BRIT Guest Artists

2020 BRIT Production: Orlando, by Virginia Woolf, adapted by Helen Tennison
For more information and photos of the production, visit the gallery.

Helen Tennison, Director
Helen's directing draws on her devising and physical theatre background to create a strong visual aesthetic. Her work ranges from Shakespeare (she also leads regular workshops in verse speaking), to new writing and site-specific pieces. She is particularly interested in the meeting point between naturalism and expressionism and enjoys being involved in the development of new scripts.  

Eva Auster, Video and Projection Designer
Eva is a London-based video and projection designer and Isadora programmer working with various artists, companies and directors from the United Kingdom and abroad to create visually beautiful and challenging work for live performances, physical theatre, dance and live events. Eva works and experiments with interactive video-mapping technologies, and various multimedia in order to communicate storytelling ideas and narratives to a wide-range of audiences. She is also an experienced lecturer, giving sessions on topics from video design to theatrical performance and content creation, whilst also providing private adult tuition on various technical subjects and technical support. For further information about her work, please visit her website.

Matt Eaton, Composer and Sound Designer
Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Eaton, best known to Domino as one of the founding members of Pram, is also an accomplished sound designer with professional experience in theatre and film. Over the past years, Matt has worked on countless scores for projects including Hamlet (Creation Theatre Co), It Ain't All Bollywood (Rifco Arts) and most recently worked on a production of The Gambler for BBC Radio 3. Versatile and swift, Matt uses his own studio facilities to create sounds from mysterious and eerie to sugar plum nursery style. Only Matt knows how to make running a screwdriver along an electric guitar sound like the perfect match for an underwater dream.

2019 BRIT Production: Emma, by Jane Austen (adapted by John Webber)
For more information and photos of the production, click here.

Eduard Lewis, Director
The USF School of Theatre and Dance was excited to welcome back guest director Eduard Lewis (Antigone, A Tale of Two Cities) to direct the 2018-19 BRIT production of Emma.  Eduard Lewis trained on the MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck University and Arts Educational and was a Resident Trainee Director at Royal Exchange Theatre 2012/2013.

As a director, he has worked on many shows including most recently Dracula (Touring Consrotium Theatre Company, UK), The Bruntwood Prize Ceremony, Crap Dad Island, Light & Shadow, Skylines (Royal Exchange Theatre), Consignment (Old Red Lion), Yuppies (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Neither Towards Nor Away (George Tavern), Internal Motion (Curious Directive), Daisy Cutter & Dealers Choice (Warwick Arts Centre Studio), Mercy Seat (CAPITAL Centre). As an Assistant Director he has worked on Talk Show (Royal Court Downstairs), Orpheus Descending, Accrington Pals, To Kill a Mockingbird, Cannibals, and Black Roses (Royal Exchange Theatre).

John Webber, playwright
John is a professional actor based in London, England and studied drama at the University of Wales and acting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. His acting career started with Young People’s Theatre companies working on new plays and devised pieces. He has worked in regional theatre all around the UK, at the Royal National Theatre, London and television credits include EastEnders and Doctor Foster for the BBC. His writing has been longlisted for the prestigious Bruntwood and Papatango Prizes and shortlisted for the BBC Writersroom. His play, Spiderfly, will be produced in London later in 2019.

Sara Green, Movement Director
Sara is a movement director and choreographer working across theatre, film and dance; recent work includes Richard Ayoade’s vignette for Radiohead, The Entertainer starring Toby Jones, and Anita & Me, a world premiere for the Birmingham Rep.She has received choreography commissions for Beyond Boundaries Festival, Scala, Electrowerkzand Corsica Studios; with visual artist Shawn Soh for London Fashion Week and for Random ActsChannel 4.

Her work B U R N T | O U T recently premiered at The Place as part of Resolution 2019. Sara trained at Laban and has taught movement at ALRA, Mountview, East 15 and Rose Bruford. She has just finished choreographing the latest music promo for C Duncan. saragreen.co.uk

2018 BRIT Production: The Crucible, by Arthur Miller
For more information and photos of the production, visit the gallery.

Helen Tennison, Director
Helen's directing draws on her devising and physical theatre background to create a strong visual aesthetic. Her work ranges from Shakespeare (she also leads regular workshops in verse speaking), to new writing and site-specific pieces. She is particularly interested in the meeting point between naturalism and expressionism and enjoys being involved in the development of new scripts.  

Eva Auster, Video and Projection Designer
Eva is a London-based video and projection designer and Isadora programmer working with various artists, companies and directors from the United Kingdom and abroad to create visually beautiful and challenging work for live performances, physical theatre, dance and live events. Eva works and experiments with interactive video-mapping technologies, and various multimedia in order to communicate storytelling ideas and narratives to a wide-range of audiences. She is also an experienced lecturer, giving sessions on topics from video design to theatrical performance and content creation, whilst also providing private adult tuition on various technical subjects and technical support. For further information about her work, please visit her website.

Matt Eaton, Composer and Sound Designer
Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Eaton, best known to Domino as one of the founding members of Pram, is also an accomplished sound designer with professional experience in theatre and film. Over the past years, Matt has worked on countless scores for projects including Hamlet (Creation Theatre Co), It Ain't All Bollywood (Rifco Arts) and most recently worked on a production of The Gambler for BBC Radio 3. Versatile and swift, Matt uses his own studio facilities to create sounds from mysterious and eerie to sugar plum nursery style. Only Matt knows how to make running a screwdriver along an electric guitar sound like the perfect match for an underwater dream.

2017 BRIT Production: Antigone, by Sophocles, retold by Pamela Carter.
For more information and photos of the production, visit the gallery.

Eduard Lewis, Director
Eduard Lewis trained on the MFA in theatre directing at Birkbeck University and Arts Educational and was a Resident Trainee Director at Royal Exchange Theatre 2012/2013.

