Provocative live performance and gripping short films … Emergence is back and it brings four days of brand-new bold work.

Presented annually by the graduating artists of the MFA Acting/Directing Classical and Contemporary Text programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the festival showcases a dynamic mix of creative projects developed with a small budget, full artistic autonomy, and a single provocation: What is the future of theatre and film?

MA (Master of Arts) / MFA (Master of Fine Arts) Acting/Directing Classical and Contemporary Text (CCT) is a course for actors and directors who find themselves looking beyond traditional and contemporary artistic approaches as they seek to broaden and deepen their individual practice.

View the Emergence programme and book tickets

“The Emergence festival is the culmination of the student-artist’s journey on the MFA Acting/Directing Classical and Contemporary Text programme, said Josh Armstrong, Co-Head MA/MFA Acting/Directing Classical and Contemporary Text.

“The festival provides an opportunity for emerging artists to have the autonomy to produce and present a theatre or film that they can use as a ‘calling card’ or first iteration of a creative project to put into the world as a stepping stone for their future career and creative life after graduation.

“The main goal of the festival is to allow them to reach a public audience, exercising their individual artistic voices, and for audiences to connect with artists who will shape the future of the industries as they re-enter the artistic landscape of Scotland and beyond post-study.”

Josh says the festival offers a platform for student-artists to present their productions to the public for the first time: “Often, these are films and performances that have been written and produced only in the three and a half months preceding the festival.

“This is a very short timescale compared to that of productions within the industry which can take years to go from conception through writing to production and presentation phase.

“It becomes a constructive constraint that encourages the artists to not focus on a finished and polished product, but inspires them to experiment, take creative risks and be open to feedback as this is but the first iteration of these works.

“Some artists continue to develop their productions following the festival having been able to use the festival as a launching point for securing onward funding for the development and presentation of the works in London, New York City, and, of course, Edinburgh Festival Fringe.”

With RCS introducing MFA degrees in Production, Arts Leadership and Fundraising, and Creative Arts Practice, next year the festival will include students from all of the Conservatoire’s MFA programmes.

“This is an exciting prospect as the festival will move beyond showcasing our Acting/Directing students, allowing for more creative disciplines and interdisciplinary collaboration to thrive within out postgraduate provision.”

Here, two recent graduates share their experiences of working on Emergence.

Chelsea Grace and Elizabeth Robbins

Audaciously Tenacious Theatre

Elizabeth Robbins is an American actor, playwright, stage manager, and educator now based in the UK.

Her writing explores language, memory, and blurred lines in identities and relationships, and has been produced at Forward Theatre, Play Full, Inkblot Theatre Co, and universities across the United States. Her radio adaptations of Little Women and Anne of Green Gables can be heard on Spotify.

Chelsea Grace is a working-class theatre maker, actor, and playwright from Inverness. Chelsea’s work is marked by bold storytelling and a commitment to championing underrepresented voices.

She trained with RADA, Scottish Youth Theatre, and Traverse Young Writers, honing her skills across a range of disciplines. Chelsea’s performance credits include Eilidh Eilidh Eilidh at Play, Pie, and a Pint, voiceover work for the video game Tencent Dungeons with Pinewood Studios, co-lead in the Off-Broadway play Larry & Lucy, and a key role in Salamander, a five-star Edinburgh Fringe show.

“The Emergence festival gave us space and time to explore. We could be bold with our ideas. We were focused primarily on telling a story rather than having to get bums on seats and think about a show commercially so we were brave with what we were taking to the stage.

“This led us to having a show to take to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Perfect Dead Girls, it’s what has led us to start a theatre company and get published. We are so beyond grateful to have had that time and platform as it has fundamentally shaped our lives.”

Ariela Nazar-Rosen

Ariela studied on the year-long MA Classical and Contemporary Text (Acting) programme before continuing her journey on the MFA. She developed a 60-minute solo show for Emergence which she debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.

Ariela is a New York City-based actor, theatre-maker and educator who has worked professionally on both stage and screen, including in productions and developmental readings with Wellesley Repertory Theatre and Penguin Rep as well as in network and TV with Hulu and Apple TV+.

She is passionate about creating, sharing and supporting work that centres mental health. She’s recently taken up a new position as an adjunct university lecturer in New York, teaching a course on public speaking.

“After a bed bug scare in my apartment while in my MA year at RCS, I felt compelled – for the first time in my artistic career – to create, devise and perform a piece on my own: one that explores how anxiety holds its all-encompassing grip on our minds and on our bodies.

“As I began considering what form I wanted the show to take, Josh Armstrong, the lecturer who led the MFA section of my course, encouraged me to lead with vulnerability, take risks in my art, and use this precious time in an educational space to embrace courageous work and the potential of what I may see as “failure”.

“I wholeheartedly adopted this advice (and the invaluable guidance and encouragement) Josh gave me – all of which so beautifully represented what Emergence stands for – a platform for risk-taking, voice, experimentation and passion.

“The piece I created became make the Bed, a 60-minute solo show that relies on gesture, physicality, and soundscapes as I bring the audience along with me on an anxiety-filled downward spiral. Josh invited me to consider creating a piece that asks, ‘What is it like to be in a room with you for 60 minutes when you are anxious?’

“In form and in content, make the Bed was a departure from any work I had done previously. Rather than a piece driven by spoken narrative, make the Bed became one driven by movement, and gesture.

 “Working towards and performing make the Bed at the Emergence during the MFA module became the culmination of my embracing my artistic voice and the vulnerability and risk-taking involved in creating a new piece as I had the opportunity to take full ownership of my work and my message that I wanted to share with audiences.

“Through my creation of make the Bed for Emergence and the process of sharing and engaging with audiences at the festival, I realised my deeper passion for and dedication to creating and supporting art that centres mental health.

“I was able to experience first-hand the power of the arts to open the door for necessary conversations about mental health, destigmatising these conversations, and encouraging people to get help, in whatever way best suits them.

Conversations with audience members showed me the need for this work and that the show could have a life after Emergence.”

In August 2024, Ariela collaborated with Cecilia Thoden van Velzen, a graduate of MFA CCT Directing from her cohort, to bring make the Bed to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it was short-listed for the Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award and one of fifteen productions (out of the 3,746 registered shows) to receive a five-star review from The Scotsman.

Ariela was subsequently invited to perform the show at the Clemens Center in Elmira, NY; Corning-Painted Post High School in Corning, NY; and the Bechdel Project in Brooklyn, NY.