PROJECTS OF THE GENESIS FOUNDATION

Process, not competition

The Genesis Foundation believes in process, not competition.  The purpose of its work is not only to find the creative talent of the future, but also to nurture it in a suitable and supportive environment so that it can develop fully and grow to its full potential.

Genesis seeks out and actively supports creativity across a variety of art forms and is committed to expanding its portfolio in the arts.  Its policy is to develop major long-term projects in association with leading arts organisations. Its ethos is one of permitting experimentation and exploration in the arts, which also implies the right to hit a dead end. The Foundation is about learning that will ultimately lead to success; but there are no artificial deadlines or measurements of success versus failure.

The main Genesis programmes are:

OperaGenesis at ROH2
Established in April 2005

The mission of OperaGenesis is to nurture talented composers and librettists in the development of new opera and new operatic forms, through a structured and flexible programme of creative and learning opportunities.

• OperaGenesis has worked on more than 35 projects to date, 25 of which are currently live and at various stages of development.
• An individual schedule of meetings and workshops is devised for each team, with workshopping being a major component of the process.
• Composers and librettists are encouraged to experiment and think outside the usual strictures, allowing them to consider the possibilities for the operas of the future.
• Composers or librettists can contact OperaGenesis with ideas for pieces at any stage of composition whether it be an idea on the back of an envelope or a piece with several scenes already completed.
• The project enables emerging composers (such as Yuko Katori and Cheryl Frances Hoad) as well as some fairly established composers (including Eleanor Alberga and Harvey Brough) to attempt working in the field of lyric theatre/opera for the first time.
• A dedicated, state-of-the-art website provides a hub through which composers, librettists and performers from all over the world can communicate with and contact one another.  Monthly visitor numbers have now reached more than 10,000.
• As well as providing composers and librettists with excellent opportunities to develop their works, the workshop process also gives singers, instrumentalists, conductors, and stage technicians, a fascinating opportunity to participate in and/or to observe the development process of works by living composers.

Read more about OperaGenesis here...

Genesis Directors Project at the Young Vic
Established in January 2003

This project is the most extensive of its kind in Europe. It was established with the aim of enabling emerging directors to grow into theatre artists, communicators and technicians of the highest calibre.  The project promotes creative thinking about the theatre through practice by means of its workshops and its various classes for skill acquisition as well as through productions resourced to various levels. It enables the whole of the Young Vic Theatre, its staff and its facilities, to become a resource for the training of the next generation of directors.  As always, with Genesis projects, entry is open to anyone who wishes to apply to the Young Vic.

Run by David Lan and Sue Emmas (during 2009, Gabby Vautier as maternity cover), Genesis Directors has also established a unique mentoring process. It brings directors of international standing together with those just starting out and allows some of these latter to become embedded for periods of time within the producing life of the theatre.

By means of the 700 strong network that operates through its website, it allows open access to information on all projects and focuses especially on the needs of those who find gaining access to theatre as a profession especially challenging.

Through the Direct Action series, the Genesis Directors Project has so far enabled more than 20 directors to create more ambitious productions than they had before – examples including such work as Joe Hill-Gibbins’ and Orla O’Loughlin’s highly praised contributions to ‘The Big Brecht Fest’.

The project has developed further recently with a new focus on direct relationships and residencies. Set up in February 2008, the Wilson Bros initiative provides three directors and one company with the opportunity to undertake a unique, tailor-made training project. As well as a part-time residency at the Young Vic, periods of intensive training and exploration led by Artistic Director David Lan and a two week visit to the Maly Theatre in St Petersburg, each director will direct a project for either the Clare or the Maria Theatre at the Young Vic.

The first year’s Wilson Brothers are William Oldroyd, Sarah Tipple and Carrie Cracknell and the company involved is Sound and Fury who are Mark and Tom Espiner and Dan Jones.

These directors will become closely involved with and part of the work of the Young Vic.

Further details of Wilson Bros productions:

William Oldroyd is directing a work in progress production, without décor, of Ghosts by Ibsen in a new translation by Frank McGuiness focussing on the complex process actors and directors undergo as they work towards achieving their unique conception of a truly great play.

Sarah Tipple is directing and devising a new piece of work in progress performance called Bay looking at the different characters who meet each other in motorcycle parking bays.

Inspired by the tragic events of the Russian submarine, Kursk, Sound & Fury and Bryony Lavery will explore the unique experience of the submariners deep below the arctic seas, alone, contained, controlled and yet with Armageddon at their fingertips. This team uses a unique blend of sound and darkness in their conception for this project.

Carrie Cracknell will rejoin the Young Vic and complete her Wilson Bros residency in 2010 after her maternity leave.

Read more about the Directors Project
See also: http://www.youngvic.org

International Playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre

Genesis fully supports the International department at the Royal Court run by Elyse Dodgson which sends theatre practitioners all over the world to help stimulate new writing. Through this programme the Royal Court International Playwrights Department seeks out the best emerging writers for theatre internationally and helps them to develop their work to the point where they can be given at platform in London’s prestigious Royal Court Theatre, the home for over one hundred years of some of the most innovative and exciting theatrical work in the world.

Over the past several years the project has worked in Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Uganda, across the Middle East and in dozens of other countries.

The project has changed literally hundreds of lives all over the world and influenced theatrical processes and thought in many cultures.

UK playwrights and theatre practitioners have also been enriched by their exposure to the many cultures in which the project has worked.

Annual residencies in London at the Royal Court result in further refinement of the work begun in home territories during visits and workshops by the International Department’s team.

One example of a success that was developed in the programme and has been produced in several countries: Vassily Sigarev’s award-winning play Plasticine.

The project has also provided the background infrastructure and work that has enable the development by the Royal Court of such projects as My Name is Rachel Corrie, edited from the writings to Rachel Corrie by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner.

The success of the work has encouraged the artistic director, Dominic Cooke, to make international work a more central strand at the Royal Court since he took over in 2007.

Genesis also funds the International Rough Cuts programmes which enable international and UK theatre artists to collaborate and experiment with new forms and ideas.  Currently a project is in development with US/Zimbabwean writer Danai Gurira, researching the stories of the international Zimbabwean diaspora.

The programme regularly presents readings of plays for invited audiences and also opens them up to the public, most recently presenting I COME FROM THERE: New Plays from the Arab World, a series of staged readings resulting from the Royal Court’s work with Arabic writers since April 2007.

In Autumn 2007, the International Playwrights had a great success in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court with the plays The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg (Germany), Kebab by Gianina Carbunariu (Romania), Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar (India), and a double bill of The Good Family by Joakim Pirinen (Sweden) and The Khomenko Family Chronicles by Natalia Vorozhbit (Ukraine).  The Ugly One and Free Outgoing were revived in for limited runs in the summer of 2008 in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, with Free Outgoing transferring to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Most recently, in Spring 2008 International Playwrights presented Bliss by Olivier Choinière (Quebec, Canada) in a translation by Caryl Churchill.

In 2009 International Playwrights continues the work of the department in Nigeria and Russia and will be expanding into further projects in Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Throughout February and March 2009, International Playwrights presents OFF THE WALL, a season of plays from and about Germany.

The Genesis-supported programme is also mounting productions of The Stone by Marius von Mayenburg and Over There by Mark Ravenhill in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs in 2009, accompanied by a series of staged readings of new plays by the leading lights of a new generation of German playwrights who have worked closely with the Royal Court’s International Playwrights programme since 1993.  These include Dea Loher, Anja Hilling, Christoph Nussbaumeder, Philipp Löhle and David Gieselmann.

Read more about International Playwrights here...
and the Royal Court Theatre here

The Genesis Foundation and LAMDA

John Studzinski and, subsequently, the Genesis Foundation have been supporters of student scholarships at LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) since 1998. The Genesis LAMDA Scholarships are an unusual initiative. Each year, following an audition, as many as three aspiring young actors, who have already accepted their place at the Academy, are chosen to receive a Genesis Scholarship. These students are selected on the basis of talent primarily and also financial need.  Alongside John Studzinski and Directors from the Genesis Foundation, established LAMDA alumni, Patricia Hodge and Janet Suzman sit on the audition panel.

The successful Scholars are then supported by the Genesis Foundation throughout their full training (three years), beginning the day they start studies at LAMDA and ending when they graduate. LAMDA currently has seven Genesis Scholars on its Three Year Acting Courses . All are thriving and will be able to complete their training free from serious financial anxiety, thanks to the Foundation's significant support.  Since 1998, another seven LAMDA alumni have completed their training due to the Foundation's generosity.  (See List)

LAMDA's former Genesis Scholars have enjoyed early successes, including:

• Samuel Barnett (class of 2001) who has become internationally renowned for his role as Posner in Alan Bennett's award-winning play The History Boys, playing at the National Theatre, on Broadway and more recently in the new film of Bennett's classic. He also was involved in a world tour of the play.  In 2007, Samuel appeared in a sold-out run of Dealer’s Choice, alongside Roger Lloyd Pack at The Menier Chocolate Factory, which transferred to The Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End. 2008 saw Samuel also starring as Thomas Adams, one of the sons in John Adams, a highly successful miniseries made for HBO/Playtone. He worked opposite Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as his parents, John and Abigail Adams. He also worked in Beautiful People for the BBC and a Pathé Feature Film, Bright Star, to be released in the UK in 2009.
• Tom Riley (class of 2005) who went straight from LAMDA to the Royal Court stage in The Woman Before, and has recently starred alongside Juliette Binoche in Quelques Jours en Septembre; and John Beale, who graduated in July 2006 and went on to appear in the RSC 's production of Troilus and Cressida later that year.
• Recently, Tom Riley has played Wickham in the ITV series, Lost in Austen, garnering much praise.
• Current LAMDA Genesis scholarship holder Ciarán Owens (class of 2011), prior to beginning his 3-year LAMDA course in September 2008, performed in the UK National Youth Theatre’s Summer Repertoire at Soho Theatre in London, winning rave reviews in the Guardian and other UK newspapers for his ‘strong performance’ in Eating Ice-Cream on Gaza Beach.
• Ben Aldridge (Class of 2008) began filming a TV drama, The Devil’s Whore, before graduating. He has also played in in The Compulsion, a modern adaptation of Middleton and Rowley’s The Changeling opposite Parminder Nagra and Ray Winstone.

Follow Genesis Scholars at LAMDA ...