Our Corona Love Writers
We're excited to share a little more information about our ten winning Love in the Time of Corona monologue writers:
Mike Peacock (When We Started Singing)
Mike was born and bred in Manchester and trained at the Arden School of Theatre. As an actor he has worked for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company, Riding Lights Theatre Company, Manchester Actors Company & Friargate Theatre, York. In 2001 he co-founded Rhema Theatre Company for whom he has written and directed over 35 productions.
His other writing has been performed by Riding Lights Theatre Company, the 24:7 Theatre Festival, Act4Africa, and he has developed & work-shopped scripts with Soho Theatre Company. He was also a finalist of the CBeebies competition ‘Get Squiggling.’ Recently Mike wrote the children’s book ‘Boris The Robot’ for the educational organisation, Heartsmart.
Katharine Jee (Monty’s Not an Alien)
Katharine is an emerging writer and wrote her first full length play Book Club in 2020, which has yet to be professionally performed. She is also an actress and started her writing career by writing comedy monologues to perform at auditions. She lives in Dorset and would really love a dog.
Sophie Parkes (Bird Behaviour)
Sophie is a graduate of the University of Manchester and the Manchester Writing School and is currently studying for a PhD in creative writing and folklore at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2017, Sophie won a Northern Writers’ Awards for her collection of short stories influenced by English folk song. She has also published two non-fiction books, Wayward Daughter: the official biography of Eliza Carthy (Soundcheck Books, 2012), and From Light to Dark (Pitch, 2016), the ghostwritten autobiography of endurance athlete, Blind Dave Heeley. At present, Sophie is working on her first novel.
David Haworth (Not The End)
David trained and works as a theatre designer but has been writing plays for 18 years. This interest grew out of devised work with Forest Forge Theatre Company, where he was Associate Director, in the late 1990’s . Since then he has written many professionally produced plays as well as several large scale community pieces and work for younger performers including youth theatres and college students. He was 'Writer on Attachment' at Salisbury Playhouse in 2012. In 2015 David moved to Stockport, his theatre work since then has included shows with M6 youth theatre ('Chaos') The Royal Exchange ('After Birth') The Edge in Chorlton ('Humbug!' 'That's the Trouble with the Poor') Home (People Places Things) and Hope Mill Theatre ('Flight', 'A Kidnapping') For the past five years David has written, directed and designed traditional storytelling winter shows for Forest Forge Theatre Co. and BumbleFly Theatre. He recently wrote 'The Ark and The Dove' a storytelling one woman show about early settlers in America, and last year his play 'Winter Came' was long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize.
Nicole Latchana (Milly’s Mum)
Nicole’s plays have been on at several theatres including The 503, The Bunker and Southwark Playhouse. Training includes Royal Court, Kali, Tamasha and Royal Central. Nicole’s plays explore issues from intersectional perspectives. Her award-nominated dystopian play about the climate crisis ‘OCO-2′ has been chosen for Arcola’s 2020 playwrought season.
Sophia Chetin–Leuner (Click & Collect)
Sophia is a writer and teacher from London. Her first play, Save+Quit, won the London Student Drama Festival in 2015 and was published by Nick Hern Books in 2017 as part of their Best of the Vaults anthology. She completed an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch in 2018 where she was the recipient of the Dalio Family Foundation Scholarship. She was a member of the HighTide Academy in 2016 and the Bush Emerging Writers Group in 2019.
Tom Hardman (PS Love 2)
Tom is an actor, facilitator, director and co-artistic director of theatre company Dapertutto. As an actor his credits include BBC and ITV dramas and he has appeared at the Royal Exchange and several theatre tours nationally. He has run workshops in theatre making with participants in nursery right through to higher education as well as with SEND students and asylum seekers, working with companies such as the Royal Exchange and Oldham Coliseum. His company Dapertutto has toured original devised pieces of theatre across the country and runs monthly scratch nights in Salford.
Guy Hargreaves (Stolen Rainbows)
I am 48 and I live in Lancashire. I am a performer and often write silly ukulele songs for pleasure. I am a founding member of both Beggars Belief Collective and Goofus - two companies who are interested in making new, accessible, entertaining and thought provoking stuff. I have had the very great pleasure of working with M6 Theatre in the past; helping devise and then perform in Whatever The Weather and Little Gift along with helping out with some Act to Shine youth theatre sessions.
Eden Regina Ehiojhae (This Corona Chick)
My name is Eden Ehioghae and I am 16 years old. I like to call myself a young writer as I am a published poet and playwright. I love to perform in various styles e.g. making speeches and acting out monologues and plays. I aspire to be something great and make my mark on the world by becoming an influencer. I have always wanted to become an actor and I am still working on this by growing my social media platforms.
Writing has always been a passion of mine and I thank God and the work of the professionals around me for giving me the opportunities of a lifetime. A special thanks also goes to my drama teacher Sarah Trustman who has nurtured my creative mind since the young age of 11.
Naomi Sumner Chan (Eggs, Washing Powder & Oranges)
Hello I'm Naomi a Manchester based playwright and dramaturg fuelled by salt and vinegar crisps and cups of tea. My work has been performed at theatres across the North of England and in London including York Theatre Royal, CAST, Oldham Coliseum, Arcola Theatre and Theatre 503. My play SAME SAME DIFFERENT was commissioned by Eclipse Theatre and toured to venues across the North of England in 2019. I lead new writing company Brush Stroke Order and have recently been commissioned by Chinese Arts Now and HOME to create the digital project Wait I’m from Wuhan.