Power, who has been a National Theatre Associate Director since 2010, will have responsibilities across programming, creative development and commissioning. He has programmed the NT's Temporary Theatre since its opening in 2013. His adaptations for the National include the forthcoming Husbands and Sons by DH Lawrence, Euripides' Medea and Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean. He has worked as dramaturg on over twenty productions for the NT. He was formerly Associate Director of Headlong Theatre under Rupert Goold.
McLaughlin joins the National from the Royal Court, where she has been Artistic Associate since 2007, where she has collaborated in the development of many Royal Court productions including Gone Too Far! by Bola Agbaje, Posh by Laura Wade, Get Santa! by Anthony Neilson and Nick Powell, and most recently Michael Wynne's Who Cares. Her creative producing includes Open Court, a six week playwright-led summer festival, and Off The Page, with the Guardian.
In a press statement, Norris has commented, "The New Work department will become the engine room of the National's creative process. All artistic development, from new play commissions to Studio workshops and the evolution of productions of classic texts, will be led by a single department: maximising the combined potential of the Literary Department and the unique facility that is the NT Studio.
"The department will ensure that the National Theatre is able to lead, shape and respond to new and emerging theatre practices, and to represent the widest range of voices on our stages. The NT Studio, as well as being at the heart of our development process, will prioritise relationships and collaborations with theatres outside London.
"I'm delighted that Ben Power – who has played a central role in the creative output of the NT in the last few years, from the programming of the Temporary Theatre to his work on Medea and Man and Superman – will be taking on the new role of Deputy Artistic Director; and that Emily McLaughlin joins us from the Royal Court to head the New Work Department."
