Future Light
Future Light
Ever since our founding in 2019, the Women’s Prize for Playwriting has aspired to build our own talent development programme to engage more fully with writers.
Now, in 2025, we’ve launched FUTURE LIGHT: a tripartite initiative offering bespoke artistic feedback, craft-focused training, and meaningful industry connections to the forty-one brilliant playwrights on this year’s longlist.
FUTURE LIGHT is generously supported by Arts Council England.
FUTURE LIGHT has three key components, all of which will be offered free of charge to every playwright on the Longlist:
Script support:
Each playwright will be paired with an experienced dramaturg, who will write a detailed report on their longlisted play and meet with the playwright to discuss the feedback, and next steps.
Playwriting courses:
Each playwright will be offered a place on a writing course run by a leading professional playwright.
Futures Day:
All playwrights will be invited to a day of industry-focused talks, workshops and networking in Spring 2026.
Alongside these strands, the core Women’s Prize for Playwriting and Paines Plough teams will maintain contact with longlisted writers, facilitating opportunities for dialogue both within the cohort and with the wider industry.
FUTURE LIGHT aims to be both inward- and outward-facing, fostering a sense of community and mutual support among longlisted writers, as well as propelling them forwards and championing them in their careers.
In announcing FUTURE LIGHT, WPP’s message to playwrights (and all creatives) is: we see you. We know how daunting it can be to start a play, let alone finish it, let alone continue developing it for production. We know it’s getting harder and harder to forge a sustainable career in the arts. FUTURE LIGHT is our small contribution to mitigating that challenge: our way of saying to you – we get it, and we want to help as much as we can.
Our Longlist for 2025
We are looking forward to helping some incredible future talent in this years long list