Sarah ‘Rain’ Kolawole is a playwright, spoken word artist, facilitator and published writer from Nottingham. Sarah is currently an associate artist with Rebel Sparks and over the past few years, Sarah has been a New Associate with New Perspectives Theatre, a Graeae Theatre Beyond Artist with Derby Theatre and an Artist Ideas Fund and Vital Sparks Artist with Spark Arts for Children. Sarah was also previously an Associate Artist at Nottingham Playhouse and a Soho Theatre Writers Lab alumni.
Sarah is currently working on several plays:
‘AYO’, a multisensory piece aimed at disabled children and their non-disabled siblings and peers through how the story is told in a sensory approach. The piece will be inclusive of children who are visually impaired and/or deaf and children with multiple/complex disabilities (PMLD).
Ayo is a girl with cerebral palsy who goes on a family holiday to Nigeria. Ayo meets an enthralling butterfly in Lagos who distracts her, and she becomes lost. They overcome accidents and the unfamiliar sights and smells. Ayo is eventually reunited as she makes it to the beach.
‘GRACE’, which was conceived during Sarah’s time on the Fifth Word playwright programme where she developed and shared an extract of a new script idea ‘Grace’ at Nottingham Playhouse in summer 2025.
‘Above Water’ , a mainstream play about family after loss, the warmth, the joy and soul which ties us together in the face of conflict and change.
In 2021/22, Sarah was commissioned by Derby Theatre to co-write the book adaption of Alex Wheatle’s ‘Home Girl’ with Nathan Powell.
As a poet and writer, Sarah was published by Candlestick Press within a poetry Anthology entitled “Ten poems about Black history” edited by Dr Panya Banjoko. Two of her monologues were also published within the “Hear me now” collection.
The style of Sarah’s writing tends to be poetic and the stories that she’s interested in often reflect lived experience. These include but are not limited to; the care system, sibling relationships, separation and loss, ‘race’, identity and work with and for young disabled audiences.
In a previous lifetime, Sarah worked as a children’s Social Worker for 11 years and this along with her own experiences as a fostered and adopted child have transferred into her writing. Since becoming a parent of a child with profound and multiple disabilities who is excluded by the mainstream, she now has an urge to create work that children and young people can engage in, work which is poetic, rhythmic, multi-sensory, accessible for children with complex and multiple disabilities and has immersive elements.