TravCast - Class Act

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse. In this episode, we bring you a Class Act 2014 special. Class Act is the Traverse Theatre’s flagship education project which introduces pupils from five schools across Edinburgh to playwriting. Aged between 15 and 17, Class Act participants have tried their hand at writing a short play, with the help of five professional playwrights. At all stages of the project, the young writers have been treated in the same way as a Traverse commissioned playwright would be. This year Class Act has engaged with 70 pupils, whose hard work and imaginations have produced 49 fantastic plays – which were performed at the Traverse at the end of January. The five schools who have been part of Class Act 2014 are Broughton High School, Craigmount High School, James Gillespie’s High School, Trinity Academy and Wester Hailes Education Centre. They have worked with professional playwrights’ Peter Arnott, Catherine Grosvenor, Nicola McCartney, Stef Smith and Gerda Stevenson. Throughout Class Act, the Traverse team has been hugely impressed by the inspiration, insight and dedication that the young writers have given to the project. In this TravCast, we speak with professional playwrights Peter Arnott, Nicola McCartney and Stef Smith about their experiences as playwright/tutors on the Class Act project. We also hear from three pupil playwrights from Trinity Academy; Josie Bage (Turbulence), Alistair Clarke (Smoke & Mirrors) and Alex McIntosh (Bella, Horrida Bella). Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain