Sara

Project Platform

Our new 6-month incubator for creatives launched in August 2023.

Supported by Arts Council England and Foundation for Future London, the programme will support ten participants with workshops, mentoring, rehearsal space, professional coaching, and a work-in-progress festival.

Purple Moon Drama's 2023 Project Platform cohort:

Nyeem Ayshford

About the artist

I am a writer/actor. Whilst at film school I developed my lifelong passion for writing emotive short stories and poems into script writing. When I’m not writing I try to hone my acting skills on stage & screen. Most recently I worked for Working Title & Monkey Kingdom, in the development and production departments.

About the project

Inspired by the dense, dangerous smog that can pollute our minds at the worse times.

Mentored by

Simone Watson-Brown

Simon Castle

About the artist

Simon is an actor and writer who specialises in telling queer stories.

Simon trained on Soho Theatre’s Writers Lab and The National Theatre’s Playwriting Programme 2021/2022, where he wrote his first play “Two Tribes” which was subsequently Shortlisted for The Tony Craze Award, 2022. His monologue, “Lynx Africa and Dildos” (Bush Theatre) is published in the queer monologue anthology titled: FIERCE (Team Angelica Books). His play, “Changeling”, premiered as part of the Amplify New Writing Festival (Nottingham Playhouse) 2022.

His young company plays include: The Crossing (Pegasus Theatre); BUTTERFLY (Forest School/Hackney Empire)

Simon is an alumni of Soho Theatre Writers Lab Alumni Group, The National Youth Theatre & The PappyShow's Mentoring Programme.

About the project

Lakesha & Rhiannon, desperate for children, are forced to relocate to Anglesey, closer to renowned fertility. But when Lakesha falls pregnant, she begins hearing a mother’s scream from the bog nearby. BOG, a thriller suffused with Welsh mythology, exploring the breakdown of a relationship & the lengths you'll sacrifice for a family.

Mentored by

Jasmyn Fisher-Ryner

Ozioma Ihesiene

About the artist

A multifaceted storyteller in the disciplines of Acting, Writing and Directing.

Directing: Having trained on the StartDirecting Cohort at the Iris Theatre, Ozioma gained her directorial debut for the sold-out one-man show, “Before I Go” at Theatre Peckham Fringe Festival. Recently, Ozioma has completed the Jerwood Trainee Assistant Director for Young Vic’s “Further Than The Furthest Thing.”

Acting: Ozioma co-leads with Ben Bailey Smith in a coming-of-age parable comedy BFI Short Film "Blind Spot.” She also features in a BBC comedy short called “Festival of Slaps.”

Writing: She collaborated with DYSPLA, and wrote a poem exploring the effects of colonisation on women, producing “Domestics.” She recently performed at the Purple Moon Drama’s collaboration with Royal Court Theatre’s “Wxman” event her poem “It’s natural.”

About the project

Within just 3 days, 6 black female aspiring writers will meet up in the rehearsal space to develop a trilogy TV series.

Mentored by

Nick Collett

Gayathiri Kamalakanthan

About the artist

Gayathiri is a Tamil theatre-maker, poet and facilitator. They are interested in how language shapes our sense of belonging and how we use it to queer the future. Gayathiri has developed work with Kali Theatre, 45North and Tamasha. They won the Faber & Andlyn Publisher’s Prize 2022, the Primadonna Fiction Prize 2021 and they were shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize 2022. Gayathiri is a member of Griot’s Well and runs the poetry workshop series WORD-BENDERS at The Common Press bookshop in East London.

About the project

This is a lyrical theatre piece about the colonial history of tea exploring how we might divest from Big Tea industry and how we make change feel irresistible on and off stage.

Mentored by

malakaï sargeant

Robin Khor

About the artist

I am an actor, theatre-maker and drama educator from Malaysia, trained in the BA Acting CDT course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Being a minority ethnic in both my native country and the UK, I aspire to make work that involve intercultural exploration manifested out of the post-colonial and contemporary migrant experiences, aiming at deconstructing the tendency for monoculturalism in mainstream theatre.

