Texas Bound

My First Bite commission, The Road to Huntsville, is steadily moving along and I am over the moon that along with the commission the work has also received support from Grants for the Arts and the Sir Barry Jackson Trust.

I’m really looking forward to working with the very lovely Jonathan McGrath who is on board as Director/Collaborator and Dramaturge Tessa Walker, who I worked with on Unknown Male. Before we start rehearsals for Bite Size in November though, there is just the small matter of taking a research trip to Huntsville, Texas with the fantastic filmmaker Rachel Bunce.

Huntsville is a small city based in the east of Texas with a population of just under 40,000, 25% of which are behind bars. Home to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) it is labelled a ‘company town’ as most of Huntsville’s residents are employed by the TDCJ. Situated in downtown Huntsville the prison, nicknamed the ‘Walls’ Unit, is the oldest state prison in Texas and is also home to the USA’s busiest execution chamber.

This research trip will shape the direction of the work and of course we will be blogging/vlogging some of our findings.

Bite Size takes place at Warwick Arts Centre on 7th November.