Fin is a 2002 graduate of the MA Writing for Performance programme at Goldsmiths. His final play for that course, Protection, was produced at Soho Theatre in 2003, where he was also Pearson writer-in-residence. His second play How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found won the 38th Arts Council John Whiting Award, the first time in 40 years that an unproduced play has won. It was subsequently commissioned by Sam West for Sheffield Crucible and enjoyed a sell-out run, transferring to London in 2008. It has also been produced in Australia, New Zealand and several times in the United States. In the UK, the play continues to be one of Nick Hern Books’ most popular choices for amateur production.
Fin’s first play for teenagers, Locked In, a hip-hop musical about pirate radio, was produced by Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in 2006 and 2008 and toured nationally. His second play for Half Moon, We Are Shadows, toured during autumn 2007. 2008 also saw Fin's first radio commission Caesar Price Our Lord for BBC Radio 4, which was transmitted in September.
For the past five years Fin has been writer-in-residence at Mulberry School for Girls in East London, where he is co-founder of Mulberry Theatre Company. Mehndi Night (2007), Stolen Secrets (2008) and The Unravelling (2009) all premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with The Unravelling winning a Scotsman Fringe First Award, the first time a school theatre company has ever received one. The Urban Girl’s Guide To Camping premiered at Southwark Playhouse in 2010, and also lent its name to the Nick Hern Books' play volume in which all four plays for Mulberry School were published.
As well as writing plays Fin also has many years of experience teaching playwrighting at secondary, sixth form, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has worked for schools, youth clubs, local authorities and theatre education teams in inner city London and beyond. As well as teaching on the Goldsmiths MA Writing for Performance programme he is a visiting lecturer at Boston University and BRIT School.
Fin is currently Associate Artist at Tamasha, where he is developing a pilot scheme for playwrights to train as resident writers within schools and other institutions. He is also developing a research-led play for Birmingham Repertory Theatre and a site specific piece for the 2012 Brighton Festival, and is an occasional contributor to The Guardian newspaper’s Theatre section.
He has a website at www.finkennedy.co.uk and blogs about playwrighting, teaching and the politics of both at www.finkennedy.blogspot.com
You can follow him on Twitter at @finkennedy
Research Interests
‘Investigative Playwrighting’ – Devising methodologies for playwrights to investigate experiences beyond their own and dramatically reproduce them with authenticity, legitimacy and integrity, with a particular emphasis on interview-led research.
Writing for Teenagers – Creating texts for performance with both professional theatre companies producing plays for teenage audiences, and also for young people themselves to perform in semi-professional contexts. Includes immersive, long-term writer’s residencies in schools and experimenting in dramatic form with adolescent performers.
Fin leads two modules on the MA Writing for Performance: Research and Performance, and Writing for Specific Audiences.