The JMK Trust

The JMK Trust provides talented young directors with awards, guidance and development opportunities

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Winner 2021

The 2021 JMK Award winner was Diane Page with her production of Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act by Athol Fugard. Diane worked with her designer Niall McKeever and sound designer Esther Ajayi.

The 2021 runner-up are director was Rafaella Marcus with her designer Anna Reid and their proposed production of Peggy Pickett Sees the Face of God by Roland Schimmelpfennig.

Continuing its partnership with the Orange Tree Theatre, the winning production formed part of the theatre’s Recovery Season.

As a director, Diane Page’s credits include Yellowman (Orange Tree Theatre), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare’s Globe), Lost & Found (Royal Opera House), Out West (Co-director), In Love and Loyalty (also as writer), Ghost Stories, Leave to Remain, Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith), Yeggs (Wildcard Online), Love and Information (ArtsEd) and Krool Britannia (Rabbit Hole Theatre/Camden Fringe). Her credits as an associate director include Ghost Stories (Duke of York’s Theatre/UK tour); and as an assistant director, othellomacbeth (Lyric Hammersmith/HOME) and Bartholomew Fair (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Diane Page said, “I am beyond thrilled to be the recipient of the JMK Award. It is such an incredible feeling to have the opportunity to stage Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act by Athol Fugard – a brilliant and poignant play that is in dialogue with the world now – and I’m overjoyed to be able to do it at the Orange Tree Theatre. I want to thank the JMK Trust for their support and keeping this award going – especially at this time. My creative team and I cannot wait to share the production with you.”

Stephen Fewell, Chair of the JMK Trust, also commented, “I’m really thrilled to see Diane and her team receive the JMK Award of £25,000, and cannot wait to be sat in the Orange Tree Theatre this autumn to see her production spark into life. As theatre audiences, like the lovers in Fugard’s play, meet together once more in the darkness, I’m anticipating what modern parallels may be drawn from his account of life under a corrupt, immoral and racially prejudiced government regime. 

Today sees theatre audiences beginning to return, and I hope audiences will come along to see Diane’s show, and support all our shortlisted directors’ future projects. They represent the future, and as we all decide what we want to regain and what to reimagine, who to mourn and how to rebuild, they deserve every opportunity that theatre can provide.”

Paul Miller, the, then, Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre added, “I am seriously delighted that Diane Page, this year’s winner of the JMK Award, will play a key part in the OT’s recovery season. Her passion and insight in to Athol Fugard’s seminal classic blew us away, and in particular her feeling for it as a powerful response to recent events. In Diane the JMK Award has once again struck gold. I can’t wait for audiences to return and experience this electric play, in the hands of such an exciting director.”

The other 2021 finalists and their teams were:

Director Emily Aboud, designer Natalie Pryce – Rum and Coca Cola by Mustapha Matura

Director Matt Harrison, designer Camilla Clarke  – Tom Fool by Franz Xaver Kroetz

Director Becky Hope-Palmer, designer Luke W. Robson – When I was a girl I used to scream and shout by Sharman Macdonald

Director Ed Madden, designer Grace Smart – Peggy Pickett Sees the Face of God by Roland Schimmelpfennig

Director Katherine Nesbitt, designer Rose Montgomery – Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch

Director Emerald Crankson, designer Zoë Hurwitz – Mules by Winsome Pinnock (*see below)

The JMK Award was kindly supported by Philip Hooker, The Martin Bowley Charitable Trust, the Katie Bradford Arts Trust, Arts Council England Culture Recovery Fund and all our individual donors.

 

 

 

 

 

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Alumni

Adam Karim Kalungi Ssebandeke Diane Page Tristian Fynn-Aiduenu Winner 2017 - Josh Roche Winner 2016 - Roy Alexander Weise Winner 2015 - Liz Stevenson Kate Hewitt - winner 2014 Winner 2013 - Alex Brown Winner 2012 - Sam Pritchard Winner 2011 - Cathal Cleary Winner 2010 - Matthew Evans Winner 2009 - Caroline Steinbeis Winner 2008 - Michael Oakley Winner 2007 - Polly Findlay Winner 2006 - Jamie Harper Winner 2005 - Natalie Abrahami Winner 2004 - Anne Tipton Winner 2003 - Bijan Sheibani Winner 2002 - Joe Hill Gibbins Winner 2001 - Orla O'Loughlin Winner 2000 - Thea Sharrock Winner 1999 - Mark Rosenblatt Winner 1998 - Tassos Stevens

Click here to view all JMK alumni »

Patrons: Dame Judi Dench, Baroness Howe, Sir Ian McKellen, Clare Menzies-Kitchin MBE and Tom Morris OBE (Founding Chair).  

The JMK Trust is kindly supported by The Martin Bowley Charitable Trust, Arts Council England, The Katie Bradford Arts Trust, The Cockayne Foundation, The London Community Foundation, The Leche Trust, Scops Arts Trust, The Garrick Charitable Trust, The Victoria Wood Foundation, The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, The Maria Björnson Memorial Fund, The Patricia Routledge Foundation, The Hollick Family Foundation and all our individual donors.

Registered address: Talton Farm Cottage, Newbold on Stour, Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 8UB.

Registered Charity: No. 295080

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The JMK TrustLogo Header Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • The JMK Award
    • About the JMK Award
    • Application process 2024
    • Information for Designers
  • National Programme
    • About the JMK National Programme
      • JMK Birmingham
      • JMK Bristol
      • JMK Edinburgh
      • JMK Manchester
      • JMK Newcastle
      • JMK Northampton
      • JMK Nottingham
      • JMK Reading
      • JMK Salisbury
      • JMK Stoke-on-Trent
      • JMK Yorkshire
    • #JMKSpace
    • JMK Director Practitioners
  • Assistant Director Bursaries
    • JMK Assistant Director Bursary Recipients
  • Support us
    • How you can help
    • Support for Free with Online Shopping
    • Legacies
    • JMK Gift Membership & Awards Circle
    • ShareGift
    • Thanks to our supporters
  • Blog
  • More information
    • Learn about directing
    • Archive Playlists
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact