Stephen M Hornby
Stephen M Hornby was appointed as the first National Playwriter in Residence to LGBT History Month in September 2014. He is also their first National Theatre Coordinator. Stephen is an experienced professional playwriter and theatre director and producer, whose award winning work includes 'Die Diana'. He was born in 1968 in London, was raised in Hertfordshire and to date has completed four degrees: BA Hons in Drama & Theatre Studies at the Univeristy of Kent (1987-1991), MA in Social Work at the UEA (1994-1996), MSt in Criminology, Penology & Management at Cambridge University and an MA in Playwriting at the University of Salford (2014-2016). He is currently researching a PhD in 'Writing inter-male sex/uality history plays' with funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Counvil. In addition to his career in theatre, Stephen has worked as a Youth Worker, Probation Officer, and in various roles in Business Development for a FTSE 100 outsourcing company.
Stephen wrote and/or produced festival theatre each year for LGBT History Month from its inception in 2015 to mark the tenth anniversary of LGBT History Month in the UK. Each piece is an original drama exploring the hidden history of the LGBT community in a historically literate way.
2015: 'A Very Victorian Scandal' by Stephen M Hornby & Ric Brady, historical adviser Jeff Evans, which dramatises the largest raid by Police on an LGBT venue in the UK, which happened in Manchester in 1880. 2016: 'Mister Stokes: The Man-Woman of Manchester' by Abi Hynes, historical advisers Prof Stephen Whittle & Dr Emma Vickers, which dramatises the life of a Victorian trans pioneer who was found drowned in the River Irwell in 1859. 2016: 'Devils in Human Shape' by Tom Marshman which dramatises Georgian sodomy trials from Bristol. 2017: 'The Burnley Bugger's Ball' by Stephen M Hornby which dramatises a seminal public meeting about proposals to open the UKs first lesbian and gay centre in 1971 & 'Burnley's Lesbian Liberator' by Abi Hynes which dramatises an important battle for LGBT employment rights in 1978.
