NSDF - Key Persons
Abbi is one third of physical theatre company RashDash. She is an NSDF alumnus, having made and performed Strict Machine and Never Enough while a student at The University Of Hull.
Agatha trained at RADA as an actor. She performed in the new writing show No One is Coming to Save You in Edinburgh Festival and UK tour. She has also appeared in BBC's Good Omens and recently worked with Strictly Arts on their new digital TV series SeaView.
Ali is a Theatre-Maker from Yorkshire. He is a co-Director of Barrel Organ & a Core Artist with Unlimited. Ali works with Forced Entertainment on the delivery of their Participation work in Sheffield & is a Mentor Director with National Theatre Connections.
Ali works for Lamp & Pencil, designing and building practicals and bespoke items for installations and shows. He is also a freelance sound engineer working on a wide variety of projects within theatre and events. NSDF21 will be Ali's eighth Festival.
Anna is a director and theatremaker. Her work as a director includes I STAND FOR WHAT I STAND ON (Strike A Light), I WANNA BE YOURS by Zia Ahmed (Paines Plough/Bush Theatre), A SMALL PLACE by Jamaica Kincaid (Gate Theatre), ALBATROSS by Isley Lynn for NEW (RWCMD/Paines Plough/Gate Theatre).
As a theatremaker work includes JANE ANGER (Yard Theatre Live Drafts), MAHABHARAT/A by Anna Himali Howard and Zarina Muhammad (Camden People's Theatre), THE BEANFIELD by Breach Theatre (New Diorama, National tour 2016).
Anna was Associate Director on FLEABAG by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Drywrite/Soho Theatre international tour). She was Paines Plough's Trainee Director in 2016 and is an alumnus of the Birmingham REP Foundry. She was recently a Staff Director at the National Theatre, London and is currently the Assistant Director on GET UP, STAND UP: THE BOB MARLEY MUSICAL.
Brett Chapman is an award-winning independent filmmaker from Sheffield.
Charlie Josephine is an actor and a writer. Their work includes ‘Bitch Boxer', ‘BLUSH' and ‘Pops'. They're currently under commission at The Globe, the RSC, Boundless Theatre and Pentabus Theatre.
Job Titles:
- Technical Advisor
- Video and Media Server Programmer
David Butler is a video and media server programmer working in theatre, opera, TV, film, music and events. His recent production credits include 'Sleepless The Musical', 'Nixon in China' for Scottish Opera, ‘Orlando' for Vienna State Opera, 'Stranger Things' for Secret Cinema, 'The Rakes Progress' for Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre and 'Peter Gynt' for the National Theatre.
Debbie Korley is an actor, practitioner and mentor. Recently she has worked in the audio world having voice over opportunities and contributed on BBC Radio drama's and Big Finish. She has collaborated with many drama schools as a director specifically with Shakespeare text. Throughout 2021 she had the opportunity to work for the Burg Theater in Vienna and The Ruhrtriennale International Festival in Germany with the show The Fall Of The House Of Usher. UK theatre she has worked with Royal Exchange - Manchester, Talawa, RSC, Birmingham Rep, Kneehigh, Told By An Idiot and Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Freelance Director
Elin is a freelance director, movement director and writer based in the North.
Her directing credits include the award-winning Screwdriver (Lyric Hammersmith and Sheffield Theatres), Signals (Latitude Festival and National Tour), Daniel (NSDF 2016, Theatre Delicatessen, Royal Exchange Manchester, New Diorama and Camden People's Theatre), The Belief Project (Theatre Delicatessen) and This is Not a Demo by Sheffield Theatres' Young Company 18-25 (Sheffield Theatres).
Recently, Elin has been the Associate Director on LOVE by Alexander Zeldin (European Tour). She has also worked as an Assistant Director and Staff Director with Sheffield Theatres, Paines Plough, Slung Low and Freckle Productions.
