A Bright New Boise

Deirdre McLaughlin is a multi-award-winning London-based director and dramaturg who combines her work as an artist and facilitator to develop socially engaged new work that explores creative approaches to integrating access. Deirdre is a recipient of the Writer’s Guild’s Olwen Wymark Theatre Encouragement Award and the Genesis Foundation Future Directors Award.

Her professional industry credits include Shakespeare’s Globe, National Theatre Studio, Old Vic Labs, Theatre Royal Haymarket, SPILL Festival, Arts Admin & Toynbee Studios, Tempting Failure, Unlimited, artsdepot, Camden People’s Theatre, Theatre Utopia, Orphee Productions, The Place, Stratford Circus, Battersea Arts Centre, Finborough Theatre, The Pleasance (Islington, Edinburgh), Dance City (Newcastle), Unity Theatre (Liverpool),Cambridge Junction, Panic Lab, The Yard, Hackney Showroom, Hackney Studios, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, Quantum Theatre, Powerhouse Theatre and New York Stage & Film , and award-winning productions at Edinburgh Fringe (World Fringe Alliance Award 2018), Adelaide Fringe (Best Cabaret Weekly, Overall Innovation Award 2017) and Vault Festival (Origins Award 2018). Deirdre is a former Associate Artist (Community Outreach) for Stockroom and is a regular Visiting Lecturer at The Royal Central School of Speech of Speech & Drama.

Samuel D. Hunter is an American playwright whose plays include The Whale (2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, 2013 GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play), A Bright New Boise (2011 Obie Award for Playwriting, 2011 Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest and Pocatello. A native of northern Idaho, he lives in New York City. He holds degrees in playwriting from New York University, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop and Juilliard. In 2014 he was awarded a prestigious 'genius' grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

Contains strong language, religious extremism (Christianity) and a panic attack played out on stage. References to suicide, death, kidnapping and rape.