Nancy Medina wins Peter Hall director award

Nancy Medina has been announced as the winner of the Royal Theatrical Support Trust’s Sir Peter Hall Director award.

The award, which is run in 2018 with the Royal and Derngate Northampton, is given to an emerging director who demonstrates “exceptional skills”.

As the winner of the 2018 award, Medina will get the opportunity to direct a full-scale, fully funded production to open in 2019 at the Royal and Derngate, as part of Made in Northampton, in a co-production with English Touring Theatre. The production will then tour to theatres across the UK.

The RTST will provide a grant of £50,000 to the Royal and Derngate towards the costs of the production.

Josh Seymour is the runner up of the prize.

Medina and Seymour were selected from 70 long-listed applicants by a panel which included Young Vic artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah and director Trevor Nunn.

Chairman of the RTST, Geoffrey Cass, said: “The 2018 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director award had eight finalists of the very highest quality, selected from a strong field of 70 candidates.

“Directing workshops – held over two full days, in which the finalists had to direct actors, observed by our immensely experienced panel of judges, and then be interviewed by the panel – constituted a thorough and exacting test of their directing skills.”