As a director, he has worked on many shows including The Bruntwood Prize Ceremony, Crap Dad Island, Light & Shadow, Skylines (Royal Exchange Theatre), Consignment (Old Red Lion), Yuppies (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Neither Towards Nor Away (George Tavern), Internal Motion (Curious Directive), Daisy Cutter & Dealers Choice (Warwick Arts Centre Studio), Mercy Seat (CAPITAL Centre). As an Assistant Director he has worked on Talk Show (Royal Court Downstairs), Orpheus Descending, Accrington Pals, To Kill a Mockingbird, Cannibals, Black Roses (Royal Exchange Theatre), and Talk Show (Royal Exchange Theatre and Live Theatre).

Pamela Carter, Playwright
Playwright Pamela Carter lives in London. Her plays produced in the United Kingdom include Skane (Hampstead Theatre), Downstairs; winner of Berlin Theatertreffen Stuckemarkt 2012), What We Know (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh) and Slope and An Argument About Sex (after Marivaux's La Dispute) for Stewart Laing's Untitled Projects. Since 2010, she has been writing for the Swedish conceptual art duo Goldin+Senneby on the Nordenskiold Model, their ongoing investigation into algorithmic trading and financial reality. As a dramaturg, she has worked with companies including the National Theatre of Scotland, Malmo Opera House, and Vanishing Point (Interiors and Saturday Night). She has been the IASH/Traverse Theatre Creative Fellow at Edinburgh University, and is also under commission to Hampstead Theatre. Almost Here premiered at the Staatschausspiele in Dresden, Germany in 2013.

Kane Husbands, Movement Director
Kane Husbands is a theatre director specializing in movement, physical theatre and choreography. He has recently been working with National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and Saudi Aramco on a Middle Eastern performance of a modern retelling of the 1001 Nights tales.

Over the past few years, Kane has been privileged enough to choreograph dance theatre pieces that have toured around multiple cities in China and developed regional community theatre pieces delving into intergenerational theatre practice with both younger and older participants. As a freelance movement director, choreographer and facilitator in the United Kingdom, Kane has worked for a variety of theatres and companies including: National Theatre, Old Vic Theatre, MAC Birmingham, Sheffield Crucible Theatre, SCOOP Outdoor Theatre, Arts Admin, amongst others. He trained at Rose Bruford College on the BA (honors) European Theatre Arts course, graduating with a first class honors.

2016 BRIT Production: A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare
For more information and photos of the production, visit the gallery.

Richard Beecham, Director
Richard Beecham was born and brought up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He began his directing career as an assistant director at Northern Stage and Live Theatre, and has also held positions at the Bolton Octagon, the National Theatre Studio and the RSC. His other productions include The Invention of Love, The School for Scandal, The Miser, Side by Side by Sondheim (Salisbury Playhouse), A Taste of Honey, Neville’s Island, How The Other Half Loves (Watford Palace), Humble Boy (Northampton Theatre Royal), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Private Lives, Charley’s Aunt (Northcott Theatre, Exeter), The Bench (Battersea Arts Centre), The Human Cost and Just Before the War (Young Vic, London), and recently a critically acclaimed revival of Arthur Miller’s Playing for Time starring Sian Phillips at the Sheffield Crucible. The Guitar, premiering at the 2015 United Kingdom Jewish Film Festival, marked Richard Beecham’s debut as a filmmaker.

Alice Malin, Associate Director

2015 BRIT Production: A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, adapted by Mike Poulton.

Eduard Lewis, Director
Eduard Lewis trained on the MFA in theatre directing at Birkbeck University and Arts Educational and was a resident trainee director at Royal Exchange Theatre 2012/2013.

As a director, he has worked on many shows including The Bruntwood Prize Ceremony, Crap Dad Island, Light & Shadow, Skylines (Royal Exchange Theatre), Consignment (Old Red Lion), Yuppies (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Neither Towards Nor Away (George Tavern), Internal Motion (Curious Directive), Daisy Cutter & Dealers Choice (Warwick Arts Centre Studio), and Mercy Seat (CAPITAL Centre). As an assistant director he has worked on Talk Show (Royal Court Downstairs), Orpheus Descending, Accrington Pals, To Kill a Mockingbird, Cannibals, and Black Roses (Royal Exchange Theatre).

Jonnie Riordan, Movement Director
Jonnie is the associate director of ThickSkin.

Theatre credits (performance) include: Full Stop (Light The Fuse/Lyric Hammersmith/GDIF), Canticles (Brighton Festival/Aldeburgh Music/Frantic Assembly), Boy Magnet (ThickSkin), Overture (Laurence Olivier Awards), These Imagined Stories (ThickSkin), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Holland Park), Night Film (Stand + Stare Collective), Mortal: A Drama (Wellcome Collection), The Fear (Frantic Assembly's Ignition), In His Image (Hampstead Theatre). Film credits: Wild Lions (Otso Films), Dylan (Queen Mary Productions) and Arcane (BSU films).

His directing and design credits for ThickSkin include: co-director of Boy Magnet and White Noise; director of Found (Albany Uncover); associate director of Chalk Farm and The Static; associate video designer of In An Alien Landscape (with Birds of Paradise). His other work as associate director/movement director includes: Cracking, Hooked and Bat Boy (Iso Productions).

Jonnie co-directed the 2014 Frantic Assembly Ignition project: Would the real...please stand up.

Ruth Sutcliffe, Set Designer/Co-Costume Design
At school, literature, music and art were key for Ruth while training at the Centre for Young Musicians, and spending summers in the workshops, paint frames and venues of the National Youth Theatre. This led to a year as apprentice in the scenic workshops of the Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD), working with various visiting designers and directors on college projects and professional commissions. Two years later she graduated from CSSD, having increasingly specialized in design and scenography. She became the apprentice to designer Anthony Ward at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

In 2009 Ruth was a winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design, receiving the commission for The Duchess of Malfi, directed by Laurie Sansom, at the Royal & Derngate. She was also nominated for best design at the UK Theatre Awards.

She won an Off West End Theatre Award in Best Set Design for her work on Tennessee Williams’ Kingdom of Earth at The Print Room, directed by Lucy Bailey. She more recently collaborated again with Bailey on The Taming of The Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Other designs include: Hedda Gabler (Royal & Derngate); Bronte (Shared Experience); Yerma (The Gate); The Gypsy Bible (Opera North); Remembrance of Things Past and Mr Pye (CSSD); Elle (Theatre Delicatessen); costume for The Boy on The Swing (Arcola).

Benjamin Osborn, Composer
Ben Osborn is the musical director of FellSwoop Theatre (Bristol, UK) and regularly collaborates with other theatre companies as a composer, sound designer, musical director and actor-musician. His soundtrack to By the Bog of Cats won the Cameron Macintosh Award and his other productions with FellSwoop have won Exeter Ignite’s Wildfire Award (Ablutions) and the Methuen Drama Emerging Artists Award with judges' commendation for music (“Belleville Rendez-vous”). Recent theatre work includes Eliza and the Wild Swans (Bikeshed Theatre, Exeter), Current Location (Fringe Madrid), Like Enemies of the State (New Diorama Theatre and Stockholm Fringe Festival) and The Boy Who Kicked Pigs (Jackson's Lane Theatre, London; Peter Brooke Award winner). His songs have won the New Roots Folk Musician Award and recent short stories and articles of his have been featured by (among others) Living in the Future, The Bridge House Anthology, WarConRes and OpenDemocracy and his libretto On False Perspective was performed at the Britten Theatre last year.

2014 BRIT Production: Ravens. A devised work among the director, playwright and student actors in the show.

Kate Kerrow, Playwright
Kate trained at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and worked as an actress between 2001 and 2008 for a variety of companies across the United Kingdom, including The Birmingham Rep, Belfast Opera House, The Bristol Old Vic, and the Edinburgh Festival. Working as an actress enabled her to work with a diversity of literature from classical texts to new writing.

Her first play, The Riot Showgrrrls Club, was produced for Edinburgh Festival in 2008 and then completed a UK tour in 2009. This led to her co-creating the cabaret show Mother Mae I which is currently on tour in the United Kingdom.

Kate spent most of 2009 working towards her master’s degree in literature and researching/writing two plays: her first full-length work, The Tenth Box, and a short play Culling, commissioned by Scary Little Girls Productions. In 2010, she was selected as one of three playwrights for The Arvon/Jerwood Mentorship Scheme and received twelve months’ mentorship from critically acclaimed playwright, Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

Last year, The Tenth Box received part-publication by The Jerwood Charitable Foundation and The Arvon Foundation in their anthology, Marginalia. The play received a London reading, and was longlisted for The Bruntwood Prize with Manchester Royal Exchange.

Helen Tennison, Director
Helen's directing draws on her devising and physical theatre background to create a strong visual aesthetic. Her work ranges from Shakespeare (she also leads regular workshops in verse speaking), to new writing and site-specific pieces. She is particularly interested in the meeting point between naturalism and expressionism and enjoys being involved in the development of new scripts. For more information about Helen, visit her website.

Eva Auster, Video and Projection Designer
Eva Auster is a freelance video and projection designer with experience working with UK theatre companies and directors, creating visual content for live performances and online/promotional videos.

Trained in theatre studies, Eva completed her bachelor’s degree with honors in 2005, then obtained her master’s degree in visual media design from the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2008. She has specialist knowledge and experience using projections, as well as knowledge of various video equipment and technologies and specialist AV operating systems. She is passionate about visual media and the arts and enjoys working with others to create modern and contemporary work.

In 2011, Eva took part in the Building Interactive Systems for Dance, Music, Installation and Performance Art at the renowned STEIM center in Amsterdam. Since then Eva has been engaging with interactive systems, including working with graphical programming software Isadora and video tracking technologies. Her performance arts practice includes theatre, digital design, performance, interactive technology, physical theatre, live events and dance.

Matt Eaton, Composer and Sound Designer
Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Eaton, best known to Domino as one of the founding members of Pram, is also an accomplished sound designer with professional experience in theatre and film. Over the past years, Matt has worked on countless scores for projects including Hamlet (Creation Theatre Co), It Ain't All Bollywood (Rifco Arts) and most recently worked on a production of The Gambler for BBC Radio 3. Versatile and swift, Matt used his own studio facilities to create sounds from mysterious and eerie to sugar plum nursery style. Only Matt knows how to make running a screwdriver along an electric guitar sound like the perfect match for an underwater dream.

2013 BRIT Production: Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus

Helen Tennison, Director
Helen's directing draws on her devising and physical theatre background to create a strong visual aesthetic. Her work ranges from Shakespeare (she also leads regular workshops in verse speaking), to new writing and site-specific pieces. She is particularly interested in the meeting point between naturalism and expressionism and enjoys being involved in the development of new scripts.

Matt Eaton, Composer and Sound Designer
Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Eaton, best known to Domino as one of the founding members of Pram, is also an accomplished sound designer with professional experience in theatre and film. Over the past years, Matt has worked on countless scores for projects including Hamlet (Creation Theatre Co), It Ain't All Bollywood (Rifco Arts) and most recently worked on a production of The Gambler for BBC Radio 3. Versatile and swift, Matt used his own studio facilities to create sounds from mysterious and eerie to sugar plum nursery style. Only Matt knows how to make running a screwdriver along an electric guitar sound like the perfect match for an underwater dream.

Tim Charrington, Vocal Instructor
As an actor, Tim Charrington understands how vital it is to the performance to speak with confidence in an appropriate and authentic dialect. Whether an American attempting a Mauritian accent or a Londoner attempting 1940s RP, the challenge can be daunting.

Directors and producers also recognize the importance of dialect to their production – and the difficulty of achieving a consistency across the whole cast for a given location or period. Tim Charrington has been teaching dialects for over 20 years with a background as a professional actor and director.

Philip d’Orleans, Fight Choreographer
A member of Equity’s Register of Fight Directors, some of Philip’s recent credits include productions for the Royal Opera House, Vienna’s English Theatre, and The Tricyle Theatre. He currently teaches at Drama Studio London, Richmond University, the London College of Music, the Court Theatre Training Co. and the School of the Science of Acting. His international teaching takes him to Germany and Switzerland on a regular basis.

Philip is a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, the Arms & Armour Society and the International Hoplology Society. He has lectured at the Wallace Collection, the Tower of London, and at the Globe Exhibition Space.

2012 BRIT Production: the original devised work Body Stories.

Filter Theatre Company (in residence Jan. 9-Feb. 24, 2012)
Filter Co-Artistic Director/Director: Oliver Dimsdale

Writer: Stephen Brown
Sound Design and Composition: Christopher Branch, Marc Teitler
Choreographer:  Frauke Requardt
Filter Co-Artistic Director/Acting Mentor: Benjamin Roberts
Filter Co-Artistic Director/Show Consultant: Tim Phillips

Filter Theatre Company is a "ground-breaking theatre collective" (London Evening Standard). The company integrates sound, movement and storytelling to create fresh and moving works of theatre. They have performed across Europe and the United States and made shows for the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

2011 BRIT Production: adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, The Othello Project

Frantic Assembly Theatre Co., Directors (in residence Jan. 16-Feb. 5, 2011)
Frantic Assembly is celebrated at home and abroad for creating thrilling, energetic and unforgettable theatre. The company attracts new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture. Vivid and dynamic, Frantic Assembly's unique physical style combines movement, design, music and text. Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett (and co-founder Vicki Middleton) formed Frantic Assembly in 1994. They seek to collaborate on original ideas with today's most exciting artists.

Paul Miller, Director (in residence Jan. 31-Feb. 23, 2011)
Paul Miller is associate director of the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Most recently he has directed Democracy, Hamlet, and True West at the Crucible Theatre. He also directed Elling, based on the novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen and original stage adaptation by Axel Hellstenius in collaboration with Petter Næss. This show was nominated for two Olivier Awards.

Laurie Dennett, Set Designer (in residence Jan. 31-Feb. 23, 2011)
Mr. Dennett trained at Wimbledon School of Art, won the 1964 Royal Society of Arts bursary for Theatre Design, and became resident designer (sets and costumes) of various theatres in England. He designed a temporary theatre for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company, and most recently designed for The Entertainer, Antigone, Flags and Whistle in the Dark  for the Royal Exchange Theatre.

2010 BRIT Production: Dion Boucicault's The Shaughraun.

Malachi Bognanov, Director (in residence Jan. 11-Feb. 21, 2010)
Associate director of the English Shakespeare Company (1997–2000), Malachi Bogdanov directed international tours of productions including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Threepenny Opera, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, and an award-winning production of Richard the Third.

In 2003 he wrote and directed Bill Shakespeare’s Italian Job at the Edinburgh Festival and was the subject of a BBC documentary. In 2004 it also toured to the Neuss International Shakespeare Festival in Germany, as well as returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He has directed a number of shows for the Neuss Festival including his production of a new adaptation of Marlowe’s Edward the Second (2006). The same year Malachi directed Modern Cautionary Tales for Children. Written and performed by Murray Lachlan Young, the show toured throughout the United Kingdom and gained five-star reviews from The Scotsman and The List during its run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In Italy, Malachi has recently directed a new version of Alice in Wonderland for La Botte E Il Cilindro. He also directed Dracula, L'Anconitana, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merchant of Venice all in Italian and produced by MabTeatro.

In the United Kingdom, Malachi has directed Stone Soup (2005) and Pandora’s Box (2006 Birmingham MAC and Edinburgh Festival) and Pinocchio (MAC 2006). In 2006 he was commissioned to write and direct a new version of The Odyssey, From Ithaca With Love, which was performed in June 2006 to celebrate the opening of the prestigious new Millennium Point Building in Birmingham.

In 2007 Malachi directed his first feature film La Mandragola (The Mandrake Root) for which he also wrote the screenplay. The film was nominated by the Royal Television Society for best drama.

Malachi is an Honorary Professor of Northumberland University, Newcastle.

Corin Mellinger, Vocal Coach (in residence Jan. 24-Feb. 8, 2010)
Corin Mellinger is an accent and dialect coach based near London. He trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He has worked as an actor in theatre, film, television and voice-over work for over twenty years.

He holds a master’s degree in voice studies from the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he studied under some of the world’s leading voice teachers including Cicely Berry, Kristin Linklater, Christina Shewell and Barbara Houseman. 

Bruce French, Set and Costume designer (in residence Jan. 21-Feb. 10, 2010)

2009 BRIT Production: James Phillips' Bobby and the Chimps

James Phillips, Director/Playwright (in residence Jan. 4-March 10)
James's first play, The Rubenstein Kiss, premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London and won the John Whiting Award and the TMA Award for Best New Play. He wrote The Little Fir Tree, a fairy story commissioned by the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. He directed both of these productions. He has recently completed his second large scale play, Love in the Shining City. He is currently starting work on another commission for Hampstead Theatre.

Alongside this he is currently writing a six-part drama for TalkBack Thames set between London and Moscow, and a film with the Italian director David Grieco set in Tuscany and for Malcolm McDowell.

As a theatre director his productions include Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune at the Sound Theatre, West End; Macbeth at the Crucible, Sheffield, which he adapted for four actors; Trettondagsafton at the National Academy in Stockholm, Sweden.

His first professional production Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at the Pleasance, London, won an award from NESTA, the National Endowment for the Arts. He was the youngest ever recipient of such an award. His first adaptation of Macbeth, whilst still a student, toured Japan and played for the Japanese Royal Family at the Globe Theatre in Tokyo.

