Venue: Hope Mill Theatre
Town: Manchester, GB

The Hope Mill Theatre is an independent theatre in Ancoats, Manchester, England that performs original and revival plays, musicals and other events. The theatre is located in the Hope Mill building, a Grade II* listed converted textile mill. It won Fringe Venue of The Year at The Stage awards in 2018. Hope Mill Theatre is the main work of the registered charity A Factory of Creativity. Joseph Houston and William Whelton built on their training in London theatre to create a theatre modelled on the Off West End Theatres which dominate the London theatre scene. They created a small producing venue in Manchester and opened Hope Mill Theatre in November, 2015. Whelton and Houston serve as respectively Executive and Artistic director of the theatre. In 2016 they won the Hospital Club Award for their contribution in Theatre and Performance and in 2017 they were also awarded a Special Achievement Award at the Manchester Theatre Awards. Katy Lipson, founder of Aria Entertainment, was the artistic director at the Hope Mill for several years, also producing many of the show staged at the venue, from Rags to Mame. The Hope Mill Theatre is now a registered charity, under the name "A Factory of Creativity", but continues being called with its original name. Whelton and Houston remain in their directors' roles and a board of trustees has also been appointed, to help support and guide the charity. Since 2020 the venue also hosts the "Turn on Fest", a LGBTQIA+ theatre festival, every year for two weeks, with live performances. The festival is usually run in collaboration with Superbia, Manchester Pride’s year-round programme of arts and culture. Every year the festival showcases different work and local queer theatre companies (in 2021 the full programme was held online). In 2020 - Qweerdog Theatre presented ‘Absolute Certainty?’, revived for the festival after performing at the Great Manchester Fringe. In 2021 - the festival was held online and events were mostly discussions with v