Previously, Elin co-founded and directed award-winning touring company and NSDF-Alumni, Footprint Theatre. She also ran Sheffield Theatres' Young Company (18-25) for 3 years and has been a part of writers' groups at the Royal Court Theatre and Sheffield Theatres.
Florence Bell is a writer and arts administrator from London. She has written for Noises Off since 2017 and has also written for The Stage. Her producing work includes Birmingham International Dance Festival (BIDF) and ZOOTV at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; she currently works in arts marketing and PR for theatre and dance.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Co - Director of ImPOSSIBLE Producing With Charlie Bunker
- Independent Theatre and Festival Producer
Gabby Vautier is an experienced independent theatre and festival producer working Locally, Nationally and Internationally.
Gabby is co-director of imPOSSIBLE Producing with Charlie Bunker.
Gabby is a recipient of the Stage One Commercial Producers Bursary, mentors loads of young talent and is passionate about making this industry fair and inclusive. Gabby is also the mum of 7-year-old twins and has seriously learnt to multi-task!
Helen is Theatre Maker/performer and a founder member of RashDash. Theatre for RashDash includes: Three Sisters (Royal Exchange, Tobacco Factory, The Yard); Snow White & Rose Red (Cambridge Junction, BAC); The Darkest Corners (Transform Festival); Two Man Show (Northern Stage, Soho); We Want You To Watch (National); Oh, I Can't Be Bothered (Soho); The Frenzy (Lyric Hammersmith, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, Imagine Watford, Latitude); The Ugly Sisters; Set Fire To Everything (Lyric Hammersmith, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, Imagine Watford, Latitude); Scary Gorgeous (Hull Truck, Theatre in the Mill); Another Someone.
Lover of bad jokes, supplier of secret treats & champion of justice. Iain is currently working as an Operations Manager and all around secret magician with the Crewe Lyceum, I'm a level 15 wizard of Company & Venue Management as well as wielder of the dark secrets of the HSE.
Jack studied Electronics and Electrical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh and it was there that he got involved in the Edinburgh University Theatre Company, who call the Bedlam Theatre their home. He attended NSDF in 2014 as a student on the Technical Team and has returned as Operations Manager since 2018.
After graduating he decided to pursue a career in Technical Theatre and Events, where he works mainly in Production Electrics and in equipment maintenance and repair. As well as working smaller events like ceilidhs and weddings, he regularly works behind the scenes at higher profile events such as the Edinburgh Fringe and Edinburgh's Christmas & Hogmanay. More recently, he's been working on a project filming plant grow boxes that have been put onto the back of recumbent bikes.
Job Titles:
- Technical Workshops Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate of the National Youth Theatre of GB and of the Gate Theatre
Jennifer is a UK and International stage director and independent theatre maker. In 2015 she directed the Scandinavian premieres of two Nick Payne plays to critical acclaim, consequently winning the Scenokonstguidens award for Arets Karthasis 2015. Jennifer trained at the University of East Anglia and at The Drum / Theatre Royal Plymouth where she was resident assistant director 2013-14.
Jennifer is a Creative Associate of The National Youth Theatre of GB and of The Gate Theatre. She is also an associate director of Reduced Circumstances theatre company.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Executive Producer of Slung Low
Joanna Resnick is Executive Producer of Slung Low, a theatre company that makes large scale, outdoor, political theatre often with large groups of citizen performers at its heart. Slung Low currently runs the oldest working men's club in Britain- The Holbeck. It is a space that is a theatre, a development space, a community space, a rehearsal room and a pub: whatever the community needs. During the Covid crisis the company was the ward lead for Holbeck and Beeston for social care referrals with responsibility for 7500 homes. They ran a non-means tested self-referral foodbank from March 2020 to June 2021.
Keerthi Kollimada (aka Kiki) started her career as a Finance Manager for a large NHS Trust, before moving to London to work in theatre a decade ago. She loves the industry, and is especially passionate about inclusion, and how we create opportunities for access and representation in theatre and our communities.
