Forge Core
$4,500
one-time engagement
- CEO-led dramaturgical development across Phases I through III.
- Thematic and philosophical interrogation.
- Clarification of the central dramatic question.
- Structural analysis of plot and character architecture.
For Artists · a paid programme, not a production
Creative Development
The highest level of creative development resource available in the international theatre industry, applied with singular focus to the writer’s work.
Forge · led personally by Adam Kay, Artistic Director & Chief Executive
Forge is not a workshop. It is not a feedback session.
Forge is an intensive, CEO-led dramaturgical development programme built to subject a play to the level of interrogation, reconstruction and practical testing required for major-stage production.
It is commissioned and paid for by the playwright. The Foundation charges a fee for this work; it does not pay a fee to the writer, and Forge is not a grant, a bursary or a commission.
Forge is not a workshop and not a feedback session. It is the highest level of creative development resource available in the international theatre industry, applied with singular focus to the playwright’s play.
The Forge process is led personally by Adam Kay, Artistic Director & Chief Executive of Global Mosaic Foundation.
Through Forge, the playwright is not working with a single dramaturg. They are working with an organisation.
Six stages of dramaturgical development for a play
The Forge process moves through six stages, each building deliberately on the last. The duration is shaped by the playwright — by how they receive, respond, and execute — not by an arbitrary timeline. Forge is designed to produce the best possible version of the play.
- I
Thematic & Philosophical Interrogation
Identifying the questions the play is genuinely asking, and ensuring its dramatic architecture serves them.
- II
The Dramatic Question
Clarifying the central dramatic engine and sharpening its alignment with the play’s intellectual ambitions.
- III
Structure, Plot & Character Development
Analysing and rebuilding the play’s architecture from the inside.
- IV
Scene-level Writing
Targeted, practical work at the level of the page.
- V
Workshop Reading & Structured Feedback
A formal reading designed to test the work against an audience.
- VI
Rewriting & Further Development
As many cycles as the work genuinely requires.
From a playwright in the programme
In more than twenty years as a playwright, I have been through several dramaturgical processes and development programmes, some of them with highly recognised figures in the industry. This is the first time I have felt that my work has been treated as art, rather than merely as a product to be developed.
What Forge is, and what it is not
- Forge is a creative-development engagement commissioned and paid for by the playwright. The Foundation charges a fee for this work. It is not a grant, a bursary or a commission, and no fee is paid to the writer.
- Forge does not include or guarantee production, nor selection for Fragments of Brilliance. Where the Foundation believes a work needs further development before it can be considered for producing, Forge may be recommended — but a playwright is free to develop the work elsewhere and return with a revised draft.
- Forge is built to be worth purchasing, completing and keeping even if the Foundation never produces the play.
Two levels of engagement — $4,500 and $11,000
Forge is offered at two levels, allowing the playwright to engage at the point that best reflects their current needs and ambitions. All pricing is in United States Dollars.
Forge Full
$11,000
one-time engagement
- All six development phases.
- Full access to the GMF ecosystem as a creative resource — publicity, communications, the international network of directors and producers, and institutional knowledge of the organisation.
- Early Commitment rate available at $9,500 — same scope as Forge Full, reduced rate for artists committing upfront.
- Additional rewrite cycles $1,200 per cycle.
The writer is not working with a dramaturg. They are working with an organisation.
Every Forge engagement begins with a conversation about the play and where it currently stands.
Enquire about Forge