Louisa Clein, Actor (in residence Jan. 14-31)
Louisa trained at the Drama Centre London and graduated in 2000.

In 2001, a year after graduating, Louisa made her television debut as Charlie Deed in the BBC series Judge John Deed which ran until 2007. She has also appeared in shows such as Holby City, Doctors, and Casualty, and played the role of Zelda Kay in Island at War in 2004.

Between television appearances, she has appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream, My Children, My Africa!. Her performance as Hilda in The Lady from the Sea earned her second place in the Ian Charleson Award, the most prestigious national award for actors and actresses under 30. In the winter of 2005 she gave a critically acclaimed performance as Anna in The Rubinstein Kiss. In 2006, Louisa assumed the role of the radical pianist Harriet Cohen in Dearest Tania, scripted by Duncan Honeybourne.

Louisa's recent performances include performing in the Almeida Theatre's production of Waste (2008) and filming a sci-fi movie to be released next year (early 2009).

In summer 2009, Louisa will perform in the Sylvia Plath play Three Women at the Edinburgh Festival.

Alan Lane, Director (in residence Jan. 25-Feb. 13)
Alan is artistic director of Slung Low. Slung Low credits include: Helium (Barbican/OSBTT 2008); Small Worlds (Liverpool 2008); They Only Come at Night; 1139 Miles; Bricks; Time at Moghul Gardens (Bradford Festival); Boxed (Theatre Workshop, Sheffield); Castaway Café (Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Counterbalance (NSDF 2000).

Other directing credits include: Lostlings (Almeida Projects, Almeida Theatre); Heart of a Dog (Theatre in the Mill); Starsong (Theatre Workshop, Sheffield); Clickwind (Theatre in the Mill, Bradford); Bus (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Sigernost (National Theatre of Croatia, Osijeck); How to Build a Time Machine (International Tour, Seabright Productions); A Verse and a Chorus (Hen and Chicken’s Theatre).

He was resident assistant director to the West Yorkshire Playhouse 2005-2006. Alan regularly lectures on devised theatre for a number of UK universities. He is a selector for the National Student Drama Festival.

2008 BRIT Production: Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

Tim Luscombe, Director (in residence Jan. 5-Feb. 20, 2008)
As a director, Tim’s productions have been seen in the West End, all over the United Kingdom, on and off Broadway (Artist Descending A Staircase at the Helen Hayes Theatre and When She Danced at the Playwrights’ Horizons), and in the Netherlands, Japan and at the National Theatre in Sweden. His London directing credits include Hungry Ghosts (Orange Tree Theatre), Easy Virtue (Garrick), Private Lives (Aldwych), Artist Descending A Staircase (Duke of York’s), The Browning Version and Harlequinade (Royalty), EuroVision (Vaudeville), Relative Values (Savoy) and The One You Love (Royal Court at the Ambassadors).

Recently, Tim has directed The Little Hut with Janie Dee on tour, Parade for Mountview, A Lie of the Mind at RADA, The Taming of the Shrew at the University of South Florida, The Rat Trap at the Finborough Theatre in London, and co-directed with Alan Ayckbourn Intimate Exchanges at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough – a collection of plays, all of which subsequently transferred to New York. This year he will direct his new play The Second World at LAMDA.

Susan Bovell, Voice (in residence Jan. 6-18, 2008)
Susan holds a master’s degree in voice from Central, a diploma from The Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, a certificate in neuro-linguistic programming and she is an Emotional Freedom Techniques practitioner.

She has worked for the last 12 years in the corporate sector devising and implementing communication programs and voice workshops. She has designed and implemented courses for long-term learners using voice-based exercises and has worked extensively with foreign nationals needing to improve the clarity of their speech both in the United Kingdom and abroad.

In April 2006 she was invited to travel to Moscow for the international conference of voice with the actors and students of Stanislavski’s world-renowned Moscow Arts Theatre. This consolidated the method she has worked with for over 20 years, Stanislavski’s “inner and outer technique,” which provides an unbreakable bond between the physical and psychical nature for the student of acting and voice.

Susan Bovell has worked as a leading actress in over 100 professional plays in the West End and around the world. Amongst others she has played opposite Gary Oldman, Penelope Keith, Stockard Channing, Christopher Cazenove, and Joanne Woodward, She has worked extensively in television, film, radio and theatre.

Michael Holt, Designer (in residence Jan. 6-Feb. 20, 2008)
Michael’s design career has taken him to theatres throughout the United Kingdom for productions of opera, ballet and drama. He has been associated with playwright Alan Ayckbourn at his theatre in Scarborough for over 20 years. His numerous designs for this author/director include Life of Riley, Communicating Doors, Awaking Beauty, Trip To Scarborough, Intimate Exchanges, The Safari Party, What Every Woman Knows, Taking Steps, Wolf at the Door, Man of the Moment, Time and the Conways, and the much praised Othello with Michael Gambon. He also designed the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings at the Joyce Theatre, New York.

West End credits include the long-running West End success The Woman in Black, Absurd Person Singular (Whitehall Theatre), The Glory of the Garden (Duke of York’s Theatre), Rough Justice (Apollo Theatre), and June Moon (Vaudeville Theatre). He designed Julius Caesar at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and the highly successful centennial touring production of Charley’s Aunt.

Michael has also written a number of books on stage and costume design and has published a book on the plays of Alan Ayckbourn.

2007 BRIT Production: Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party

John McEnery, Actor (in residence Jan. 8-Feb. 26)
John McEnery was born in Birmingham on 1 November, 1943. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His first professional job was with the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, which he joined when he was 20 years old and where he spent three seasons.

Whilst at the Everyman he was invited to join the National Theatre Company of Great Britain, which he did in 1966, playing every type of part in a wide variety of classical and modern plays. He has also played leading parts at the Nottingham Playhouse and Royal Lyceum Edinburgh during 1972 and 1973. He spent the 1979/80 season with the RSC appearing in Twelfth Night, Nicholas Nickleby, Othello, and Merry Wives of Windsor.

