The Hermitage Artist Retreat announced today that the Hermitage, with support from the National Theatre New Work Department, will present a London workshop of the newly commissioned play Orlando (FL), written by Olivier Award winner Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge), the 2024 recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA). This will be the first London workshop presented by the Hermitage, and the invitation-only presentation will be directed by Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg (Operation Epsilon).
Chris Bush is an award-winning playwright, lyricist, and theater maker based in the United Kingdom. Her comprehensive body of work includes Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which won her an Olivier Award and a UK Theatre Award for Best Musical. Following sold-out runs at the National Theatre and Sheffield Theatres, the acclaimed production transferred to the West End, where it was described as “the most exciting new British musical in years” (WhatsOnStage) and heralded as “a moving and resonant piece of popular entertainment — magnificent and meaningful” (The Times). This was followed by the premiere of Chris Bush’s play Other Land at the Almeida Theatre. Raised in Sheffield, England, Chris Bush currently lives in London. The Hermitage present this reading of Bush’s new play Orlando (FL) to an invitation-only audience. Her original commission is coming to fruition less than two years from the date the recipient learned of her recognition.
In addition to serving as Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage, Andy Sandberg is a director, writer, and Tony Award-winning producer whose theatrical work has been represented in New York, London, and throughout the U.S. He has directed the U.K. premieres of Alan Brody’s Operation Epsilon (Southwark Playhouse) and Jeannette Bayardelle’s Shida (The Vaults), earning multiple Off West End Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Musical. Additional world premieres as director in New York include Straight (Off-Broadway, NY Times Critics’ Pick); Application Pending (also co-author; BroadwayWorld Award: Best Off-Broadway Play, Drama Desk nom., Book Pipeline Prize); Operation Epsilon (four IRNE Awards, including Best Play, Best Director); Shida (Ars Nova and A.R.T., four AUDELCO noms., including Best Director, Best Musical); Craving for Travel (also co-author); and The Last Smoker in America, among others.
Chris Bush’s Orlando (FL) is a story of transformation, translation, and resistance – a queer fantasia set against a backdrop of rising hate, and a funny, furious, and defiant testament to the power of literature and the importance of community. The play commences on November 5th, 2024. It’s Lana’s 29th birthday. There’s some other ‘stuff’ going on tonight as well, but she’s trying her best to ignore it. Lana is a young trans woman in Orlando, Florida, dreaming of stardom and living in denial. Then crashing into her life headfirst comes Orlando, the freewheeling, gender-switching protagonist of Woolf’s iconic novel. Orlando is sexy, confident, unguarded – when Lana is with her, another world seems possible.
The Hermitage Major Theater Award was established in 2021 to recognize a playwright or theater artist with a substantial commission to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theater. This national, jury-selected award, established by the Hermitage with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest nonprofit theater commissions in the country. Bush receives a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat (Sarasota County, Florida), plus a developmental workshop and reading in London. The prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage, where the commission is born, and other leading arts and culture centers around the world, including London, New York, Chicago, and notable arts capitals where great theater is frequently developed and presented.
HMTA winners are nominated and selected by a jury of recognized arts leaders in the field of theater. The 2024 Award Committee that selected Chris Bush included Michael Grandage, Tony and Olivier-Award winning director of stage and screen, former Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, and current Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company; Tessa Ross, CBE and BAFTA Award-winning Co-CEO of House Productions; and Indhu Rubasingham, Director of the National Theatre, Olivier Award-winning director, and former Artistic Director of the Kiln Theatre.
“It is truly an honor to be working with Chris Bush and the National Theatre to present the first workshop of Chris’ extraordinary play Orlando (FL),” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “It has been thrilling to see the work that’s come to life from past HMTA recipients Madeleine George, Shariffa Ali, and Imani Uzuri and it is incredibly exciting to be seeing Chris Bush’s original play now coming to fruition. Chris is an extraordinary talent, and it’s a privilege to play a role in supporting her artistic journey. We must also thank Flora Major for making this opportunity possible, and our brilliant jury for introducing Chris to the Hermitage.”
Casting for the first workshop of Orlando (FL) includes actors of stage and screen, including FisayoAkinade (The Crucible, Heartstopper); Olivier Award winner Matthew Kelly (Stars in Their Eyes, Game for a Laugh); Lesley Lemon (Rare Earth Mettle); Serena Manteghi (The Diplomat, The Hound of the Baskervilles); Fizz Sinclair (Chris Bush’s Other Land, The Simple Life & Death Modest), Cherrelle Skeete (Alterations, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child); Eleanor Sutton (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Jane Eyre, Amadeus), Olivier Award nominee Laura Pitt–Pulford (Chris Bush’s Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Sunset Boulevard), and EM Williams (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin).
Upon announcing Bush as the fourth recipient of the HMTA, 2024 Award Committee member Michael Grandage said, “The Hermitage Major Theater Award is an incredible opportunity for an artist to develop their craft “and Chris Bush is a hugely talented playwright who has already demonstrated that big ideas can change the world.” National Theater Director Indhu Rubasingham added, “Chris Bush is an artist the theater world cannot ignore, and this award from the Hermitage offers her the opportunity to make a work that is deeply personal… a powerful play that I can’t wait to see.” HMTA juror Tessa Ross shared, “Chris is an exciting, brave writer, and we feel very proud to be able to support the next stage of her journey with this wonderful award.”
Three distinguished finalists for the fourth Hermitage Major Theater Award included Natasha Gordon,an Olivier Award-nominated British playwright and actor of Jamaican descent, whose play Nine Nightenjoyed a sold-out run at the National Theatre before transferring to Trafalgar Studios; Beth Steel, an award-winning playwright whose new play Till the Stars Come Down recently transferred from the National Theatre to the West End; and Sam Steiner, an accomplished playwright and screenwriter whose West End play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons has been performed all over the world. Each finalist has been awarded a Hermitage residency and Fellowship, in addition to a cash prize of $1,500.
Past recipients of the Hermitage Major Theater Award include Madeleine George (2021), who is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, and served as a writer and producer for Hulu’s hit series “Only Murders in the Building.” George presented the first full-length reading of her new play The Sore Loser New York’s MCC Theater in 2023. Theater-maker and director Shariffa Aliwas selected as the second recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award. Ali shared an in-process presentation of her newly devised work Hero for an invitation-only audience in late 2023, also at MCC Theater. Imani Uzuri, the third HMTA recipient, is a composer, vocalist, librettist, improviser, and lyricist. The Hermitage collaborated with New York Theatre Workshop in 2024 to present this concert reading of Uzuri’s new musical Lighthouse of the Singing Birds. California-based playwright Naomi Iizuka was announced in January as the fifth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award. The Hermitage will present a workshop reading of her original commission in Chicago in the fall of 2026.