As well as her role at NSDF, Keerthi freelances as a consultant for artistic organisations and she is the Finance Manager at Headlong Theatre Ltd, where she also does a lot of work on diversity and inclusion. She has worked in both subsidised and commercial theatre and prior to her current roles, she was the Head of Finance at Mark Rubinstein Ltd, and Complicité before that. She has worked on everything from West End Musicals & plays, to immersive theatre and touring both in the UK and internationally.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Theatre Consultant
Kim is a freelance Theatre Consultant currently working with NSDF, New Adventures, the Young Vic and the WOW Foundation.
Kim Grant believes passionately that theatre changes lives and feels she has been very lucky to work in the industry for over twenty years. Most recently as Executive Director of NSDF, from 2019 to 2021; freelance Theatre Consultant, from 2016; Director of Finance, Administration and Operations at the Lyric Hammersmith from 2010 to 2015, and prior to this held similar roles at Royal & Derngate in Northampton and at the Leicester Haymarket.
Kim has been Chair of Paines Plough since December 2018 and has been a Trustee for over seven years. Kim is a Trustee of Batley & Spen Youth Theatre Company and a Director of Fertility Fest CIC and RashDash Ltd.
Job Titles:
- Producer
- Creative Producer and Writer
Lotty is a creative producer and writer who creates work that is inclusive, exciting and invites audiences to question the world around them while being thoroughly entertained. Beginning during her time at the University of York, she developed a passion for presenting the best quality new theatre which led her to complete an MA in Creative Producing at Mountview during the pandemic. She has since created work with companies including Chol, Chronic Insanity, Caged Bird, Original Theatre, Farnham Maltings and was the inaugural winner of the André Ptaszynski prize for Producing as well as winning the 2022 Offie for best audio drama for her original play Red Breast. She is dedicated to helping emerging theatre makers share their work and advance their practice and cannot wait to bring this ethos to NSDF.
Lucy is an actor and theatre maker specialising in devised and experimental performance and international new writing. Lucy is an associate artist with London's Gate Theatre and is a member of Third Angel, Deaf and Hearing Ensemble and is a core artist with Forest Fringe. Lucy has been supported by Battersea Arts Centre and regularly collaborates with artists: Chris Goode, Chris Thorpe, Clare Duffy, Unlimited Theatre, Wendy Hubbard, Metis Arts, Jane Packman Company and Lydia Ziemke/Suite42.
Job Titles:
- Technical Workshops Coordinator
Marc is an actor and co-founder of Middle Child Theatre.
He is an NSDF alumni, and trained at The University of Hull and Arts Educational Schools London.
Theatre includes: A Very Expensive Poison (Old Vic) which won the Critics Circle Award for Best New Play and an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Paines Plough Roundabout/The Bush Theatre/Middle Child) for which he won The Stage Award for Acting Excellence, Brighton Rock (UK Tour) Flood by Slung Low (Hull City Of Culture 2017), with Middle Child he has also performed in Weekend Rockstars, Ten Storey Love Song, Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, Modern Life Is Rubbish, 25 and 10 Pantomimes as the Dame. The Gaul (Hull Truck) Dancing Through The Shadows (Hull Truck) Another Someone by Rashdash (National Tour, Fringe First Winner)
Job Titles:
- Technical Director
- Technical Director for the Pleasance Theatre Trust
Marec is the Technical Director for the Pleasance Theatre Trust, where he is responsible for overseeing the entire technical output of the organisation. This includes the delivery of their Edinburgh Festival Fringe operation, the running of their busy theatre in North London as well as delivering production management and consultancy for external projects and events on behalf of Pleasance Production Services.
Over the years, Marec has been fortunate to work with such companies and organisations as Vault Festival, Histrionic Productions, Punchdrunk, Glynis Henderson Productions, Complicite, Royal Court Theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland.