Notable credits: 'Imperial Troopers' (Fix+Foxy), 'Moon Rabbit and other Stories from China' (Lakeside Arts), 'The Magic Flute' (Complicité), 'Strange Tales' (Grid Iron), 'Let Me Play the Lion too' (Told by an Idiot).

About the project

Directing a new one woman monodrama titled 'Elsewhere', about the search for the meaning of life when you have lost all senses due to depression, a first-hand encounter on how a typical young person survive in the fast-growing 2nd largest superpower in the world: China.

Mentored by

Kumiko Mendl

Elizabeth Peace

About the artist

Elizabeth is a multidisciplinary artist from Thamesmead with an endearing interest in people; in the human spirit, its emotional resonance, and the way over time it manifests in our relationship with others. Upon graduating with an honours in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, she has worked as producer with Contact & tiata fahodzi. At present, she is producing an exciting new play with Women’s Prize for Playwrighting finalist, lydia luke. She’ll also be making her debut as a filmmaker with "The Golden Boy" executively produced by the Academy-Award winning Slick Films. Often referencing her experiences as a 1st generation immigrant, Elizabeth’s mission is to create bodies of work that is radically Black/African, Queer, and unapologetic in style and form.

About the project

"The Women’s War" is a historical tale that seeks to unearth the forgotten revolts led by Igbo women against the English during the height of the colonial era in Nigeria. Like Lorraine Hansbury’s ‘Les Blancs’ or Danai Gurira’s ‘The Convert,’ this play examines the impact of colonialism on native cultures with a thrilling sense of passion and a clear purpose.

Mentored by

Abigail Sol

Frankie Roberts

About the artist

Frankie is a facilitator, performer, and climate justice activist who. As well as multiple theatre projects, they have worked with different groups to create workshops on historic land enclosures and how this affects the housing crisis and climate crisis we face today. They are excited to combine theatre-making with radical history, to make work, for all generations, that asks us to question the history we are taught in school and make alternate histories accessible through theatre. As we encounter multiple crises, how can we learn from our histories, 'ourstories', to empower us today.

About the project

I would like to create a piece of work that looks into the history of Land enclosure in the UK, linking this to the housing crisis, cost of living crisis and climate crisis we face now. This work may run alongside workshops on this.

Mentored by

Gail Babb

Loussin-Torah Pilikian

About the artist

Jamaican, Armenian and proudly “Barnecian”, Loussin-Torah Pilikian was invited to host Barnet's first Black-led Black History Month Celebration October 2022. Career highlights include: Dancer marking Aladdin Sane 50 Years at Southbank Centre 2023, Lil/Big/Old Sal, “In The Basement” (The Glory), with Brooklyn Rep Theatre 2023; Sunny and Warren; “Albatross” (The Playground Theatre), multi-roles in the UK premiere of “Interruptions” (Jacksons Lane Arts Centre) with represent.theatre 2021. Directed Akadi Sankofa's Chiaroscuro R&D (Theatre Deli) 2022. Loussin-Torah will delve deeper into the Divine introducing their Psychedelic Drag King: “M” - The Spiritual Fuckboi to Project Platform this year!

About the project

Tumble down the rabbit hole with Loussin-Torah as she continues to develop characters within “The Secret Lives of Spiritual Fuckbois”; their coming-of-age tale exploring heartbreak, healing, spirituality, cults of narcissism and potent psychedelic experiences!

Mentored by

Naomi Denny

Alex Roberts

About the artist

Alex Roberts is an award-winning writer, performer and producer based in South London. His debut show No Place Like Home won the Les Enfants Terribles 2022 and was named in The Stages’ Top Picks of Fringe. As an actor, recent credits include; Death Drop: Back in the Habit (West End/UK Tour), Love at First Sight (Netflix), Robin Hood (Bristol Old Vic) & Joan of Leeds (New Diorama). He has recently been selected for the Soho Theatre Drag Lab, with his drag alias Robyn B*stard.