Boundless Theatre Announce Further Details For European Projects

As Extended Universe, a two-year project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, begins in Athens this week Boundless Theatre announce Nina Segal as the artist representing London.

Segal will be joined by an artist from each of the participating cities - in Copenhagen, Zara Lea Palmquist; in Athens, Christos Ikonomou and in Barcelona, Oriol Puig. They will work with teenagers and young adults in each country to explore narratives around power, utopia and youth culture in a transmedia storytelling project. This will culminate in May 2020 with four ambitious, digitally-connected pieces of work ranging from podcasts to work on stage. This project is designed to build a new independent teenage and young adult audience.

In addition, Boundless Theatre today announce Yolanda Mercy and Jessica Sian will lead the final year of Boundless Dialogue, a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Boundless Dialogue is an innovative playwriting partnership with the Theatre de la Cité in France and the Theatre National de Wallonie-Bruxelles in Belgium which connects teenagers from three European cities through the power of playwriting.

Mercy and Sian will work closely with groups of students from Sydenham School for Girls and Greenford High School in London to develop their playwriting skills and create short plays exploring the world as they see it. The work created though this project will be performed by teenagers in Brussels and Paris.

Rob Drummer, Artistic Director of Boundless Theatre, said today, "We are living through an extraordinary moment in time where what it is to be European and citizens of separate nations is shaping the future for a generation of young adults. Over the next two years we are proud to be in Europe, collaborating with artists who will explore ideas of utopia, power and youth culture. For us, it couldn't be more vital to reach across borders and tell stories that bring us together".

Yolanda Mercy credits as a writer include Quarter Life Crisis (UK tour - and was adapted for BBC Radio 1xtra). She was named Artist to Watch 2017 by the British Council and has been shortlisted for the BBC Audio Drama Awards. She is also currently Associate Writer at HighTide.

Nina Segal's credits include Dismantle This Room (Bush Theatre); Danger Signals (New Ohio, NY), Big Guns (Yard Theatre) and In The Night Time (Before The Sun Rises) (Gate Theatre/Orange Tree Theatre). Segal was a finalist for Theatertreffen Stückemarkt (2018) and the Yale Drama Series Prize (2016), a recipient of a HighTide First Commission, and a Project 2036 bursary recipient (Bush Theatre, 2017/18).

Jessica Sian is a South African playwright, her credits include Klippies and Kiki's Delivery Service (Southwark Playhouse). In 2019 she will be performing her one woman show Work B*tch at VAULT Festival. Sian was on the Royal Court's Young Writers Programme in 2013 and the Bush Theatre Emerging Writers Group in 2016/2017 has been nominated for an Off West End Award for Most Promising Playwright.

Boundless Theatre creates exhilarating, relevant and shareable theatre with and for young people. We empower, inspire and invest in future audiences and artists, promoting conversation and exchange across the UK and Europe. Since 1991 the company has pushed the boundaries of work made for and with young people, producing over 25 high quality productions.

We have worked with partners across Europe for 15 years delivering Pan-European partnership projects including Theatre Café (lead partner, Creative Europe funded) and Boundless Dialogue (Erasmus+ funded), to empower and inspire young adults through contact with high quality theatre artists across Europe.

Following a rebrand, the company is now audience-centric, with a focus on independent theatregoers aged 15-25. An advisory group of teenagers and young adults informs artists' decisions to make new work relevant, and we support the best young artists through our Associates programme now in its tenth year.

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