“★★★★
KOSAR IS CLEARLY A TALENT TO WATCH”
sarah kosar is a playwright.
Sarah writes plays about theatrical worlds that look like our own but expose the absurdity and black comedy of human behaviour through a visceral, surreal and metaphorical register. Her work focuses on identity, feminism and the internal versus external.
WHAT has sarah done?
CURRENT:
Sarah is UNDER commission TO THE OLD VIC THEATRE TO WRITE A NEW PLAY(OUR NAME IS NOT JOHN) AS PART OF the Old Vic 12 for 2017 - 2018.
Human Suit has been longlisted for the 2017 Bruntwood Prize for playwriting.
SARAH WILL BE A PART OF THE YOUNG HARTS FESTIVAL AT THE LYRIC HAMMERSMITH AS A professional WRITER AND MENTOR IN APRIL 2018.
- SARAH'S PIECE GRIT IS PART OF 100 VOICES FOR 100 YEARS. YOU CAN LISTEN HERE.
- THE MONICA LEWINSKY PROJECT IS BEING DEVELOPED WITH DIRECTOR DEBBIE HANNAN AND IS SUPPORTED BY MGC FUTURES. IN APRIL 2018 IT WILL BE GOING INTO AN R&D PERIOD.
Sarah Kosar is an internationally produced and published playwright. She is originally from Butler, Pennsylvania and has lived in London for the past nine years. She has been granted an Exceptional Promise in Playwriting visa which was endorsed by the Royal Court, Soho Theatre, The Writers Guild of Great Britain and Playwright Simon Stephens. She was the Inaugural Writer in Residence at The Archivist’s Gallery where her play Mumburger premiered in July 2016 and later transferred to the Old Red Lion for Clive Judd’s Inaugural Season as Artistic Director in July 2017. She was recently featured in Exeunt’s list of great female playwrights that London’s theatres should be staging. Sarah is also the producer and host of the iTunes New and Noteworthy podcast Kin. You can listen here. Alongside writing, Sarah is the Head of Talent at the music-tech startup, ROLI.
Old Vic 12, 2017 - 2018, Photo by Amit and Naroop
Sarah is a part of the Old Vic 12 for 2017 - 2018.
Composer and Musical Director: Tom Barnes
Designer and Visual Artist: Moi Tran
Directors: Hannah Banister, Sophie Moniram and Sara Joyce
Puppet-Designer, Maker and Director: Maia Kirkman-Richards
Producers: Ciara McCafferty, Matthew Schmolle and Euan Borland
Writers: Sarah Kosar, Gareth Farr and Omar El-Khairy
★★★★ LONDON THEATRE 1
★★★★ CRITICALLY SPEAKING
★★★★LONDON PUB THEATRES
★★★★THE SPY IN THE STALLS
★★★★ LIVE THEATRE UK
★★★★ FEMALE ARTS
★★★★ ARTHUR’S SEAT
★★★★ FEMALE ARTS
★★★★ ONE STOP ARTS
mumburger
(THE ARCHIVIST'S GALLERY, LONDON AND OLD RED LION THEATRE, LONDON)
Mumburger (****) premiered at The Archivist’s Gallery in Haggerston, London in July 2016 when Sarah was the Inaugural Artist in Residence. It then transferred to the Old Red Lion Theatre in July 2017 for Clive Judd’s Inaugural season as Artistic Director. Mumburger was nominated for an Off-West-End Award and is published by Methuen Drama.
Mumburger is a surreal new play about grief, parenting and alternative meat. How far can we be pushed by love and obligation?
HOT DOG
(THE LAST REFUGE, LONDON AND THINKING CAP THEATRE, FLORIDA, USA)
Hot Dog had its UK Premiere at The Last Refuge, London in March 2013. It then had a USA Premiere with Thinking Cap Theatre in Florida in 2014. Hot Dog is published by Playdead Press.
Set in small town america, Hot Dog is a black comedy about old loyalites, new beginnings and losing sight of our humanity.
butter brain
(Broadway barking theatre, theatre royal stratford east)
Butter Brain is a play for young people, commissioned by Young and Talented School of Stage and Screen. It was originally produced as a full-length play with 80 young people at Broadway Barking Theatre in June 2016. It was then adapted into a musical which premiered at Theatre Royal Stratford East in July 2016.
Butter Brain is a coming-of-age play for young people that explores the inherited digital identity of children from their parents and the boundaries between our online and offline lives.
“KOSAR IS A PROMISING WRITER, BRAVE ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE AUDIENCES TO FACE UP TO UNPALATABLE TRUTHS.”
CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT: Human Suit (part of The Yard’s First Drafts Festival), which Exeunt has stated “needs to be programmed.”, The Monica Lewinsky Project with director Debbie Hannan (Supported by MGC Futures Bursary) and Our Name is Not John (Old Vic 12)
FULL LENGTH THEATRE PRODUCTIONS: Mumburger (Old Red Lion), Mumburger (The Archivist’s Gallery, Rough Hewn & Stephanie Koeniger Productions), Butter Brain: The Musical (Commission - Young and Talented, Theatre Royal Stratford East), Butter Brain (Commission - Young and Talented, Broadway Barking Theatre), Hot Dog (USA Premiere, Thinking Cap Theatre, Florida), Hot Dog (Descent/The Last Refuge, London)
SHORT PLAY PRODUCTIONS: Morphin (Miniaturists, Arcola Theatre), Big Body, Tiny Head (Commission for Royal Court Theatre), Seal (Etch Theatre, Pleasance Theatre), Runt (Commission for Oxford School of Drama, Soho Theatre), Play 3/Tryptych (Commission for PLAY Theatre Company), Ice Cream (Commission for Little Pieces of Gold, Southwark Playhouse), Fox (Commission for Descent, The Southwark Playhouse, Little Pieces of Gold)
STAGED READINGS: Human Suit (First Drafts, Yard Theatre), Armadillo (VAULT Festival, Poleroid Theatre), Spaghetti Ocean (Live Lunch Reading at Royal Court Theatre), Before You’re Fourteen (Skylines/Theatre Centre in Collaboration with Hampstead Theatre), Brother Husband (Soho Theatre, Departures Lounge), Egg (BBC, Finalist in BBC International Playwriting Competition, The Lyric Hammersmith)
PUBLICATIONS: Mumburger (Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury), Hot Dog (Playdead Press), Phyllis as part of Cultural Conversations: Works in Progress/Writers in the Making (Elfrig Publishing)
EDUCATION: BA in Theatre, BA in Film from Pennsylvania State University. MA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Hot Dog is part of Penn State’s Theatre Programme Syllabus.
WRITING GROUPS: Royal Court Summer, Studio & Young Writers Groups, Hampstead Theatre Associate Writer, Soho Young Writers Lab, Lyric Young Writers Programme. Sarah is also the founder of the writers collective Playdate which includes Isley Lynn, Vinay Patel, Stephen Laughton, Poppy Corbett, David Ralf and Chris Adams.
ACADEMIC REFERENCES: HOT DOG is part of Pennsylvania State University's Women in Theatre and Advanced Playwriting syllabi. HOT DOG has also been taught as part of Arcadia University's Study Abroad Programme at Royal Holloway University by visiting lecturer, Poppy Corbett. Sarah has also taught playwriting masterclasses for Arts Ed and Pennsylvania State University's Schreyer's Honour College.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS: Sarah is a seasoned speaker on playwriting and feminism in the arts. Some of her engagements have included being featured on BBC'S Have Your Say, interviewing iO Tillett Wright at The Archivist's Gallery, Girls Make Shit Happen at Hackney Picture House as part of the Bechdel Test Fest and being on the panel for Page to Stage.
FILM: You can see some of Sarah's short films here.
RADIO: Hashtag (Roundhouse Radio/Hampstead Theatre). Sarah is also the producer and host of the iTunes New and Noteworthy Podcast Kin.
Sarah Kosar is the producer and host of the iTunes New and Noteworthy podcast Kin.
Kin is a series of unscripted conversations between friends, family and lovers on what it means to be kin and the defining parts of their relationship. You can find out more here.
who has sarah worked with?
