Out of the Wings

Out of the Wings (OOTW) is a collective of theatre artists, researchers and others focussing on the exploration, translation and sharing with English-speaking audiences of theatre from the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds. 

Active throughout the year in the form of a monthly reading group, and ad hoc events such as the 2021 Winter Warmer at the Omnibus Theatre, or the film series Pandemic Ceremonies, its flagship event is an annual festival of play readings, workshops and discussion and networking events.  Over six years, the festival has showcased 33 plays, leading to full productions, publications, and further collaborations.

As a collective, OOTW is lead by a ‘management team’ composed of its members who meet regularly to steer decision-making and work collaboratively and non-hierarchically to organise the group’s activities.  Members work flexibly and according to their capacity, strengths and interests.  As a member of the team my main contributions have included:

Project conception and development

Better to provide opportunity for early-career theatre translators I proposed OOTW’s first-ever Emerging Theatre Translators’ Scratch Night, leading the working group that produced the event though to assessing and selecting submissions, casting readings and emceeing the evening itself alongside OOTW colleagues.

As part of OOTW’s commitment to improving representation in its work I led the working group that produced ‘OOTW in Focus: Black Playwrights of the Spanish- and Portuguese-Speaking Worlds’, from convening the team that worked on the event though to managing a call for participants, programming the day, liaising with participants and chairing one of the sessions.

Relationship Building

Better to strengthen OOTW’s links with other organisations I proposed ‘Making New Worlds from Old’, which saw OOTW collaborate with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Foreign Affairs, and Language Acts and World-Making, to explore the role of classical and Biblical mythologies in the theatre of Spain and Latin America.

As translator in residence at the British Centre for Literary Translation I initiated a relationship between OOTW and ScriptXtra, a weekly script group hosted by playwright Steve Waters at the University of East Anglia.

Annual Festival

The OOTW festival returned in 2022 following a successful second year at London’s Omnibus Theatre in 2021.  From the first festival to today I have been centrally involved in the production of the event.  This has included reading and assessing the submitted plays and co-programming the event with colleagues; proposing and occasionally delivering workshops to take place alongside performances; working on the readings including casting, recruiting directors, directing, and performing; writing copy and marketing for the event and making media appearances to promote it (watch, listen), and acting as on-site duty manager for OOTW during the festival itself.  I also initiated OOTW’s relationship with our current home, the Omnibus.

Marketing, Copy and Media

I have written extensive copy for OOTW’s website, promotional materials and marketing activities.  This includes our FAQs, BLM statement and occasional blog entries regarding our activities.  I manage OOTW’s Twitter feed and have represented OOTW on television and radio as well as at a number of panel discussions in theatre, publishing and academic contexts.

Translation

Out of the Wings premiered by translations of The Sickness of Stone by Blanca Doménech, Cuzco by Víctor Sánchez Rodríguez, Cassandra, Sandra by Gabriela Aguilera, and The Widow by Germán Luco Cruchaga.

With Almiro Andrade promoting Out of the Wings on Riverside Radio

With Camila González promoting Out of the Wings on London Live

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