In autumn 2023, with the generous support of the John Feeney Charitable Trust, Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) commissioned Birmingham-based Women and Theatre to create an engaging new professional theatre production, Not the Last, a new play about Louisa Ryland, who bequeathed the land for Cannon Hill Park to the people of Birmingham in 1873 to celebrate the park’s 150th Anniversary premiered. The play, with a commanding and unique stage design, was performed over 5 days in MAC’s Outdoor Theatre in September 2023 and MAC welcomed over 500 people, many of whom had not booked theatre/performance since pre-pandemic, to watch the new piece. The vital investment from the John Feeney Trust enabled a young emerging writer to produce an important new play, performed by established actors, homegrown in the Midlands. We are exceptionally proud of this important piece that celebrated such an important part of Birmingham’s heritage and brought new and existing theatre audiences to our spaces.