Staff

PETER ADDIS BA (Hons) Theatre Degree

Co Founder and Co Principal

Peter received a First Class Honours degree from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, graduating as an Actor-Musician. He initially performed in many typical Actor-Musician shows such as Return to the Forbidden Planet; From a Jack to a King and Buddy on tour and in the West End, as well as appearing in several straight plays and on TV in popular shows like EastEnders; The Bill and London’s Burning. However directing, which was always his greatest passion, very soon became the mainstay of his career and he directed The Missing Link (Quantum Theatre), The End of the World Show (Great Escape Theatre); Statements of Attainment (Bradford Playhouse) and Nativity (Soho Theatre). He also directed Love off the Shelf (Guildford Conservatoire) and Children of Eden; Cider With Rosie; HMS Pinafore; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Ruddigore; Once on this Island; Iolanthe and High School Musical, all for Arts Educational School in Chiswick. Peter was the Assistant Director on A Delicate Balance (Theatre Royal, Haymarket) with Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins and for over seven years was the London Associate Director for the hit ABBA musical Mamma Mia!. Peter was recently appointed Associate Director and Head of Acting at Midland’s Academy of Dance and Drama for whom he has directed Spend, Spend, Spend; Snoopy and Into The Woods. Future projects include Fame for Midlands Academy and The Wedding Singer for Arts Educational School.

JACQUELINE ADDIS ARAD

Co Founder and Co Principal

Dance, Drama and Singing Teacher 4-6 years

Jacqueline trained at The Academy of Ballet in Edinburgh, during which time she became an Associate of The Royal Academy of Dance. She has enjoyed a long and successful career in theatre, appearing in productions as varied as the renowned Gaiety Whirl in Ayr to The Merry Wives of Windsor at the prestigious Chichester Festival Theatre. Along the way Jacqueline appeared in pantomimes at Stirling, Motherwell and Ayr as well as Plymouth Theatre Royal and the Birmingham Hippodrome. Having won a scholarship from The Stage she then took a Post Graduate course in acting. Her West End credits include Brigadoon (Victoria Palace); The Laurence Olivier Awards (Dominion); My One and Only (London Palladium); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Strand); The Killing of Sister George (Ambassadors); Closer (Lyric) and Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward). Latterly Jacqueline moved into Stage Management and ultimately to production where she had the privilege to travel and work as PA to Judy Craymer MBE, the Producer and Creator of Mamma Mia!. To date the productions of which she is most proud are her two children!

EMMA L SMITH MA Bmus (Hons) LSMT dip VTCT IIHHT

Singing Teacher 7-9years, 10-13years and 14-18years

Emma studied at the University of Huddersfield and graduated with an Honours Degree in Music. She went on to train at the London School of Musical Theatre, Mountview Theatre School and the Royal Academy of Music. Emma has performed in productions around the UK and West End: Merrily We Roll Along (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), Peter Pan (Oxford Playhouse), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Company (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), The Hunting of the Snark (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield) and Sleeping Beauty (Theatre Royal, Winchester). West End credits include: The Pocket Orchestra (Trafalgar Studios), Sunday Night Live at the London Palladium and When Midnight Strikes (Cochrane Theatre). She has worked for highly acclaimed professionals within the industry, including: musical director to Michael Ball, and managing director of the British Philharmonic Orchestra, Callum McLeod. Tony Award winning director John Doyle and feature film choreographer Francesca Jaynes. As a trained musician she has appeared in the UK and France as a big band singer and saxophonist. Her MD work includes: Maggie May, Rags and the youth theatre productions of Billy Elliot, We Will Rock You and Les Miserables. When not appearing on stage, Emma is in constant demand as a musical theatre tutor for performing arts schools and companies. For Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, she continues to be one of the leading workshop facilitators on the West End productions of Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Oliver. She is also one of the original team creating a pilot workshop for Avenue Q. Emma’s auditioning and coaching for professional productions is also in great demand. Her students have appeared in both the West End and UK national tours. These include: Les Miserables, The Lion King, Scrooge, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Aida, Turandot, Beauty and the Beast, An Inspector Calls, Cinderella, Brian Conley and Friends, Macbeth, Waiting for Godot, The King & I, Aladdin and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Television credits include: an ongoing BT commercial, BBC drama’s Mutual Friends, Larkrise to Candleford, Robin Hood and the Feature film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Her past students have achieved entry into Arts Ed, Tring Park, The Urdang Academy, Bird College, Laine Theatre Arts, The Royal Northern College of Music, Margaret Howard, Rose Bruford and RADA. Emma has recently completed a Masters Degree in Performance, Health and Personal Development at the London College of Music.

