Dawn King

Dawn is an award-winning writer working in theatre, film, TV, radio and other forms. Her play THE TRIALS had a sold-out English language premiere at the Donmar Warehouse in 2022 after a German production at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2021. Her play ADDICTIVE BEAT had an immersive production in a converted church in Southwark Park in September 2022 (with Boundless Theatre.) Her radical reinterpretation of DER KIRSCHGARTEN for director Katie Mitchell opened at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg in November 2022. She is currently adapting THE TRIALSfor the screen with Firebird Pictures and is also working on feature film PIG CHILD for Delaval Film and adapting her play FOXFINDER for the screen with Elation Pictures and Film Four. 

Dawn’s previous work for the stage includes; FOXFINDER, originally produced by Papatango Theatre Company at The Finborough in 2011 and revived in a West End production at The Ambassadors in 2018; BRAVE NEW WORLD (Royal and Derngate) CIPHERS (The Bush) and SALT (National Theatre Connections.) She co-created immersive rave DYSTOPIA987 with Skepta for Manchester International Festival 2019.

For FOXFINDER, Dawn won the Royal National Theatre Foundation Playwright Award 2013, Papatango New Writing Competition 2011 and Most Promising Playwright, Off West End awards 2012. She was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2012 and the James Tait Black drama prize 2012. Dawn’s short film THE KARMAN LINE won 17 awards including the BIFA for Best Short and was BAFTA nominated in 2014.

Dawn teaches playwriting and screenwriting to adults and teenagers at City Lit, National Theatre, Central School of Speech and Drama and elsewhere and also works as a dramaturg and script editor.