FOR the National Theatre of Scotland, it is back to the future.

The national company, unveiling its first major season under the direction of artistic chief Jackie Wylie, has appointed a 'Futurist in Residence', Mark Stevenson, so help guide its future direction.

Mr Stevenson, who has written two books on futurology, will be in his position for a year at the NTS and will work largely behind the scenes to help make the company.

His appointment comes as part of a package of innovations for the 2018 season.

Productions include the late Edwin Morgan’s Scots language adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, which will be directed by the Citizen’s Theatre’s Dominic Hill.

Other new shows will take place in museums, the streets of Glasgow, a park, and will tackle the subjects of disability, autism, sovereignty and identity, among others.

Mr Stevenson said: "We need to build a new future, because the one we are facing is not very good.

"Everything is breaking: there is a wholesale evaporation of trust in the institutions that govern society, democracy is in retreat...our food and energy systems are dangerously unsustainable.

"Artists and arts organisations are more important than ever, because I believe artists are the world's first and most under rated 'systems thinkers' - they think across boundaries, to find new truths and communicate them in a way that makes us think differently."

Ms Wylie said that Mr Stevenson's post was probably the first position of its kind in the arts world, and added: "In some ways what he is doing is working to make sure that the NTS is the most nimble, using its resources in the most effective way, and is dynamic.

"His role is not about what is on the stage, in some ways."

She added: "One of the things that I wanted to be really clear about is that there is an underlying aim of our levels of ambition - but within that I hope there are a multitude of definitions of theatre, from Cyrano which is about classical theatre, to new future-facing ways of making theatre in the Futureproof [festival].

"There will not suddenly be a dramatic shift in the aesthetic of NTS."

She added: "We recognise the world is facing huge challenges, and we all need to expand our thinking."

Cyrano de Bergerac will be the first production by the Citizens Theatre at Glasgow’s Tramway, where it is moving for a two year period.

Originally staged by Communicado Theatre, to acclaim and awards, and directed by Gerry Mulgrew, Morgan’s Cyrano de Bergerac premiered in Inverness in 1992, and went on to tour to the Edinburgh Fringe and nationally.

The Reason I Jump, translated by acclaimed novelist David Mitchell and Keiko Yoshida from a book by Naoki Higoshida, an insight into living with autism, will be performed in the Children’s Wood and North Kelvin Meadow in Glasgow in June next year.

Originally written when the author was thirteen years old, The Reason I Jump chronicled Higoshida’s experience of his severe autistic spectrum disorder.

Other shows will include The 306: Dusk by Oliver Emanuel, the final part of the World War One trilogy, and Nous/Us, about “sovereignty and identity” in a Quebecois and Scottish collaboration, a bi-lingual show which will be staged at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

My Left Right Foot, created by Robert Softley Gale, will also be shown at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, and is described as a “riotous and irreverent new musical."

At the Edinburgh International Festival for 2018, there will be a restaging of Midsummer by David Greig and Gordon McIntyre at The Hub.

Ms Wylie also announced that theatre makers Stewart Laing and Cora Bissett are now Associate Artists.

Nic Green and Adura Onashile will also join the National Theatre of Scotland as Artists in Residence

Ms Wylie added: “This is a wide- reaching year-long nationwide programme that builds on the National Theatre of Scotland’s founding principle to be a theatre for everyone with a renewed focus for 2018 on celebrating young people and their vital contribution to our nation’s artistic life.

“We want to thrill and entertain audiences in Scotland and beyond, to encourage participation in cultural life and look to the future of what theatre can be."

The NTS will be holding a mini festival called Futureproof next Autumn, in a series of venues across the country, with a series of performances with young people alongside established theatre figures.

Dundee will be the venue for Citizen of Nowhere, a mini festival “ commissions and discussions and questioning how theatre and art can respond to an increasingly fragmented world.”

Shift will be directed by Simon Sharkey at Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, and will be a “multi media, site responsive theatre event exploring working lives in North Lanarkshire.”