SUSAN CULLEN MA BSc PGCE

Acting Teacher 7-9years, 10-13years, 14-18years

A postgraduate of the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD) with an MA in Voice Studies, Susan is a professional performer, director, voice and acting coach. She is currently Head of Voice at the Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama in Nottingham, and has been a guest lecturer at CSSD and Essex College of Performing Arts. Susan originally trained as an opera singer and made her professional principal debut as Countess Ceprano with English National Opera in the award winning mafia style Rigoletto directed by Jonathan Miller. Her international operatic career has taken her to Europe, the middle and far East and the USA. TV and radio broadcasts include appearances for Channel 4 and Thames TV. She was assistant director and vocal consultant at The Castle Theatre Wellingborough for The Princess and The Pea, and created and directed their one week summer course Acting Out. With an early training that included dance and gymnastics, Susan naturally moved into the world of cabaret and musicals. She appeared in the award winning west end musical Chess and toured the UK with The Sound of Music, combining understudying the role of Maria with the responsibility of Dance Mistress and rehearsing in each new cast of children. She also created several new roles in the field of music theatre with Babel Theatre Company. Since 2005, Susan has worked as venue director with the Shakespeare for Schools Festival, using professional venues and technical support to stage hundreds of performances by school children. Susan is also a Shakespeare Champion, one of a nationwide team working towards Shakespeare 2012. The aim is to have a nationwide celebration of Shakespeare to coincide with the London Olympics, spanning amateur, professional and youth and community settings. Working with up and coming talent has always been her passion, and in 1998 Susan launched and spearheaded a travelling Opera in Education company,The Opera Express! She has translated and rearranged several popular operas, creating inventive re-workings that include the best loved melodies, imaginatively restaged for students to perform alongside professionals over an intensive day-long experience, up to 100 children at a time would create a public performance in a local theatre. The company’s groundbreaking work with Carmen at Bow school in London’s east end was the subject of a documentary film narrated by Tom Conti.

JOANTHA WOOD

Dance Teacher 7-9years, 10-13years, 14-18years

Joantha trained at The Hylton Bromley School of Dance and Drama, on the Wirral. Her first taste of professional work was performing as a child in pantomimes at the Floral Pavilion New Brighton. On leaving Hylton Bromleys she toured Europe for two years, with a six-member dance group, gaining what was once a much-treasured possession.... An Equity Card!! On returning to the UK, she successfully auditioned for the original touring production of Cats, playing Cassandra and Bomballurina. The tour visited Blackpool, Edinburgh and Dublin. This was the first time a long running established West End Musical had toured, and it paved the way for all tours since. She transferred from the tour into the West End production at the New London Theatre playing the same roles. After leaving Cats she performed at The London Palladium and Drury Lane in The Royal Variety and The Lawrence Olivier Awards. Her next engagement was in the musical Cabaret (Sheffield Crucible), appearing along side Andy Serkis, of Gollum fame. She was then asked to return to the West End to appear once again in Cats. Following this Joantha gained a role in the tap extravaganza Gershwin Musical, Crazy for You (Prince Edward Theatre), and stayed put for two years, then went on tour with the same production. Whilst performing in Crazy for You, Joantha appeared in various television shows including The Big Breakfast, Challenge Anneka, Talking Telephone Numbers, London Tonight and A Tribute to Gershwin (Royal Albert Hall). She also met and married her husband! Jo’s professional performing career came to an end with the arrival of the first of her three children. She now enjoys sharing her passion for the theatre with a new generation, and has taught at many theatre schools and taken master classes throughout the UK.

RACHELE CARR

Assistant Teacher 4-6year olds

Rachele is currently in her 2^nd year at the renowned Stella Mann College, where she is studying for a Natonal Diploma in Professional Dance and Musical Theatre. Since attending Stella Mann, Rachele has appeared in The Boyfriend, Fame and in their annual production, Volts.

Rachele graduated from Amersham and Wycombe College in 2008, with a B-TEC National Diploma in Dance, achieving Distinction. Whilst studying, Rachele performed in many dance and musical theatre shows, such as The Nutcracker and A Chorus Line, as well as their annual dance production, XisDance, which featured Rachele’s own choreography. Rachele recently performed at the Move It! Exhibition at London’s Olympia.

Rachele is also currently studying for her FDI in Ballet at Stella Mann College.

KARA HENDERSON

Street Dance Teacher 5-10 years, 10-18 years

Kara trained at Roehampton University, where she graduated with a BA(Hons) in Dance Studies 2:1. She performed professionally for several years at Corporate Events and on TV. She has subsquently taught at the Pineapple Performing Arts School in London, where she is still a regular Guest Teacher, and at a variety of schools and colleges around the Milton Keynes area. Kara is also the Dance Captain and Choreographer for the MK Lions Dance Squad.