STRANGE TOWN - Key Persons
Ailis has built a career as both a drama practitioner and events and venue manager. Her work in Scottish theatre began as a student in 2011 with Aberdeen Performing Arts, where she later became Front of House Manager. Following a return to Edinburgh, Ailis has worked in venue management positions with Summerhall and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, as well as in the Box Office and Creative Engagement teams at Capital Theatres.
Ailis has previously worked with Strange Town as a freelancer, leading and assisting with the Youth Theatre and After School Drama groups. Her other freelance work includes projects with Lyra, Newbattle Abbey College, Capital Theatres and Roslin After School Club. Ailis continues to work with children and young people in Edinburgh through her work as a freelance Drama Associate with The Drama Studio.
Ailis has also previously served for five years as a member of the Strange Town Board. She has an MA (Hons) in English and History from the University of Aberdeen.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Company Accountant
Andrew is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a former Partner of national UK accountancy firm RSM. Having left professional practice in 2011 he held a number of commercial finance roles with Molson Coors, the global brewer before joining Midlothian based waste management business, The NWH Group, in 2019 where he is the Chief Information Officer.
Bob is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and experienced Director and Company Secretary. He has spent over 17 years supporting SMEs to set up and grow and the last 15 years working with and supporting Communities, Social Enterprises and Charities throughout Scotland. Latterly he has worked in the Craigmillar area of Edinburgh as Business Manager to the Community Alliance Trust and joined Out of the Blue as Studio Manager for their Abbeymount Studios
Catherine is a freelance facilitator and theatre maker from Glasgow. She graduated in 2014 with a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Screen Acting from University of the West of Scotland. Since graduating she has worked extensively across the central belt of Scotland including at the Tron Theatre and Macrobert Arts Centre, as well as working in schools and various outreach projects. Her work focuses on devised theatre, both in her work with young people and through her own performance career with her theatre company Spilt Milk. Catherine is very passionate about her facilitating role and aims to bring out creative potential in all the young people she works with, allowing them to find their own creative voice through making and performing.
Gill is a qualified Drama Teacher and currently Head of Creative Arts at Leith Academy High School. Gill worked for several years as a freelance drama practitioner running youth theatre projects and directing productions for many of Scotlands leading youth theatre organisations. She set up and ran her own youth theatre company for 10 years before becoming a formal education teacher.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Youth Theatre Manager
James is a director, playwright and creative learning facilitator who has lived and worked in Edinburgh for over a decade.
He has worked with Strange Town since 2015 and has written a number of Strange Town productions including Stolen Futures (Traverse Theatre, June 2019), Heart of the Storm and Something Special (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dec 2021) both of which he also directed. In addition to his role as Youth Theatre Manager, he leads the Monday and Wednesday youth theatre groups.
Previous credits with his own group Aulos Productions include the award-winning Fringe productions First Class (2014) and Gobland for the Goblins (2017) and the award-nominated Women of the Mourning Fields (2015) and Antigone na hEireann (2018).
James has worked extensively as a freelance drama practitioner with companies including East Lothian Youth Theatre, Lyceum Youth Theatre, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Theatre Sans Accents and Acting Out Drama School.
He holds an MFA in Directing from Edinburgh Napier and an M.A. (Hons) in Ancient and Medieval History from Edinburgh University and has run workshops and guest-lectured at both institutions.
Jessica has a degree in Festival and Events Management from Edinburgh Napier University. Throughout her studies she worked with various Edinburgh Festival venues in a number of different roles. She also produced a show which ran at the Fringe and toured to the Big Burns Supper Festival in Dumfries.Since graduating Jessica has worked at the Traverse Theatre and completed an internship with a social enterprise which worked to support young families. As a previous Youth Theatre member herself, Jessica appreciates the opportunities it can bring to a young person and is excited to be working with Strange Town to help bring these to more young people.
John has a wealth of experience gained from 40 years in the charity sector and has been at the forefront of policy and regulation changes in Scotland's third sector. In 2000, he was a member of the Commission to Review Charity Law in Scotland, which resulted in the establishment of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), of which John became the first Chair in 2006. As well as Chair of Strange Town, John is currently President of YMCA Scotland; Chair of RSA Scotland; a Trustee of Foundation Scotland; and a co-opted member of National Trust for Scotland's Audit and Risk Management Committee.
Kate is a teacher who works with children who have Autism and complex needs in Midlothian. She previously worked as a primary teacher across schools in Edinburgh. Over the past 2 years she has been on the Board for Forth Childen's Theatre. Kate has 2 children who have taken part in Strange Town's after school drama outreach programme, are currently in the youth theatre and the young actors' agency.
