Four new creative appointments set to develop the frontiers of storytelling into 2025

Today, Traverse Theatre announces four brilliant talents set to join the team as it enters 2025 to develop and broaden its creative work.

A mix of the vastly experienced Adrian Hon and Bryony Shanahan and the fresh momentum of writer Michael John O’Neill and academic Emma Dorfman bring different energies, perspectives and skills to the creative team at the theatre.

Linda Crooks, CEO and Executive Producer at Traverse Theatre commented:

“As an agile future-facing organisation specialising in developing new work in these challenging times, it is essential to have the conversations that inform the creative debate, connect and keep us relevant. These four new specialists bring an essential energy and broad perspective to our programme of work, which enriches, challenges and inspires us to deliver the best of new work for current and future audiences.

The immeasurable impact of the Traverse’s work on creative writing in Scotland and Scotland’s profile internationally is at the heart of our resilience. It’s an important time not to lose sight of our ambitions and our mission. With these new appointments we commit to emboldening our work.”

Bryony Shanahan steps down from the Traverse board in order to become Associate Artist. Her work to support the development of bold new works for audiences begins immediately with the newly announced Trouble in Spiritland by Paul Tinto, followed by a new piece co-created by Hannah Jarrett-Scott (Same Team, Pride & Prejudice* Sort Of) and Lauryn Redding (Bloody Elle).

Shanahan is a freelance theatre director and previously Joint Artistic Director of Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Her directing credits at the Traverse include Enoughand Same Team.

Bryony Shanahan said:

"I am absolutely thrilled to be working with The Traverse Theatre as an Associate Artist. I’ve had a long relationship with the organisation from audience member, artist and being on the board and so it is a full circle moment to be able to support their incredible work in this new way. I am immensely excited to collaborate with the team, their communities and audiences to further the impact of The Traverse’s work through exhilarating, hilarious and heartfelt stories."

Adrian Hon joins as Associate Artist focused on Immersive Creatives, a strand of work which includes a curated series of panel events across 2025, kicking off in January.

Hon brings his experience as a game designer, author and former CEO and founder of Six to Start to the team. His work has won multiple awards including Best of Show at SXSW, and has been exhibited at MOMA and the Design Museum. His books include You've Been Played, a critique of gamification praised by The New York Times as “illuminating and persuasive”, and the sci-fi novel A History of the Future in 100 Objects, which Stewart Brand called “the right way to think about the future.”

Adrian Hon said:

"Theatre has been the trailblazer for "immersive experiences" throughout history, from installation art and site-specific performance to virtual reality games and live action role playing. I'm incredibly excited to work with the Traverse in exploring where theatre can lead us next in the rapidly-growing immersive universe."

Michael John O’Neill is joining the team as the IASH/Traverse Creative Fellow for 2025, a residency that will see him research and develop a new play for the Traverse Theatre, exploring the painful experience of losing someone to far-right ideologies. O’Neill’s Fellowship is the result of the Traverse’s continued partnership with The Institute for the Advanced Studies in the Humanities at The University of Edinburgh.

O'Neill is a playwright, dramaturg, and theatre producer from the north coast of Ireland. In 2019, he was awarded the inaugural Bruntwood Prize for Original New Voice for his play Akedah. His second play, This is Paradise, was staged at the Traverse Theatre during the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it received five-star reviews and won the Popcorn Writing Award.

Professor Lesley McAra, IASH Director, said:

"We are excited to be hosting Michael John O'Neill as the 2025 IASH-Traverse Creative Fellow. The Traverse has been a key part of our work since 2010, with fifteen playwrights-in-residence producing pieces such as Jo Clifford's The Tree of Knowledge and Frances Poet's Still. Michael's state-of-the-nation drama about conspiracy theories, inequality and hope offers a fearless look at some of the most pressing issues facing our society today."

Michael John O’Neill said:

“I am truly honoured to be selected as the next Creative Fellow in IASH and Traverse Theatre’s esteemed residency programme. The alumni of this fellowship are each and every one artists I deeply admire. I am excited to use my time at IASH to create a work that is both meaningful and ambitious, and that contributes to the rich tradition of artistic excellence that this fellowship upholds.”

The Traverse Theatre and The University of Edinburgh have come together again in a fully-funded collaborative doctoral award PhD, a role appointed to Emma Dorfman.

Dorfman will explore the past, present and future of digitally mediated theatre. Her research explores data-driven approaches to live performance and theatre-making and what opportunities digital distribution, technologies, and assets can offer to the live performance industry.

She is proud graduate of the MA Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance Programme at Goldsmiths in London, where she completed her first full-length play, After. She also received a BFA in Drama with honours in Theatre Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of Drama and was the sole recipient of the Bevya Rosten Memorial Award for excellence in dramaturgy.

Gareth Nicholls, Artistic Director at Traverse Theatre added:

“Together these four appointments sum up the Traverse’s work; from supporting the creation of new works for stage, to analysing our industry and future proofing our work, to stretching and challenging the genres of writing we contribute to in Scotland. With each strand unified in supporting the chain of productions that reach the stage and our public. I am delighted we can commit to growing these areas through 2025 and welcome the positive energy these bring at a challenging time.”

Traverse Theatre’s IASH/Traverse Fellow is supported by The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at The University of Edinburgh.

Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD is supported by The Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities.