweet will use the support to workshop a stage piece about surveillance and privacy.

Emma Higham, meanwhile, is to work on The Girl and the Dinosaur, a show for all ages inspired by the sea and set to feature workshops at Worthing Children’s Hospital.

Writers Jack MacGregor and Jasmin Mandi-Ghomi will research and write plays about the world’s biggest oil companies and a haunted pub, respectively.

Meanwhile, producer Rebecca Prentice is to channel the support into her production company, Prentice Productions, and its development of a show about lesbian activist Joan Baker, while video designer Virginie Taylor will put her bursary towards learning a high-end video design system.

Theatrical tailor David Wood is to set up his own costume-making studio for theatre and performance, and sound designer and composer Xana will develop a musical audio play about a warrior queen in Jamaica.

MGCfutures founder Grandage said: "This year’s diverse group of practitioners represents a broad range of specialist skills in the theatre industry: three writers, a producer, a director, a video designer, a sound artist, a choreographer and three theatremakers, as well as our first theatrical tailor and a new traineeship at Derby Theatre.

"It’s clear that the need for the unique support that we offer is increasingly urgent. In these uncertain times it’s really tough for those trying to establish their careers, and it’s vital that we nurture and support new talent in order to help them become established in the theatre industry."

Established in 2013 by Grandage, MGCfutures is a charity aimed at supporting the next generation of theatremakers.

The bursary programme launched in 2016 and has so far awarded more than £500,000 to more than 140 practitioners.