Birmingham Hippodrome’s New Work and Artist Development department has announced its first cohort in its bespoke artist development programme, Hippodrome Origins.

Led by Anna Himali Howard, New Work Manager at Birmingham Hippodrome and supported by Sophia Griffin, Head of New Work & Artist Development, the 18-month programme features eight theatre writers and makers from the West Midlands.

The group compromises of Amerah Saleh, Elizabeth O’Connor, Grace Barrington, Jaz Morrison, Louis Wharton, Nathan Sebastian Lafayette, Tina Hofman and Zakariye Abdillahi.

The creatives have an array of work and life experiences and a combined desire to expand their skillsets and create new theatre. Launched in November 2024, the programme will allow the artists to develop new ideas, stories and work, supported by the Hippodrome, with monthly group sessions to catch up with each other and receive peer support. At the end of the programme the work will be shared with a wider audience.

Anna Himali Howard, New Work Manager at Birmingham Hippodrome said: “This is a group of extraordinary West Midlands playwrights and theatremakers, all of whom are at a transitional point in their practice. We are so excited to support them in nurturing their artistry and creating new pieces. Some are moving across art forms, some into new subject matters or ways of making theatre. We are proud that these brilliant artists will have a home at the Hippodrome.”

Meet the first Hippodrome Origins cohort:

Amerah Saleh is a spoken word artist born and bred from Birmingham. Her Muslim Yemeni roots give her space to get lost and found on multiple occasions between identity. She is the Co-Founder of Verve Poetry Press. Amerah has performed all around Europe – her work touches on identity, womanhood, religion and the obscure idea of belonging only to one place.

Elizabeth O’Connor is a Birmingham-based writer. Her short stories have appeared in The White Review and Granta. Her debut novel, WHALE FALL, was published in 2024 by Picador in the UK and in fourteen other territories. It was chosen as one of the Observer’s ten best debut novels of the year, and as a notable book of 2024 by the New York Times and the New Yorker, among others. She is interested in nature and climate writing, and excited to work in a new form in playwriting.

Grace Barrington is a dramaturg and playwright based in Birmingham. She enjoys working on plays that embrace complexity, test form and ask questions that get under our skin. Outside of writing, she works to build better cultural infrastructure in the city, particularly exploring how we grow and sustain relationships that are rooted in care. As part of this, she also co-hosts “Writer’s Block” at Birmingham Hippodrome, a scratch night for local artists to test raw ideas for the stage.

Jaz Morrison is an artist-curator and writer who cares about community repair and culture-building. Her work often centres activities and provocations for group identities in both Black Britain and the Working Class West-Midlands. Sense-making and commemoration feature heavily in her writing, whether highlighting local activity in reviews; through research-inspired essays; and in the speculative.

Louis Wharton is a freelance theatre maker, based in the West Midlands. His creative practice seeks to combine queer storytelling with bold and inventive contemporary theatre processes. His experience ranges from performances in published texts and improvised musical theatre, to producing and directing original writing and devised productions. Recently, he founded his own theatre company, Milk No Sugar. MNS dedicates time, money, and resources to original writing on queer themes in the West Midlands.

Nathan Sebastian Lafayette is a Birmingham based multidisciplinary artist working within the realms of dance, music production and film. His work focuses on the themes of love, death, morality, connection, energy and growth; with a strong emphasis on pure and vulnerable honesty.

Tina Hofman is a theatre artist, creative producer, collaborator and an academic who emigrated to UK as a young person. Tina is creative co-director of Notnow Collective, Resident Creative at Curve Theatre and Live & Local and a co-founder of the UK’s a national movement Migrants in Theatre. Tina also investigates the representation of artists from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe in England’s arts ecology, funded by AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK).

Zakariye Abdillahi is a poet, performer, playwright and filmmaker from Birmingham. He is currently a roundhouse resident artist. Zakariye’s work often explores masculinity, faith and identity. His short poetry film ‘Cages’ has been broadcast on BBC 4 and BBC iPlayer. He has a forthcoming debut pamphlet due to be published with Bad Betty Press this year.

Hippodrome Origins forms a key part of the New Work and Artist Development department’s mission to make the Hippodrome a vibrant and supportive home for West Midlands creatives. Find out more about the New Work and Artist Development department here: www.birminghamhippodrome.com/hippodrome-projects/artists/artistdevelopment/