Papatango Prize announces winning script set in a Brooklyn butcher's shop

A story of friendship and betrayal in a New York butcher’s shop will receive its premiere staging at London’s Park Theatre next year after its writer scooped the Papatango New Writing Prize.

Hannah Doran’s The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights will debut in the London venue’s 200-seat auditorium Park200, after fending off competition from Papatango’s record number of entrants.

Some 1,589 people had sent in their scripts to Papatango – with organisers saying it proves the competition’s supremacy as the biggest annual playwriting scheme in the country.

Doran said: "I can’t believe I’ve won. I’ve been writing plays (and getting rejections) for more than a decade. I’m thrilled to debut with a company and a theatre who both really champion emerging playwrights and take risks on new work."

Papatango’s George Turvey and Chris Foxon added: "After a record number of entries, we and our new partners at Park Theatre were spoiled for choice in this year’s shortlist – all of them big, bold plays tackling profound themes with wit and originality. But Hannah’s writing stood out.

"Vividly theatrical, confronting social and economic systems nearing crisis, and with a gorgeous, witty ensemble of characters, we can’t wait to develop it over the next year and then get cooking in Park200. If we want ambitious stories for today, then new writers need to be given the chance to shine on big stages, not just be confined to studios."

Set in the cold cuts room of Cafarelli and Sons, The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights is a story about "navigating power, identity and privilege", Doran said.

Artistic director of Park Theatre Jez Bond said the story’s "pressure-cooker" setting would "marry with the intimacy of our auditorium" perfectly.

Judged anonymously, the Papatango New Writing Prize guarantees a new writer a full production, publication by Nick Hern Books, a royalty of 8% of the box office and a £7,500 commission with full developmental support. Every entrant receives feedback on their script.

Other writers produced under the prize include Laura Waldren and Samuel Bailey, while Doran’s fellow shortlisted writers this year were Noga Flaishon, for Memoriam, Daniel Grimston, for Corpselight, Patty Kim Hamilton, for Peeling Oranges, and Rhys Warrington, for Monument.