Rough Ideas Winners Announced

Rough Magic was thrilled to receive more than 350 applications for our recent Rough Ideas Open Call. We had an enormous task in choosing just one recipient, so are delighted to announce we have expanded the prize to two early career playwrights.

Congratulations to CN Smith and Ruth McCloskey, our two Rough Ideas winners!

CN and Ruth will each receive an award of €2,500 and spend the next 12 months working on their piece with the RM Literary Manager and Artistic Director.

CN Smith is a playwright and theatre maker from County Louth. His play Spear was a Dublin Fringe Festival Commission in 2022 and received its North American premiere in February 2024. His play Corktown was commissioned as part of the Trans-Atlantic Commissions by Fishamble: The New Play Company and The Irish Repertory Theatre. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Lir Academy, where he was a recipient of the Patricia Leggett Scholarship.

Ruth McCloskey is an 18 year old from Clondalkin, with a passion for all things music, literature, film and theatre. Her key influences are Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Gregg Araki and Chuck Palahniuk. She found her love for theatre in the Tenderfoot program at The Civic Theatre and developed this relationship further by partaking in the TenderWRITE program. All this while endeavouring to complete her Leaving Cert.

CN Smith was known to us as a stellar talent among the new generation of young theatre-makers, and it’s wonderful to be able to support this smart, sophisticated playwright. Ruth McCloskey is the definition of the emerging artist – at 18, she is the youngest writer ever to receive support from us, and she shows enormous potential. We look forward to engaging with them through the coming year.

Rough Ideas is part of our ongoing commitment to artist development in Ireland, we will be announcing more opportunities in January 2025, so watch this space!