Marec brings with him a wealth of production management experience along with a passion for nurturing upcoming talent both on and off stage. Through his current work with the Pleasance and Vault Festival he has had the opportunity to mentor and support many young technicians as they hone their craft and is delighted to join the NSDF team to contribute to the vital opportunities it provides young people at the start of their careers. Marec is a strong believer in the importance of a first impression, and the first backstage working experience should be no exception. Its crucial that young people have the opportunity to gain access to technical training in a safe, supportive environment and it is the responsibility of all theatre professionals to contribute to the mentoring of the next generation. Marec is dedicated to maintaining the values of NSDF and is excited to shape the future of technical training at the festival and beyond.
Nadia Emam is an actor, poet and director currently on Sheffield Theatres supported artists programme. She has worked with companies such as the Royal Exchange Theatre, Take Back and with the Stephen Joseph Theatre as part of Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme. She recently co-founded Next Left, a political theatre collective based in Sheffield creating immediate response theatre.
Naomi is a writer based in the East Midlands. She was on the writing team for Noises Off in 2018 and has reviewed for Exeunt and Fest Mag. Her short play I'll Show You The Oranges was part of the Royal Court Play List event in 2017. She was a resident writer at Leicester Curve in September 2018 and was part of Soho Theatre Writers' Lab 2018-2019.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director and Writer
Nathan is a Director and Writer, making work nationally from his home in Liverpool. Nathan makes work that explores the big ideas within the personal and is an advocate for creating work with young people and community groups. Nathan is the Artistic Associate at the Everyman and Playhouse and is currently developing shows for Derby Theatre (Writer) and HighTide (Director).
Nickie Miles-Wildin is DaDaFest's joint Artistic Director & CEO.
Nickie was previously Associate Director at Graeae Theatre Company where she was Head of new writing. She has also worked at Royal Exchange Theatre as Young Company Programme Leader and prior to that Resident Assistant Director, part of the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme.
Job Titles:
- Joint Artistic Director & CEO
Nima Taleghani was born and brought up in North London and is an NSDF '13 & ‘14 alumni. He studied English Literature at Warwick University, which culminated in submitting a fifteen minute ‘Othello Rap' for his Shakespeare exam. He then went on to study An MA in English at UCL. He has a PhD in getting out of trouble.
Currently, he is performing in ‘Cyrano De Bergerac' at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End, transferring to New York in the Spring.
Olivia trained at The University of East Anglia and Drama Studio London. She is an NSDF alumni, having written and performed her production Tub at the festival which she developed at University and was also a member of the NSDF Ensemble and performed Chris Thorpe's production of Touched at Latitude Festival.
Peter is a freelance theatre director. He was the Associate Director for SlungLow, on their year-long epic - Flood by James Phillips - for Hull City of Culture 2017. He is currently a Resident Director on the RSC's Summer 2018 Season, where he most recently directed What I Found In The River by Nima Taleghani. Last year he also worked as a Performance Director on Taxi Tales - a TV production by Tamasha Theatre for BBC Performance Live.
Peter was the Hospital Club's Emerging Creative for Theatre and Performance in 2016, and was awarded the RSC Buzz Goodbody Director's Award for his production of Jerusalem at NSDF 2013.
Whilst Resident Director for Sheffield Theatres in 2015, Peter founded and directed the Sheffield Theatres New Writers' Programme; a course for early-career professional theatre writers that offered opportunities to develop new pieces of work to be staged at the Crucible, including Here Lie The Remains of MERCY by Mufaro Makubika, which Peter went on to direct and produce in a full production at Theatre Delicatessen in 2016.
Other directing includes work for SBC Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Aberdeen Music Hall and the Southwark Playhouse. Other associate/assistant directing includes work for the RSC, SlungLow, Sheffield Theatres, ATG, Bath Theatre Royal, Arts Educational, and James Phillips' City Stories Company at the St James' Theatre. Peter trained on the Theatre Directing MFA at Birkbeck.
