Tony Jackon at the ABTT Theatre Show announcing the Stephen Joseph Award 2022 open
UK - To mark the centenary year of Stephen Joseph’s birth and the 60th anniversary of the founding of ABTT, the Stephen Joseph Committee of the ABTT last year established a new Award to commemorate the life and work of this maverick theatrical genius.
Following the success of the competition in 2021, the Award will again be offered in 2022 as an ongoing tribute to Stephen’s contribution to theatre culture.
Stephen Joseph was one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the last century. He was a founding father of ABTT and the Society of Theatre Consultants. He promoted new writing, architectural standards and technical excellence. His pioneering work has given rise to the myriad forms of theatre and open staging that are commonly used today. At the heart of his practice was the close and fundamental relationship between performer and audience. Above all, he established theatre in the round as a legitimate form of theatre in the U.K.
This award was created to honour Stephen’s wide-ranging legacy, which still informs many aspects of theatre practice. The Stephen Joseph Award, in recognising inclusive theatre excellence in the present, was conceived to best reflect and promote that legacy.
The recipient of the Award will be a living individual or a twenty-first century company or a non-conventional performance environment whose work will have exemplified a creative and adventurous relationship between performance and audience.
The award is open to work produced or environments created in the UK. Submissions should include evidence of widely acknowledged creativity and achievement. Submissions from artists/organisations who submitted in 2021 but were unsuccessful will be accepted in 2022 so long as they are fresh submissions.
Further details are available via office@abtt.org.uk. Nominations must be received no later than Friday 14 October 2022.

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