Solihull Arts Complex

Core Creatives members Naylah Ahmed and Skylar Mabry have been awarded Arts Council England funding to develop a new play together.

The partnership, made possible by Solihull’s Core Creatives programme, will allow the artists to explore, develop and write a new play in collaboration with local creatives.

Naylah Ahmed (Writer & Co-Producer) is an award-winning writer and radio drama producer with extensive experience of developing writers, ideas and story across radio, stage and screen. She was the first Development Producer for BBC Radio Drama Birmingham, is a freelance director for The Archers, and has been a core writer on the show since 2016. 

Skylar Mabry (Producer) is a theatre maker with a special focus in community arts and socially-engaged creative work. Previous work spans small scale pop-up tours to international festivals and large scale productions. Originally from Colorado, Skylar is proud to now call the West Midlands home. 

Naylah will work on a script exploring the nature of news gathering/telling in the current climate which will then be workshopped and developed with Skylar and creatives from the West Midlands. 

There will be a public sharing of the play in progress after its development process in The Studio at The Core Theatre, Solihull on 12 September.

Skylar Mabry, Producer, says of the project, "We are so excited to get to work together for the first time to explore material that is so important and yet so easy to disregard. And we can't wait to work with a group of brilliant local creatives to make it happen!”

Core Creatives, based at The Core in Solihull, is a creative support network that aims to support Solihull’s creatives to grow and develop their practice by supporting collaboration, experimentation and business growth. It is open to professional artists and creatives who live, work or study in the borough of Solihull.