Morna is a playwright, screenwriter, journalist, actress and musician from a wee fishing village in the North East of Scotland. She was named Scots Writer of the Year at the 2019 Scots Language Awards. Other accolades include: recipient of the 2017 Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship (hosted by Creative Learning, Aberdeen City Council), the 2018 'Tomorrow at Noon' award for female playwrights (Jermyn Street Theatre, 2018) and the New Playwrights Award 2014 (Playwrights' Studio, Scotland). She was recipient of the Scotland-New Zealand playwriting exchange 2018 (BATS Theatre, Toi Poneke Arts Centre and Playmarket NZ) and the Traverse's Scotland-in-Japan residency playwright 2019.

 

LOST AT SEA, her debut full-length play, toured Scotland in 2019 with Perth Theatre at Horsecross. The acclaimed production won two Critics' Awards for Scotland (CATS) from four nominations, a Broadway World Award and was nominated for 'Outstanding Dramatic Performance' at The Herald Scottish Culture Awards. LOST AT SEA was originally developed in 2013 with award winning Stellar Quines Theatre Company. More recently, Morna wrote the CATS-winning Runrig musical THE STAMPING GROUND, which toured Scotland in 2023 (Raw Material Arts / Eden Court).

 

Other plays include: BABS ('A Play, A Pie and a Pint' at Oran Mor, Traverse, APA), AMERICANA: A MURDER BALLAD (Pepperdine at Edinburgh Fringe Festival), THE SILVER SUPERHEROES ('A Play, A Pie and a Pint', Oran Mor, APA), AYE, ELVIS ('a Play, a Pie and a Pint' 2018 at Oran Mor, and 2019 as part of the 'audience favourites' season, Gilded Balloon at Edinburgh Fringe 2018 and Traverse at MultiStory Edinburgh Fringe 2020 ), THE BUKE OF THE HOWLAT (Findhorn Bay Arts), SMITE (Jermyn Street Theatre), NETTING ('a Play, a Pie and a Pint' and Scotland wide tour with Woodend Barn, Banchory), SHE OF THE SEA (Paines Plough 'Come to Where I'm From' at The Lemon Tree), B-ROADS (Play Pieces), NEVER LAND (Eden Court) and two short theatre plays for the National Theatre of Scotland's GREAT YES, NO, DON'T KNOW SHOW.  Digital work includes: STELLA (Mull Theatre), A FAIRY TALE (The Lyceum), THE TWA CHRISSES (Scots Language Centre), DEMON ISLAND: TAKEO'S TALE (Traverse) and A PASSING DANCE (Pitlochry Festival Theatre). She is currently under commission to The Lyceum, Dundee Rep, Mull Theatre, Visible Fictions, and Rapture. She is also developing a range of TV and film projects, after receiving the BBC Scotland scholarship in 2020. Most recently, she has been writing for BBC Scotland's RIVER CITY. 

 

Morna has performed extracts of her work at the Scottish Parliament, The European Author's Festival (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland) and as part of National Poetry Month, France. Other international work includes residencies in France, Italy, Iceland and Finland. She often writes in Doric and is a proud Scots Language Ambassador (Education Scotland).

 

As an actor, Morna has worked for companies including the National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Lyceum, The Beacon, 'A Play, A Pie and A Pint' (Oran Mor/Traverse), Alterean Media, ITV and BBC Worldwide. 

 

A multi-instrumentalist, she plays fiddle, flute, percussion and clarsach. Album recordings include Kevin McKidd's SPEYSIDE SESSIONS (No.1 in the itunes world music charts) and THE FISHWIVES (TV appearances include The One Show and BBC Breakfast). She has composed scores for several theatre productions including SUNSET SONG (The Beacon). She is one half of the band FOLKIFY (alongside Sandy Nelson) who were in residence at The Tron in 2016.

 

As a NCTJ qualified journalist, Morna has written for a number of regional newspapers and was a lifestyle columnist for The Northern Scot. Her internships include DAZED AND CONFUSED magazine and HALLAM FM. A regular guest blogger, she has written features for France Revisited, Magnetic North, Traverse Theatre and Playwrights' Studio, Scotland. Most recently, she has written features for PSYCHOLOGIES magazine.

 

She was equally flattered / mortified to be voted the 11th most eligible woman in Scotland by the Scotsman on Sunday (but, as her Auntie quite rightly pointed out, "nae quite top ten...').

 

Morna is currently based between Glasgow and Moray.