Nicola Werenowska

Nicola wrote her first play when she was 16 and it was a runner up in the 1988 Royal Court Young Playwrights’ Competition but due to her undiagnosed disability it took her 15 years before she began writing professionally following her life-transforming diagnosis of dyspraxia in 2003.

Since then her work has been developed and produced regionally, nationally and internationally with diverse theatre partners including Hampstead Theatre, the Royal Court, Graeae Theatre, the Mercury Theatre, Eastern Angles, the New Wolsey Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse.

Nicola’s work has been long-listed for national playwriting competitions including the Verity Bargate, the Bruntwood, Papa Tango, and she was runner up for the Mercury Playwriting Prize 2016.

Nicola has been a writer on Graeae’s attachment scheme, ‘Write to Play’ (2013-14), has been a member of the Royal Court National Writers’ group and is an associate artist at The Mercury Theatre, High Tide Theatre and Lakeside Theatre at Essex University.

“I am passionate about storytelling and the transformative power of the theatre, television and radio plays. As a playwright, my vision is to challenge myself and my audiences to create work that is fresh and inspiring, and that has national and international appeal. As a disabled woman from a working class background, I want to tell stories about underrepresented lives – working class lives, neurodivergency and women, Polish themed work. I am committed to supporting neurodivergent artists in my practice.” – Nicola Werenowska

We all think and learn differently. In particular, many students with neurodivergent/ASD learning profiles need alternative routes to unlock their potential for study. My tutoring/mentoring is individual-centered: I specialise in supporting GCSE, A level and university students with neurodivergent learning profiles such as dyspraxia, ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) and dyslexia. I have worked with schools, families and colleges in London and Colchester since 1998.

I encourage students to gain understanding of themselves as learners, enabling them to develop strong study skills and an effective personal approach to learning. My work is guided by my experiences of working with students, my own experiences as a dyspraxic adult and my involvement with DANDA for whom I edited a book ‘Dyspraxic Voices’ (Danda, 2003)

Since 2008 I have been delivering creative writing workshops for theatres/arts venues including the Mercury Theatre, Firstsite, Mainspring Arts, Graeae. Topics covered include introduction to playwriting/ writing the self across different genres / ND writing / adaptation/monologues. Drawing on my professional mentoring experience, I also offer dramaturgy and one to one individually tailored mentoring sessions for writers/artists of all levels. Please see events for details of upcoming workshops