Embark Directors

We’re looking for our Embark 2026 Directors!

We are looking to work with 2 people who are interested in becoming Directors. We will work with the 2 directors across 3 months, to develop their skills and support them to direct a new piece of writing by one of our 2026 Embark Scriptwriters. The piece will be staged at a work-in-progress sharing, for industry, friends and family. This will be filmed and photographed, so that the director has a calling card for their work.

Quick links:

• Key information
• Who we’re looking for
• What the programme involves
• About the scripts you would direct
• More information
• Apply to become an Embark Director
• FAQs

Key information

• Role: Director
• Number of spaces: 2
• Fee: £1,850 per person (We are open to offering other forms of payment e.g. vouchers, or to voluntary participation where required by participants)
• Time commitment: We will work with Directors between January – March 2027.
• Location: Zoom / Tramshed Theatre, London
• Eligibility: Wheelchair users aged 18–30
• Applications open: Friday 30th October
• Applications close: 12pm, Wednesday 25th November

Who we’re looking for

This programme is specifically for wheelchair users who want to have a career in theatre as a director. 

This includes all wheelchair users, including ambulatory, partially ambulatory, and non-ambulatory wheelchair users, as long as a lack of wheelchair access would prevent them taking part in other programmes.

We are particularly looking for wheelchair users who face specific and additional high barriers to accessing arts and training opportunities, including:

• People who require a hoist or to be manually lifted in order to safely transfer into their wheelchair
• People who require Changing Places toilets
• People who have 12+ hours a day of care funded through Adult Social Care or NHS Continuing Healthcare to meet their needs
• People who use AAC

Due to the terms of our funding, you must be between 18-30 years old.

You do not need to have directed anything before. We’re looking for storytellers, for people who have great ideas and a unique vision, people who are excited to develop their skills, who thrive working as a group, and who are looking for a place to begin their career.

What the programme involves

The chosen creatives will be paid to develop their skills as a director in a programme led by CRIPtic Arts’ Artistic Director Jamie Hale.

Between January – March 2027 the programme will involve:

• 6 x online workshops (2 hours each)
• 5 days of online rehearsal prep and mentoring with Jamie Hale (Including reading & making notes on the script, meeting with scriptwriter to ask questions, meeting creative team members)
• 5 days of rehearsals, Monday-Friday, for 1 week (where one day is max 8 hours, though we may work to reduced hours)

We are currently aiming for the session dates to be on the following dates, though there is some flexibility here:

• Online workshops:
  • Monday 11th January, 1-3pm
  • Monday 18th January, 1-3pm
  • Monday 25th January, 1-3pm
  • Monday 1st February, 1-3pm
  • Monday 9th February, 1-3pm
  • Monday 15th February, 1-3pm
• Online rehearsal prep: 1-5th March, 10am-6pm
• Rehearsals: 8-12th March, 10am-6pm
• WIP Sharing: 12th March

You must be available to join the Year 2 Embark Project Board, in 2027-8. The Project Board will work with CRIPtic Arts to codesign Embark 2027, shaping the programme for the next cohort of writers & directors.

This will involve attending 6 x 2-hour meetings across the year, plus a handover meeting in 2028. Project Board Members receive a fee of £1,000 for their work with CRIPtic across the year.

About the scripts you would direct

You will be directing one of two pieces of new writing, developed by our Embark Scriptwriters. You can read about the shows, and the writers by following the link below. These scripts are being developed through the Embark programme, so they will not be available to read in advance of applying.

More information

If you want to hear more about this opportunity, we are hosting an Embark Q&A with Artistic Director Jamie Hale on Wednesday 18th November, 2-3pm.

Apply to become an Embark Director

To apply, please fill in the below forms by 12pm on Wednesday 25 November.

You can also submit an audio or video file in spoken English or BSL, or download and send the questions as a Word document to team@cripticarts.org. Please find the Word versions of these forms below:

FAQs

Does it matter if I have never directed a show before?

No! We know that barriers to developing skills as a director are high, and Embark was made with this in mind.

This programme is for people who want to work in theatre as a director, but who haven’t had the opportunity to develop their skills.

How much prior experience should I have had?

You do not need to have had any prior experience to be part of Embark. We are looking for people who have a passion for theatre and want to develop the skills to become a director.

We are primarily looking to help people get started in their careers, and it’s okay if you’ve had training or development opportunities in the past.

We are just not looking for people who already have an established career as a professional theatre director.

