Eight short plays, commissioned and developed as part of the Women Centre Stage Festival, that together demonstrate the range, depth and richness of women's writing for the stage.
Selected by Sue Parrish, Artistic Director of Sphinx Theatre, these plays offer a wide variety of rewarding roles for women, and are perfect for schools, youth groups and theatre companies to perform.
How to Not Sink by Georgia Christou looks at duty, love and dependency across three generations of women.
In Wilderness by April De Angelis, a patient and her psychiatrist head into the wilderness to find out how sane any of us really are.
In Chloe Todd Fordham's The Nightclub, three very different women at a gay nightclub in Orlando are caught up in a terrifying hate crime.
F**king Feminists by Rose Lewenstein is a fiercely funny investigation of what feminism means, and what it has become.
Winsome Pinnock's Tituba is a one-woman show about Tituba Indian, the enslaved woman who played a central role in the seventeenth-century Salem Witch Trials.
In The Road to Huntsville by Stephanie Ridings, a writer researching women who fall in love with men on death row finds herself crossing the line.
White Lead by Jessica Siân explores the expectations and responsibilities of being an artist and a woman.
In What is the Custom of Your Grief? by Timberlake Wertenbaker, an English schoolgirl whose brother has been killed on active duty in Afghanistan is befriended online by an Afghan girl.
Sphinx Theatre has been at the vanguard of promoting, advocating and inspiring women in the arts through productions, conferences and research for more than forty years.
Rose Lewenstein is a writer whose plays include: Cougar (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, 2019); Darknet (Southwark Playhouse, 2016); Now This Is Not The End (Arcola, 2015); Game of Life (The Yard); Only Human (Theatre503); Entries on Love (Rich Mix) and Ain't No Law Against Fish 'n' Chips (Royal Court Young Writers Festival). Her play Psychoslut was featured in the Women@RADA series. She has been a member of the Royal Court's Supergroup and Young Writers Programme.
Georgia Christou is a playwright and screenwriter. Her first play Yous Two was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award in 2015, receiving a special commendation from the judges, and premiered at Hampstead Downstairs in 2018. Rocket Girl, written for Royal Central School of Speech and Drama students, was performed at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall, in 2015. Her short play How Not to Sink was written for the Women Centre Stage Festival and performed at Hampstead Theatre. Her play for young audiences, How to Spot an Alien, was premiered by Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd in 2018.
Winsome Pinnock is an award-winning British playwright of Jamaican heritage. Her plays include: The Authenticator (National Theatre, London, 2026); Rockets and Blue Lights (Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2020; National Theatre, 2021); One Under (2005) and Water (2000) at the Tricycle Theatre; Mules (Clean Break/Royal Court Theatre Upstairs/Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles and The Magic Theatre, San Francisco, 1996); Talking in Tongues (1991) and A Hero's Welcome (1989; runner-up Susan Smith Blackburn Prize) at the Royal Court Theatre; and Leave Taking (Liverpool Playhouse Theatre/Contact Theatre Manchester/Belgrade Theatre Coventry/Lyric Hammersmith/ National Theatre, 1986).
She has adapted Malorie Blackman's novel Pig Heart Boy for the stage (Unicorn Theatre / Sheffield Theatres / Children's Theatre Partnership, 2025).
The prizes awarded to her work include the Alfred Fagon Award (2018), the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama (2022), the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation (1990), the George Devine Award (1991), the Pearson Award for Best New Play (1991), and the Unity Theatre Trust Award (1989).
Author photo by Matt Roberts
Sue Parrish is Artistic Director of Sphinx Theatre Company. She has extensive experience producing and directing fringe, repertory and musical theatre.
