Theatre publishers Nick Hern Books have launched The NHB Playgroup, a new initiative offering one free play each week to read and discuss, plus a Q&A with the writer. I joined right away!
Each Wednesday during the virus shutdown, Nick Hern Books will be making one play available for free, and inviting everyone who reads it to send in a question for the writer. They’ll then record a Q&A with them, which will be released as a podcast the following Wednesday, along with the next free play.
The first NHB Playgroup play is the Bruntwood Prize-winning “Yen” by Anna Jordan, which premiered at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, in 2015, before transferring to The Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016. Other writers lined up for The NHB Playgroup include James Fritz, Winsome Pinnock, Enda Walsh, Stef Smith and Ella Hickson, with further names to be announced.
The plays will all be made freely available to read online, with readers invited to submit questions by the end of Sunday for the opportunity to be included in the Q&A. Throughout the week, NHB readers to keep the discussion of the play going online, using the hashtag #NHBPlaygroup on Twitter to share their thoughts with everyone else who’s reading.
More information about The NHB Playgroup can be found online at https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/playgroup, or by emailing playgroup@nickhernbooks.co.uk.
Photo: Justice Smith, Ari Graynor, and Lucas Hedges star in Anna Jordan’s Yen, directed by Trip Cullman for MCC, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
(© Joan Marcus)