YORK company Pilot Theatre’s new production, Ghost Town, began as a call-out in The Press for young writers to submit a synopsis for a play for 11 to 15 year olds.

This Generation Z competition elicited around 50 responses, which had to be entered anonymously.

As chance would have it, the choice made by Pilot turned out to be by York playwright Jessica Fisher, already winner of the Nick Darke Award for burgeoning writers and a member of staff at York Theatre Royal, who has subsequently moved to London.

“We loved her idea, though obviously we didn’t know it was by Jess,” says Pilot associate director Katie Posner. “But it’s good to be developing a writer who’s worked in the Theatre Royal building.”

Jessica then had to write her play before doing a research and development session with playwright Richard Hurford, by which time Ghost Town had changed considerably from her original idea.

“At first it was going to be a play about the [2011] riots and what would have happened if they hadn’t stopped, but we both felt that actually wasn’t the most interesting thing to write about within her synopsis,” says Katie.

“It turned out Jess was more interested in writing a play featuring a boy with OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder].”

Jessica, Katie and Richard streamlined the script from its initial 40 pages to 20 to draw out the heart of the story and the present form of Ghost Town subsequently took shape.

The rolling progress of the play gained further momentum when Pilot noted that LOV, the Lincolnshire One Venues scheme, was seeking to commission a play for young people.

“So we did a pitch for that commission and Ghost Town has now become a co-production that will play four Lincolnshire venues, as well as York Theatre Royal, Cast in Doncaster and the Gulbenkian in Kent,” says Katie.

Ghost Town is set on a cold October dawn on an East Coast beach, where a young woman lies unconscious on the tide line and the aforementioned young man, the self-destructive Joe, stands over her, watching, panicking and washing his hands. His world is on the cusp of exploding.

“While it’s a play with a young boy dealing with the issues and rituals of OCD, it’s really a play about friendships and relationships,” says Katie.

The setting by the sea is symbolic.

“For me, the sea is both hugely terrifying and beautiful. It can be raw and frightening but also peaceful,” says Katie. “It can be massive and engulfing, but as when Joe washed his hands, it’s calming and cleansing.”

• Pilot Theatre’s Ghost Town is on tour from February 6 to March 4, including York Theatre Royal Studio, February 12 to 19 (except February 16 and 17) at 7.45pm. York box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk