Hannah Doran Wins 16th Annual Papatango New Writing Prize With THE MEAT KINGS! (INC.) OF BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

Papatango has announced that Hannah Doran has won the 16th annual Papatango New Writing Prize for her play The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights, from 1,589 entries – a record number for the Prize, meaning it continues to be the biggest annual playwriting scheme in the UK.

The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights is set in the cold cut room of New York butchers Cafarelli & Sons. It explores friendship and betrayal in the modern workplace. As part of the Prize’s new partnership with Park Theatre, Doran’s debut play will have its world première in Park200 at Park Theatre in 2025 – with full information to be announced.

Hannah Doran said, “I can't believe I've won. I’ve been writing plays (and getting rejections) for over 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. The play is rooted in my own experience working in a New York butchers and navigating power, identity and privilege in that setting.”

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 confined to studios."

Jez Bond, Artistic Director of Park Theatre says, "I was thrilled with the wealth of talent in the shortlisted plays. Above all of them one playwright stood out in terms of both the ideas in their script and also in their thoughtful responses as to how they intended to take the play to the next level. Together with Papatango, we are really excited to bring Hannah Doran’s The Meat Kings to the Park200 stage, where the pressure cooker of the setting will marry with the intimacy of our auditorium to provide a truly engaging piece of theatre.”

Judged anonymously, the Papatango New Writing Prize was the UK’s first, and remains the only annual, opportunity guaranteeing a new writer a full production – for 2025 in Park200 at Park Theatre, publication by Nick Hern Books, a royalty of 8% of the box office, and a £7,500 commission with full developmental support.

In addition, every entrant receives feedback on their script – a commitment made by no other company, especially significant as the Prize averages more submissions on a yearly basis than any other playwriting award.

Hannah Doran is a British-Irish playwright and screenwriter whose work has been developed and workshopped in the UK, US and Australia. Doran received her MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2018. She was selected for the National MFA Playwrights' Festival in 2017 with her short play A Last Night on Earth, which was produced by Theater Masters in Aspen, Colorado, and subsequently Off-Off-Broadway at Theater for the New City. Based in London, Doran is a bookseller and a member of The National Theatre’s script reading team. 

Other writers produced under the Prize include Laura Waldren, Dawn King, Dominic Mitchell, Iman Qureshi, Samuel Bailey, Tom Morton-Smith, Fiona Doyle, Matt Grinter, Luke Owen, Louise Monaghan, James Rushbrooke, Tajinder Singh Hayer, Tom Powell, Jaki McCarrick, Clive Judd, Igor Memic and Nkenna Akunna. Collectively, writers launched through the Prize have won Olivier, BAFTA, Critics’ Circle, The Times Breakthrough, OffWestEnd and RNT Foundation Awards, been nominated for the James Tait Black Drama Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, première in over thirty countries, and gone on to work with many leading companies as well as in the West End.

About the Play

Cafarelli & Sons is a New York institution: the finest meat, the best butchers. T is their new summer hire. Life in a messy cold cut room isn’t easy, but for someone just out of the slammer it’s a sweet gig. But the business is struggling to survive, and once the season’s over someone is for the chop. T is determined it won’t be her. As she and her new colleagues jostle for boss Paula’s verdict, friendships will be tested – and betrayals will cut to the bone. This incisive, thrillingly theatrical story interrogates the modern workplace in a changing world.

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