A company which represents Broadway musical and theatrical greats such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Agatha Christie and Harold Pinter is to open a drama section at a Plymouth library.
Concord Theatricals Ltd, which has offices in London, New York and Berlin, has donated a range of works for a a new modern plays section at Plymouth Proprietary Library. Concord Theatricals is the UK home of theatrical licensing and publishing companies R&H Theatricals, Samuel French Ltd and Tams-Witmark.
Between them their roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie, George and Ira Gershwin, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander and Ebb, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Harold Pinter, Cole Porter, Terence Rattigan, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder and August Wilson.
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Concord is the only firm providing comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class production.
Plymouth Laureate of Words Laura Horton will unveil the new modern plays section at the Proprietary Library, in St Barnabas Terrace, Stoke, on Thursday, March 3, from 6.30pm.
The event will include a short reading of one of Miss Horton’s new plays, Breathless, and a Q&A followed by refreshments and opportunities to talk and connect.
She said: “I’m really keen to get people to think about picking up a play to read like they would a novel or short story. Plays are so accessible and fun to read, they fire your visual imagination in wonderful ways. I’m delighted that Concord Theatricals have donated such a brilliant range to the library and hope people get lots of use out of them.”
Since 2020 a proportion of Concord Theatricals’ commission from every licence is set aside to create a fund for significant annual donations to charitable organisations whose emphasis is to support theatre writers and composers, and music and drama education.
Vivien Goodwin, senior vice president, Concord Theatricals (Europe), said: “We’re passionate about making theatre accessible to all and are proud to be supporting local libraries in this way.
“Plays and musicals can be powerful on the page as well as on the stage, and we hope that readers will delight in discovering work by both established and new voices on their library’s shelves.”
The Plymouth Proprietary Library was established in 1810 and is the city’s longest surviving historic library. It is home to more than 20,000 books, from some of the oldest and rarest in Devon through to modern bestselling novels. In 2019 the library moved from a building it owned in North Hill to the former doctors’ surgery it bought in St Barnabas Terrace.
Tifaine Dickinson, from Plymouth Proprietary Library, said: “We are thrilled to host Plymouth’s Laureate of Words and unveil our drama section with Laura’s support. We hope that people find something new while visiting Plymouth’s oldest library to discover Laura’s work.”
Miss Horton is the first woman and playwright to become Plymouth Laureate of Words. She is a Soho Theatre Writers Lab alumni, 2017 whose full-length play Labyrinth Diet was performed as part of Foreword Festival 2021, and nominated for an ONCOMM (Online Commendations) award.
In 2020 she wrote and produced her first film, A Summer of Birds (Plymouth Fringe, Toast of the Fringe winner). She is an artistic associate of The Space, which support arts organisations and artists to develop work and reach audiences online.
Her first play Hidden by Things, about her experience of hoarding disorder, is due to be performed at Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Abi Zakarian’s Power Share and is being developed with the support of Downstage Write.
Miss Horton is currently commissioned by Theatre Royal Plymouth and was listed in The Stage 100 2021 for her campaigning with her project Theatre Stories. Her next play as part of the Laureate will be premiered on March 8, 2022, at the University of Plymouth.
