Michael Grandage bursary scheme to include casting director as recipients announced

More than 30 emerging theatremakers have been awarded bursaries from Michael Grandage’s charity, under an expansion of the scheme.

In 2020, the charity awarded 18 bursaries, but this has increased to 33 this year, covering disciplines including directing, writing, designing and choreography. For the first time, there is also a bursary for a casting director, alongside new partnerships with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre for a trainee literary associate, and Pilot Theatre, which will host two creative assistants.

Grandage’s charity, MGCfutures, offers both financial and ongoing mentoring support to recipients who come from across the UK.

The recipients include casting director Christopher Worrall and director Lilac Yosiphon.

Worrall said he had been ineligible for any government support during the pandemic, describing the impact as “devastating”.

“This bursary will help safeguard my career so that I can be ready to bounce back when theatres reopen. I’m especially grateful that MCGfutures has awarded someone in casting for the first time. Thank you for recognising casting as a viable and deserving craft within our industry,” he added.

Yosiphon will adapt her grandfather’s book The Shoes of Tanboury into a show for young audiences.

Grandage said this year felt “more vital than ever before to support and nurture the theatremakers of the future and to create new work by offering them money, time and mentorship”.

“The charity continues to support the vast network of jobs that make up the whole theatre ecology, as we believe it is only this way we can build an industry for the future,” he said.

The expansion of this year’s scheme was made possible with support from the Theatre Community Fund, which is headed by Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Francesca Moody. It donated £300,000 to the charity to support bursaries over the next three years.

Alongside Worrall and Yosiphon, the full list of recipients is: Waleed Akhtar, Tom Bellerby, Rebecca Brewer, Teresa Burns, Ghost Chan, Zhui Ning Chang, Liz Daramola, Beth Flintoff, Burn/Gobscure, Sam Hardie, Natalie Haslam, Kitty Hawkins, Courtenay Johnson, Eve Kann, Júlia Levai, Tom Lightbody, Rafaella Marcus, Tony Mills, Will Monks, Madelaine Moore, Laurie Motherwell, Anna Orton, Nisha Oza, Claire Rimington, Luke W Robson, Nye Russell-Thompson, Lucía Sánchez Roldán, Amber Sinclair-Case, Freya Smith, Lexie Ward and Naomi Westerman.