A former student at Alton College has recently won the biggest award in the UK for new playwrights.
Hannah Doran, who studied at Alton from 2010 to 2012, won the Papatango New Writing Prize for her play The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights, which is running at The Park Theatre in London from November 12 – 29.
Whilst at Alton, Hannah achieved straight As in English Literature, English Language, Drama and French, as well as attaining an A* in her Extended Project. These fantastic grades secured Hannah’s place studying English Literature & Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick. In the third year of her degree, in which she achieved a First, Hannah spent a year abroad studying Performing Arts at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
After achieving her Bachelor’s degree, Hannah went on to complete an MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU’S Tisch School of the Arts in New York City, majoring in Playwriting. She then took her talents to an internship at an off-Broadway theatre company whilst working at a butcher’s in Brooklyn. Speaking about this experience, Hannah said:
“The year I spent being a vegetarian butcher in Brooklyn was a wild environment. The amazing people I worked with there is what inspired me to write The Meat Kings! I started it as part of a writer’s group in 2020, and spent the next four years identifying problems and figuring out how to fix them.”
When asked what the best part of creating the play was, Hannah said:
“Rehearsals in particular have been so joyful and exciting. All the different creatives’ work comes together – the writing, direct, set design, sound design etc. You hope it will all feel worth it when the curtain comes down on opening night!”
Promotional material for The Meat Kings.
The Papatango New Writing Prize, established in 2009, remains the only annual playwriting award to guarantee its winner a full production, publication, fee and royalties. This makes it a fantastic way for new writers to burst onto the scene. In 2024, there were a record 1,589 submissions for the Prize, making Hannah’s victory even more impressive.
We asked Hannah how she felt after winning the award:
“I was truly delighted. I’ve been sending scripts to writing competitions for the best part of a decade, and to get a win, not least from the UK’s biggest new writing prize, was completely amazing!”
Described as a play that explores the ‘brutal sacrifices that drive the pursuit of prosperity’, The Meat Kings! Has been rated Five Stars by Theatre Weekly, with praise being aimed at Hannah’s sharp writing and ability to craft complex characters.
Speaking about how her time at Alton has helped her on her playwriting journey, Hannah said:
“The teaching at Alton was superb, I still often think of how my English and Drama teachers inspired me. The encouragement I received was a crucial part of my formative creative years, especially with extracurricular activities that empowered me to try writing for performance for the first time.”
Everybody in the Alton College community is incredibly proud of Hannah, and can’t wait to see how her journey progresses in the future!