Kate is an independent producer of theatre and music theatre. She produces for Mairi Campbell; Skye Loneragan; When Mountains Meet, a project in-development and A Mothers Song, a new musical by Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo. She works with Edinburgh Performing Arts Project. Previously she was Associate Producer for British Youth Music Theatre producing mid-large scale new music theatre and has had roles with English Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Hall Birmingham, City of London Festival and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Job Titles:
- Design and Production Manager
Katie graduated with a BA(hons) Drama and Performance degree from Queen Margaret University, specialising in design and scenic art, further developing her skills on the Scenehouse Design course.
She is now an established freelance set designer and scenic artist based in Edinburgh. As the Design and Production Manager for Strange Town Theatre, she works regularly on their youth theatre and young company productions including, during the pandemic, a large-scale, multi-media event ‘Gen Z: The Future is Unwritten'. Katie is also acting Design Associate at Studio A which provides a bespoke service for pop up events, weddings and interiors and she regularly designs sets, props and costumes for Dirliebane Theatre Company, working alongside the company in the research and development phase in schools and nurseries. She has worked as props assistant and scenic artist on a variety of productions and events with Big House Events, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and many other event and film companies.
Balancing her creative career with being a mum, it is Katie's hope that having a motivated, creative working mum will be a great inspiration to her daughter.
A graduate of the RSAMD, Mary taught at Broughton High School, home to the City of Edinburgh Music School, where she became Principal Teacher, Music. In 1992, Mary led the development of Lothian Region's first arts policy and new arts unit. As Arts and Learning Manager for City of Edinburgh Council, her responsibilities included dance and drama officers, Youth Music Initiative, and the arts within informal learning. She also produced high profile events involving young performers. Mary is a past director of Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival and a former Chair of Promote YT (now YTAS).
Job Titles:
- Company Secretary
- Corporate Team Partner
Murray Jack is a corporate team partner of law firm Addleshaw Goddard. He has experience of advising on a broad range of corporate transactions involving private and public companies of a variety of sizes. He advises businesses principally in the life sciences, technology, food and drink, software and renewable energy sectors.
Richard is a freelance conductor, vocal coach, pianist, composer and lyricist. He is a permanent visiting lecturer to the Musical Theatre Department at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and a visiting lecturer at the Brisbane Conservatorium, Australia. He was Convener of the Culture and Sport Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council, and Festival and Events Champion, 2012-2017. He lives in Edinburgh and has a young family.
After graduating from Edinburgh in Mathematical Science, Robert spent all his working life (35 years) in computing - splitting his time evenly between support and software development. He was - and still is - an enthusiast for personal computing. Since retiring, he volunteers with a few different charitable organisations to help and advise on IT matters.
Job Titles:
- Agency Director and Joint Executive Director
Ruth is an Edinburgh based director and arts manager who has been working with young people in a theatre setting for 24 years, primarily in Scotland. She co-founded Strange Town and manages it with Steve Small and also runs the Strange Town Young Actors' agency.
She worked in the marketing department at Edinburgh Festival Theatre in 1995, where she established the theatre's education programme. From 1996-2000 she lived in Tokyo, setting up a children's theatre company and working in television and the voiceover industry.
As a freelancer she has previously worked with Lyceum Youth Theatre, macRobert, North Edinburgh Arts Centre, Scottish Youth Theatre, Perth Theatre, Stirling Youth Theatre, Borderline Youth Theatre, and Dundee Rep.
Job Titles:
- Artistic Director and Joint Executive Director
Steve is a director, producer and facilitator and has been working in Scottish theatre for over 30 years.
He leads on the Strange Town Touring company work and has directed STORM LANTERN by Duncan Kidd (nominated for a CATS award for best production for Children & Young People), HER by Jennifer Adam and ‘AND … AND … AND …' by Isla Cowan
Since founding Strange Town in 2008 with Ruth Hollyman he has directed many shows for the company, including: ‘Gen Z: The Future is Unwritten', ‘Dr Korczak's Example' by David Greig, ‘Balisong' by Jennifer Adam, ‘A Field of Our Own' and ‘Being A Dad' by Duncan Kidd, and ‘Teach Me' by Alan Gordon.
Previously Steve was Associate Director at Dundee Rep, Head of Education at the Royal Lyceum Theatre and Associate Director for Scottish Youth Theatre.