Will I get to choose which of the two plays I will direct for the industry sharing?

We will take preferences into account when matching a director with a play, but you will not get to choose which play you will direct. This programme is ultimately about building skills to direct a play, rather than about directing a specific play.

If a script we assign to you is rooted in a particular marginalised identity or lived experience that you do not have, we will look at how the wider creative team can help ensure the work is represented authentically and with care. This could include involving an Assistant Director, Dramaturg, or another creative team member who shares that identity or lived experience.

What access provisions does the programme have?

• All meetings are online, and we will have auto captions, rest breaks and can be recorded with a transcript.
• Participants are free to contribute in the way that works best for them
• If you need access support with any of the tasks involved in this role, we will work with you to ensure you have the necessary support in place and may be able to fund this.
• All of our in person work will have hybrid provision, wheelchair access, and support workers in place as required.

What support is available to me when I apply?

As a disabled-led team, we understand the barriers disabled people face to applying for arts opportunities. That’s why we’ve designed a “friendly application process” for our projects that is as universally accessible as possible to diverse, and neurodivergent, communities from the outset.

Advice before applying

We will always hold at least one online Q&A session about applying for our development programmes, led by one of the panel who assess applications. This will be recorded and published to our website as a video after the fact.

How you can apply

You can submit an application:

• By filling in a Google Form
• By downloading and filling in a Word document
• In audio format (in spoken English and up to 7 minutes long)
• In video format (in spoken English or BSL and up to 7 minutes long)
• Using bullet points or full sentences in response to questions
• Using an image or images (e.g. a mind-map or photo of handwritten answers) in response to questions
• Please note that audio, video and images may be transcribed into written English, to meet the access needs of reviewers.

Our application forms contain a guide character count or word count, showing how much we expect applicants to write, but these limits are set higher to take into consideration that not everyone can explain concepts within a low word/character limit.

We will provide a list of bullet points that explain what sort of information we’re looking for. We’ll also include an explanation of what we are assessing in the answer.

If there are questions or things in the application form that you don’t understand or are struggling with, please do say so in your application, we will not discount an application we would have otherwise moved forward because a question has not been answered, but will get in touch with you to discuss it.

Support when writing your application

We can’t offer 1:1 support with applications, because everyone applying for opportunities with us is disabled, this wouldn’t be financially or logistically feasible. However, we don’t expect all applicants to write applications solo, and happily accept those written with partners, friends, peers, support workers, or anyone else.

We know applicants might use AI to support with or write their application,  however, we value unique approaches and self-expression and we’d always prefer a less “well written” application that conveys your individual voice, over a perfectly written application that was produced by AI. Ultimately, we’re looking for the ideas behind what you tell us, not how you tell us them, and encourage you to ensure that comes through in your application.

We also accept applications in the style of video / voice notes.

In exceptional cases, where it is not possible to apply in any of the given ways, we will arrange for a zoom call with a CRIPtic team member. During this call they will ask you the application questions, and record your answers, to be transcribed afterwards. If you require this, please contact team@cripticarts.org. However, they will not be able to give you advice on your application.

Deadlines

We will always have a fixed deadline, with the option for people to ask for an extension of a maximum of 1 week, as an access consideration where required, by emailing team@cripticarts.org.

Please note that we won’t be able to extend beyond the maximum extension stated.

How your application is reviewed

Applications are reviewed and decisions are made by a disabled panel, including at least one neurodivergent person, and we do not expect them to be written in a neurotypical style. This means you will not be disadvantaged for using different spelling, grammar, speech or structure. Applications in a signed language will be translated into written English. If we want to move your application forward but parts of it haven’t been done in a way we expected, contain mistakes, have gaps that concern us, or if we don’t understand an answer given, we’ll come back to you and work with you in those areas before we make a decision. Your application is not the end of the conversation, it’s the starting point.

Do you offer feedback on applications?

If we have interviewed an applicant about the programme, we will offer feedback via email on request. If we didn’t take your application through to the interview stage, we will not be able to offer feedback, but we will create an overall guidance document, explaining why we took certain work and why we couldn’t take other pieces forward, and publish this on our website.

Supported by:

Embark! is funded by Youth Music’s Shift the Scene Fund, which champions inclusive, ambitious creativity across all art forms. This support means more time, space and resources to co-create bold creative work with Disabled young people, not as an add-on, but by design. It will run for four years, from 2026-2030.