Jo Cameron Brown, Vocal & Dialect Coach (in residence Jan. 8-Feb. 26)
Jo trained at RSAMD and works as an actress in all media. Regional Theatre credits include: Men Should Weep (7:84 Company), Les Belles, Seours, The Steamie, The Ride down Mount Morgan, Twelfth Night, and Medea. West End credits include: Perfect Days, Evita (original cast), The Beggars' Opera, and Guys and Dolls (Royal National Theatre). Television and film credits include: Cloud Howe, The Singing Detective, Sometime in August, Great Expectations, River City, Judge John Deed, Psychos, Big Battalions, and Pirates of Penzance.

A growing fascination with how people sound and how it tells the story of who they are led to a post-graduate qualification from the Central School of Drama. Jo has taught at RADA, LAMDA, Rose Bruford, ALRA, and Oxford University. She coaches internationally for theatre and film. West End credits include: Whistle Down the Wind, King Lear, Petrol Jesus Nightmare, Footloose, and Smoking with Lulu. Television credits include: Losing Gemma, The Kindness of Strangers, Island At War, Low Winter Sun, Anchor Me, and Love From Colditz. Film credits include: Brick Lane, The Trench, Sleepy Hollow, The Restraint of Beasts, 28 Days Later, American Haunting, Young Adam, The I Inside, Mean Machine, Dear Frankie, Starter For Ten, and still to be released Hallam Foe, Angel Deverall, True North, and Trans-Siberian. Actors she has worked with include: Sean Bean, Jamie Bell, Brendan Gleeson, Rebecca Hall, Woody Harrelson, Rhys Ifans, Michelle Krusiec, Damien Lewis, James McAvoy, Emily Mortimer, Samantha Morton, Sophia Myles, Stephen Rea, Mark Strong, Tilda Swinton, and Michelle Yeoh.

Tim Woodward, Actor (in residence Jan. 8-Feb. 26)
Tim Woodward trained at RADA before commencing his career at The Citizens Theatre Glasgow. Theatre credits include: Ten Rounds at the Tricycle Theatre, Hamlet at The Globe Theatre, Anthony & Cleopatra and As You Like it for the RSC, The Colour of Justice at the Tricycle Theatre, Burning Blue at the Haymarket and Ambassadors Theatre, Medea at the Almeida and on Broadway and An Awfully Big Adventure at the Liverpool Playhouse.

Extensive television credits include: The Secret Road to Nuremberg, Poirot, Murphy’s Law, Murder Squad, Midsomer Murders, Blue Murder, Vanity Fair, The Bill, Silent Witness, Heartbeat VI, Prime Suspect, Pie in The Sky, Absolutely Fabulous and many others. Film credits include: Enemy of the Unseen, K19-The Widow Maker, The Scarlet Letter, Kind David and The Europeans.

Tim Carroll, Director (in residence Jan. 9-20)
Tim Carroll began his career with the English Shakespeare Company, for whom he directed Julius Caesar, Cymbeline and The Tempest. As associate director of the Northcott Theatre in Exeter (1994-95), he directed many productions including Amadeus, The Last Yankee, Charley's Aunt, Abigail's Party and several new plays. Since then he has been a guest director at many theatres: most recently he directed W.S. Gilbert's Engaged for the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. Since 1997 he has directed three productions in Hungary: The Clearing, Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards and The Duchess of Malfi. This year he directed The Tempest in Lisbon.

His first opera production was for Kent Opera in 1994: Benjamin Britten's The Prodigal Son. He is now Director of Productions for Kent Opera, for whom he has staged Purcell in the Theatre (1995), Monteverdi's Orfeo (1997/98), Handel's Acis and Galatea (2002) and Britten's Albert Herring (2003). Other operas include Eight Songs for a Mad King (Maxwell Davies), El Cimarron (Henze) and Twice Through The Heart (Turnage) for Psappha Modern Music Ensemble. At the Gran Teatre de Liceu, Barcelona since 1999 he has staged three Sarah Walker shows: Cabaret Classico, The Divine Sarah and White Christmas, as well as Britten's Five Canticles. In 2003 he directed Monteverdi's il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria for the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh and at Shakespeare's Globe.

Tim Carroll is associate director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, where he has directed Peter Oswald's Augustine's Oak in 1999, The Two Noble Kinsmen in 2000, and Macbeth in 2001. In 2002 his production of Twelfth Night won Evening Standard, Time Out, Critics' Circle and Olivier Awards, and in 2003 Twelfth Night was revived for a record-breaking run at the Globe, followed by a tour of the United States. He also directed The Golden Ass, a new verse play by Peter Oswald. Last year at the Globe he directed Richard II and Dido, Queen of Carthage. This year he directed Romeo and Juliet.

Tamara Harvey, Director (In residence Jan. 9-Feb. 27)
Tamara’s theatre credits include: The Importance of Being Earnest (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, USA); the premiere of Who’s The Daddy (King’s Head Theatre, London); Odysseus (RADA); The Golden Ass (University of South Florida, USA); Sitting Pretty (Watford Palace Theatre); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Assembly Rooms Edinburgh and West End – co-director with Terry Johnson); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe); Markings (premiere, Southwark Playhouse and Traverse, Edinburgh); A Tempestade (Associate Director, Teatro Sao Luiz, Lisbon); Young Emma (premiere, Finborough Theatre, London); Daylight Spirits (Mercury Musicals workshop at the Arts Theatre); The Graduate (UK tour); Something Cloudy, Something Clear (UK premiere, Finborough Theatre, London); La Traviata (co-director, English Touring Opera).

She has been assistant director on numerous productions, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Golden Ass and Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe, Sweet Panic and Life x 3 in the West End and La Finta Giardiniera and Sárka & Osud at Garsington Opera. She is a graduate of the University of Bristol and trained as a directing intern at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

Siân Williams, Choreographer (in residence Feb. 1-28)
Siân trained at the London College of Dance and Drama. In 1982, with Michael Merwitzer, she founded The Kosh, an arts production company in England, and has performed in all its productions. Choreography and theatre awards include the Manchester Evening News Dance Theatre Award, Cairo Experimental Theatre Award, New York Film & Television Festival Bronze Medal, and Best Foreign Theatre Presentation in Chile.

Siân has been Master of Dance for the Globe Theatre Company since the year 2000. Other work includes performing in Opera North’s La Traviata; choreography for ENO’s A Better Place; choreography for RSAMD’s production of Stravinsky’s Renard; choreography for the Gate Theatre’s Marieluise; Movement Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company on The Winter’s Tale, Timon of Athens, Macbeth, As You Like It and Jubilee. Siân recently performed in Twentieth-Century Girls and directed A Square of Sky for The Kosh. Siân was Master of Dance for the Globe Theatre’s 2005 productions of The Tempest, The Storm and The Winter’s Tale and performed in both The Tempest and The Storm. Siân is currently working with The Kosh in collaboration with the Royal Court Theatre and director Richard Wilson on the development of a new dance theatre production.

Yolanda Vazquez, Voice Coach (in residence Jan. 16-27)
Yolanda trained at the Drama Centre London under the auspices of Christopher Fettes and Yat Malgrem. She has worked extensively in theatre, television and film, her latest credits include: Pinochet’s Progress (BBC), Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Queen Elizabeth in Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre), Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC).

Yolanda is a freelance practitioner at Shakespeare’s Globe and works across all ages including master’s students, undergraduate students and international outreach. Since 2003 she has also worked for the PDLL department at Central School of Speech and Drama leading courses on Shakespeare and acting.

Tim Carroll, Director (in residence Jan. 10-21, 2005)
Tim Carroll began his career with the English Shakespeare Company, for whom he directed Julius Caesar, Cymbeline and The Tempest. As associate director of the Northcott Theatre in Exeter (1994-95) he directed many productions including Amadeus, The Last Yankee, Charley's Aunt, Abigail's Party and several new plays. Since then he has been a guest director at many theatres: most recently he directed W.S. Gilbert's Engaged for the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. Since 1997 he has directed three productions in Hungary: The Clearing, Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards and The Duchess of Malfi. This year he directed The Tempest in Lisbon.

His first opera production was for Kent Opera in 1994: Benjamin Britten's The Prodigal Son. He is now Director of Productions for Kent Opera, for whom he has staged Purcell in the Theatre (1995), Monteverdi's Orfeo (1997/8), Handel's Acis and Galatea (2002) and Britten's Albert Herring (2003). Other operas include Eight Songs for a Mad King (Maxwell Davies), El Cimarron (Henze) and Twice Through The Heart (Turnage) for Psappha Modern Music Ensemble. At the Gran Teatre de Liceu, Barcelona since 1999 he has staged three Sarah Walker shows: Cabaret Classico, The Divine Sarah and White Christmas, as well as Britten's Five Canticles. In 2003 he directed Monteverdi's il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria for the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh and at Shakespeare's Globe.

Tim Carroll is associate director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, where he has directed Peter Oswald's Augustine's Oak in 1999, The Two Noble Kinsmen in 2000, and Macbeth in 2001. In 2002 his production of Twelfth Night won Evening Standard, Time Out, Critics' Circle and Olivier Awards, and in 2003 Twelfth Night was revived for a record-breaking run at the Globe, followed by a tour of the United States. He also directed The Golden Ass, a new verse play by Peter Oswald. Last year at the Globe he directed Richard II and Dido, Queen of Carthage. This year he directed Romeo and Juliet.

Tamara Harvey, Director (In residence Feb. 4-March 4, 2005)
Tamara Harvey has directed and assisted-directed at some of England's most renowned theatrical venues such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Gielgud Theatre in London. Her directing has taken her across Europe and across the Atlantic to direct at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in 2000. We are honored to have her here with us directing this year's BRIT program.

Siân Williams, Choreographer (in residence Feb. 7- 18, 2005)
Ms. Williams is co-founder of The Kosh, an arts production company in England. The Kosh creates live physical performance events and video productions. Founded in 1982, the aim of The Kosh is to make the arts accessible and through the arts provide life-enhancing experiences. Dancers, actors, writers, designers and educationalists are involved in devising original theatre performances and video productions.

Laura Hopkins, Designer (in-residency Feb. 21-25, 2005)
Laura trained in interior design and at the Motley Theatre Design Course. She designs for theatre, opera and dance, and has collaborated on numerous devised pieces. She is also the environmental engineer of the International Necronautical Society.

Recent work includes: Faustus and Othello (nominated for a TMA award), both for Northampton Royal; The INS Broadcasting Unit (ICA); Elixir of Love (New Zealand Opera) and The Master and Margarita (NYT).

Previous work includes: Dido, Queen of Carthage, The Golden Ass and Macbeth (all at Shakespeare¹s Globe); Cosi Fan Tutte (English National Opera); Mister Heracles (TMA award for Best Design), Dealers Choice, Kes and Betrayal (all West Yorkshire Playhouse); A Reckoning and Office (both Soho); Cinderella, the musical, and Hamlet (both Bristol Old Vic); Swan Lake Re-mixed (Volkoper, Vienna); Falstaff (ENO/Opera North); Breath, Boom and Bailegangaire (both Royal Court); Look Back in Anger and Crimes of the Heart (both Royal Exchange); The Rake's Progress (WNO). Devised work includes: Clair de Luz, If We Shadows, Blood, Never Better, A Plague on Both Your Houses and Maps for Lost Lovers.

Margarete Forsyth, Director and Designer for TheatreUSF's The Tempest
Studied at Erlangen University in Germany and trained as a designer on the Motley Design Course in London. In 1994 she won a Time Out Award as Artistic Director of Greenwich Studio Theatre and was nominated as Best Director in the London Fringe Awards, and in 1995 was runner up to the Royal Court in the Peter Brook Empty Space awards. Recent work as director includes: the cabaret opera Send for Mr. Plim, Spring Awakening, The Nun, and Mozart's early opera Bastien and Bastienne, all at Battersea Arts Centre; What Now, Little Man? at Greenwich Theatre; Goethe's Faust, Brecht's The Life of Galileo, Büchner's Danton's Death (all Young Vic). As designer: Three Sisters by Chekhov and the "sequel" Three Sisters 2 by the South African playwright Reza de Wit (Orange Tree, Richmond); Koltes' Roberto Zucco (RADA). She has also directed at the Edinburgh Festival, the ICA, the baroque Markgrafentheater Erlangen in Germany, the Gulbenkian Theatre Canterbury, the Berlin cabaret venue Bar Jeder Vernunft, at most of London's leading theatre schools, and many times for Carlos Opera.

Julian Forsyth, Actor| Played Prospero in TheatreUSF's The Tempest
Theatre appearances include: for the Royal Shakespeare Company: Measure for Measure and The Blue Angel, directed by Trevor Nunn; for the multi-award-winning Almeida Theatre in London: The Silver Tassie, Lulu and Scenes from an Execution with Glenda Jackson, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (National Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (tour), Oedipus (Royal Exchange), A Midsummer Night's Dream, St. Joan, Les Miserables, Martin Guerre, The Blue Angel (all London's West End), Fagin in Oliver! (Sadler's Wells, London), Macbeth with Corin Redgrave (BAC London), Dr Manette in Tale of Two Cities (adapted and directed by Matthew Francis for Greenwich Theatre), Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles adapted by Simon Williams, A Doll's House for Sir Alan Ayckbourn at Scarborough, and the operas Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata for Music Theatre London. Television credits include appearances in the long-running series Holby City, EastEnders and Poirot. As associate director of Greenwich Studio Theatre, Julian won a Time Out Award and the London Fringe Best Director Award for his translations and adaptations of plays from Germany, Denmark, France, Austria and Switzerland. He also directs and teaches regularly at some of London's leading theatre schools.

Mel Churcher, Teaching Voice/Speech for TheatreUSF's The Tempest
As an actor, Mel's credits include Jill in Equus for the Royal National Theatre, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream for the New Shakespeare Company at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre as well as numerous television roles in series such as Upstairs, Downstairs, Duchess of Duke Street and Edward VII. She has worked for many years in drama schools and theatres including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Manchester Royal Exchange and London's West End and has been resident Voice Coach at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre for the last eight years. Internationally she has run workshops in the USA, Croatia, Norway, Singapore, Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic. Mel is currently on the council of the British Voice Association. Coaching on movies includes The Secret Garden, The Fifth Element, Joan of Arc, Madeline, The Count of Monte Cristo, Snatch, Harry Potter (The Quidditch match), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 102 Dalmatians, The Hole, The Forsyte Saga (TV) and—not yet released—Danny the Dog with Jet Li, Tristan and Isolde, and Jerry Bruckheimer's King Arthur. Mel's book Acting for Film: Truth 24 Times a Second was published by Virgin Books in 2003.

Patrick Garland, Director/Author, BRIT Guest Artist '91, '97
While at USF: Taught masterclasses in Shakespeare.
Recent Work: Directed The Woman in Black off Broadway. He has also directed Dame Eileen Atkins in Virginia for West End and Broadway and Simon Callow in the highly acclaimed Dickens which is transferring to New York.

Edward Hall, Director, BRIT Guest Artist ‘96
While at USF: Directed the 1996 production of A Winter's Tale.
Recent Work: Directed Henry V and an upcoming production of Julius Caesar for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Together with Sir Peter Hall and others, Edward directed the internationally acclaimed epic Tantalus for Denver, New York, and London. Edward has also directed several films.

Mel Churcher, Speech/Voice, BRIT Guest Artist ‘01
While at USF: Acted as the speech/voice coach on As You Like It.
Recent Work: Coached John Turturro and Katherine Borowitz on their English accents in the Hollywood movie Secret Passage in Venice.

Rachel Kavanaugh, Director, BRIT Guest Artist ’98, ’01
Recent Work: Directed Alice in Wonderland for the Royal Shakespeare Company and is currently directing Romeo and Juliet for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Then she returned to Regent's Park, London to direct As You Like It in the spring of 2002.

Sam Mendes, Director, BRIT Guest Artist ‘91
Recent Work: Just finished directing a new film starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law for Stephen Spielberg. In 2002, he directed his last and tenth season at the Donmar Theatre, which he founded. He also directed the 1999 Academy Award-winning movie American Beauty and the award-winning musical Cabaret.

Joe Harmston, Director, BRIT Guest Artist ’94, ’95, ‘97
While at USF: Assistant director to Matthew Francis on Twelfth Night in 1994. A year later he directed Golden Girls. And in 1997, he directed the BRIT School Tour.
Recent Work: Directed two highly acclaimed productions of Henry V and Macbeth at the Arundel Festival and a Harold Pinter double bill in the West End, London.

Dominic Hill, Director, BRIT Guest Artist ‘98
While at USF: Assistant director with Rachel Kavanaugh on A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Recent Work: Currently directing Romeo and Juliet. He will soon begin rehearsals for Five Finger Exercises by Peter Shaffer at Salisbury Playhouse. In the near future he will be directing a tour of Just Between Ourselves by Alan Ayckbourn.

Ian Talbot, Actor/Producer/Director, BRIT Guest Artist ‘01
Recent Work: Currently artistic director of the English Shakespeare Company. In 2002, he played Sir Toby Belch in a 400th anniversary production of Twelfth Night at the Inner Temple in London and will be giving a commanding performance before Queen Elizabeth II.