Psyche is a freelance theatre director. So far her work has taken her to Rome, Australia and throughout the UK enabling her to work in Regional Theatre, West End and on National and International Tours. She is also a frequent visiting Director for RADA.
Productions coming up in 2017 include; Associate Director for the new Stiles and Drewe musical Wind in the Willows opening at the London Palladium in June; and she is directing Elton Johns Glasses by David Farr for Watford Palace Theatre opening in September.
She trained originally as an actor in musical theatre at Arts Ed, before going on to train as a director. As a Resident Assistant Director at the King's Head and the first Project Manager for Living Pictures workshop series "Directors Acting" she was chosen as one of six directors to work on a new writing project under the mentorship of Matthew Dunster at the Young Vic with Dennis Kelly as writer. This resulted in his play Love and Money. She was Invited on to the National Theatre Studio Directors programme in 2006, then won the Channel 4 Directors Award now the ITV Theatre Directors Scheme 2006-07. Her Bursary took her to Newcastle to train with Erica Whyman at Northern Stage as well as a wealth of international visiting artists including Robert Lepage and his company Ex-Machina who spent six weeks in residence with Northern stage developing Lypsynch. She continued as an Associate Director with Northern Stage for their No 1 tour of Our Friends in the North. Her freelance directing work has taken her to Rome, Australia and so far enabled her to also work in Regional Theatre, the West End and on National Tour. Most recently she was invited back by Erica Whyman to direct the National Tour of Dennis Potter's seminal Blue Remembered Hills for Northern Stage. And earlier this year she directed the Radio version of the Old Vic's production of Brian Friel's Hedda Gabler originally by Ibsen for BBC Radio 4.
Ray has worked as an Actor on TV/Film and stage. More noticeable roles include Doctor Who, Endeavour, RSC. He graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre school in 2017. In 2018 Ray was the co-founder of Artfidence, which was set up to introduce life skills and build the confidence of pupils from a less fortunate backgrounds through drama. Ray is passionate about demolishing the systemic walls built to exclude those from a lower socio-economic background into the industry.
Roy graduated from Rose Bruford College in 2011 with a BA (Hons) in Theatre Directing.
He was made Associate Artist at The Red Room in 2011 and in 2014, he was the BBC Theatre Fellow at the Bush Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith.
Roy went on to spend a year at London's Royal Court as Trainee Director and was the 19th recipient of the prestigious JMK award. He was Associate Director at the Donmar Warehouse in 2019. He was was Associate Artist at Harts Theatre Company and was lead acting tutor at Young & Talented. Roy is currently a tutor for Open Door.
He is co-Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre and was awarded an MBE in 2020.
Sam Steiner is a playwright and screenwriter from Manchester. Sam's theatre work includes Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Walrus), Kanye The First (Hightide), You Stupid Darkness! (Paines Plough/Theatre Royal Plymouth) and A Table Tennis Play (Walrus). He is currently under commission at the Almeida and developing projects for TV and film with Castlefield and Sunny March.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Director from Manchester
Sean is a director from Manchester. He was previously Trainee Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatres and Paines Plough, and Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse.
Tinu read English Literature and Drama at Sussex University and then trained as a director at LAMDA, where she has continued to work since graduating in 2010 and on the National Theatre Studio Course 2012.
Assistant Directing credits include: Hamlet (directed by David Farr) and All's Well That Ends Well (directed by Nancy Meckler) at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Jerwood Assistant Director on The Changeling at the Young Vic directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins. Hundreds and Thousands at Soho Theatre (directed by Lisa Spiring), ‘Out of Sight/Out of Mind' at Trestle and several LAMDA shows including Janet Suzman's production of Athol Fugard's ‘Master Harold…and the boys' and on the development of a new play by April De Angelis, ‘A Gloriously Mucky Business', directed by Elizabeth Freestone. She was apprentice director to Trevor Nunn on ‘The Tempest' (Theatre Royal Haymarket).