18-Month Residency

This is an opportunity for an emerging director/theatre maker (over 18 years of age, with no less than 18 months professional experience) to undertake high quality work-based training at one of England’s leading middle-scale producing theatre companies. Resident assistant directors are also offered an opportunity to make work at the theatre in which they are undertaking their training.

RTYDS selects up to four theatre companies to take part in this scheme and works with the artistic directors of the selected theatres to appoint the resident assistant director. In 2020/2021, the companies are Contact Theatre, Manchester, Birmingham Rep, Live Theatre, Newcastle and Curve Theatre, Leicester. We will recruit in two cohorts, beginning with Contact Theatre and Birmingham Rep in autumn 2020. We plan to launch recruitment for the remaining residencies in 2021.

You will be mentored by the Artistic Director and gain a wide range of experience. As the industry continues to address the challenges created by Covid-19 activities undertaken on the RTYDS 18-Month Residencies will vary in each theatre. Ideally each RTYDS 18-Month Residency will include assisting on productions, as well as programming, script reading and artist development. You will be given experience in all the theatre’s functions and learn about strategic planning, finance, development, producing, press and marketing, administration etc. As part of the opportunity to make work, you might direct rehearsed readings, research and development projects, young people’s work and direct a piece of work.

You can find out more about each residency in the theatre packs.

We are working in partnership with Ramps on the Moon and at least one of the four RTYDS 18-Month Residencies will be awarded to a D/deaf or disabled director/ theatre maker. We are committed to this opportunity being open to you, whatever your circumstances, including if you have been shielding or continue to shield.

The RTYDS 18-Month Residency is a paid opportunity, with each resident assistant director receiving a salary of £25,000 per annum.

The scheme is open to any professional director/theatre maker who has at least 18 months professional experience and can demonstrate a commitment to professional theatre directing. Vocational experience as part of an accredited training course at MA level can count as professional experience.

There is no upper age limit for the scheme, but directors should be over 18 and in the early stages of their career.

You should have a demonstrable commitment to a professional career as a director/theatre maker and you should have an interest in regional theatre and developing audiences.

You should be interested in gaining experience and skills through working as an assistant director as this will be a central part of the residency.

As well as directing/theatre making, you should be interested in the artistic and operational running of a theatre building, cultural leadership, and the wider role of the artistic director.

We hope that when applying, directors/theatre makers will be interested in the opportunity offered by both Contact and Birmingham Rep. However, we understand that relocation may not be possible due to professional or personal circumstances such as caring responsibilities, housing issues or access requirements. We are committed to this opportunity being open to you, whatever your circumstances, including if you have been shielding or continue to shield. During the application process there is an opportunity to let us know if you can only consider a residency at a particular theatre.

*All applicants must be resident in the UK at point of application* 

If you are unsure if you are eligible to apply, please contact the team on rtyds@rtyds.co.uk or 0161 883 0296.

You can find out more about Birmingham Rep and Contact Theatre in their packs, including what activity the 18-Month Residency at their theatres might involve, by clicking below:

We are no longer accepting applications for the RTYDS 18-Month Residencies.

Please note that our application process has changed in response to the Covid-19 health emergency. We are now recruiting over two cohorts. In the first cohort, we were looking for 18-month resident assistant directors for Contact Theatre, Manchester and Birmingham Rep. We are no longer accepting applications for these two residencies.

The applications for the second cohort will open in 2021.

Tuesday 22 September 2020 – 18-Month Residency Q&A with Sue Emmas

• Click here to watch the recorded Q&A on YouTube.
• Click here for the captioning transcript from the Q&A.

Week commencing Monday 19 October 2020 – 10-minute conversations with a member of the RTYDS team, offered to all applicants

Week commencing Monday 23  November 2020 – Interview preparation workshops –

Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 December 2020 – First Interviews

Friday 18 December 2020 – Second Interviews

The residencies will start sometime between January and April 2021. We are committed to this opportunity being open to you, whatever your circumstances, including if you have been shielding or continue to shield, therefore, the start date will be at the mutual agreement of the resident assistant director, the theatre and RTYDS.

When applications reopen for the second cohort of our 18-Month Residencies, we will provide our forms and guidance in large print, BSL and screen reader friendly versions, as well as versions based on the British Dyslexia Association style guide.

This is an opportunity for a building-based theatre company to benefit from having an emerging director spend 18 months working with you and developing their craft as a director, learning about the operations of the building and addressing issues of cultural leadership.

The RTYDS Board selects the host theatre companies to take part in the scheme, and RTYDS works closely with the artistic directors to recruit a resident assistant director through an open application process.

In an exciting new initiative, we are working in partnership with Ramps on the Moon and at least one of the four RTYDS 18-Month Residencies will be awarded to a D/deaf or disabled director / theatremaker.

Funding: RTYDS provides a sum to each theatre company for the 18-month period. This is to cover a salary of £25,000pa for the director and is inclusive of any costs.

The residency is for emerging directors with not less than 18 months’ professional experience and demonstrable commitment to a career as a director. Vocational experience as part of an accredited training course at MA level will count as professional experience.

They will have an interest in regional theatre and developing audiences. As well as directing, they will be interested in the artistic and operational running of a building, cultural leadership and the wider role of the artistic director.

For the director, the 18-Month Residency is a chance to progress both their practice and artistic evolution and be a catalyst for a step change in their development.

There is no upper age limit, but the director must be over 18 years old and resident in the UK at point of application.

This residency opportunity is aimed at professional building-based producing theatre companies in England (outside London), with a practicing artistic director, a track record of education and outreach work and of artist development. Mid-scale touring or peripatetic producing companies may be considered in exceptional circumstances and they can apply as a consortium partner or in partnership with a building-based theatre.

You can take part in more than one of our programmes at the same time. If you do so, you need to make clear how the strands would complement and support each other and demonstrate that you have the capacity to support more than one initiative.

The artistic director is required to take an active part in the selection process of candidates alongside the RTYDS. They will be required to consider up to 100 long listed applications and select and interview a shortlist of 20 directors in a two-stage interview process.

We expect that the successful participant will be mentored by the artistic director and gain a wide range of experience including assistant directing on productions, programming, script reading and artist development. They will be given experience in all the theatre’s departments and learn about finance, development, producing, press and marketing.

The residency will start in September 2020 and the participant must be offered a professional production as part of the residency. The production should involve professional actors and a full creative team.

Your application with be assessed on the basis of:

• The quality of the proposal
• The benefit to the emerging directors
• The commitment and experience of the company
• Experience of artist development

Each year we aim for a geographical spread of theatres and a mix of smaller and larger companies across all the RTYDS programme strands.

Decisions will be made by the Board of RTYDS.  Individual Board members are not involved in considering applications from theatres to which they are personally connected.

Applications are now closed for this residency.

More information 18-month Residency 2019 – Information for Theatre Companies Autumn 2019

If you have any questions about this programme, please contact Manli Siu, Project Producer on manlisiu@rtyds.co.uk or on 0161 883 0296.

The deadline for 18-Month Residency applications was noon on Monday 13 January 2020. We are no longer accepting applications for this round.

If you would like to have a chat about the 18-Month Residency  please contact Gina Fletcher, Executive Director on 0161 883 0296 or ginafletcher@rtyds.co.uk