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Personnel |
| Steve Rogers, Artistic Director. Steve graduated from Cambridge University in 1972 and then taught in secondary schools for thirty years before setting up Open Minds Theatre Company in 2003 with Katherine Fletcher. He has taught Drama at GCSE and AS/A level as well as to younger students and has both directed and acted in various productions over the last forty years. He has worked providing drama courses to schools for re-engagement work, gifted and talented students, out of hours learning, co-writing and co-directing Faultlines, in-service training for teachers, working with young people and adults with learning and physical disabilities, delivering equality and diversity training, directing, as well as managing various arts projects.
Steve has no plans to retire: he is enjoying himself too much! |
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| Katherine Fletcher, Drama Practitioner, Community Director OMTC. Katherine graduated from York St John College, University of Leeds where she studied Communication Arts: Studies in Media and Performance: Specialist Subject – Drama. She has also worked with Interplay Theatre in Leeds and The Project where she devised and facilitated workshops in dance, music and drama for the profoundly and multiply disabled people of all ages, directed touring performances and devised and facilitated workshops in drama, art and creative writing for young mothers. She runs OMTC’s highly successful and oversubscribed youth theatre a well as numerous projects for schools and other organisations. | |
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| Taiba Yasseen, Director of the Kashmir Project OMTC. Taiba comes from a legal background and worked as the consultant for the first part of the project. She has worked as a consultant to numerous community projects involved with regeneration, inclusion and community cohesion in South Yorkshire. Taiba co-writes and co-directs Faultlines as well as quite regularly acting in it. Taiba has a “day job” as Chief Exeutive of Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance, our partner body in delivering equality and diversity training which she is also involved in devising and delivering. | |
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Louisa Borg-Costanzi Potts, Company Manager/Theatre Practitioner. Louisa joined the Company in 2009 having just completed her MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Central School of Speech and Drama. Previously she worked for three years with The Attic Childrens Theatre Company as Performer and Assistant Director, working with young people creating experiential and immersive theatre. She is a strong believer in theatre as a potent tool for expression and the power of ensemble. Her passion for exploring this through the body constantly drives her work with young people and the community. She cites her major influences as Joan Littlewood and Miranda Tufnell and cannot rave enough about the positive effect participation in the arts can have on individuals and society!
Louisa lives in London but comes to Rotherham to work for us! Now that’s commitment! |
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Simon Scotting. Business Development Manager, Circus & Mixed Arts Practitioner.
Simon graduated from The University of Sheffield, where he majored in East Asian Studies and Linguistics. He has taught Physical Theatre and Circus Skills to children and adults for over 8 years and has worked with several Yorkshire-based Circus companies as both a tutor and performer. Since joining OMTC he has branched out from teaching only Circus workshops to merge his computer knowledge with craft enthusiasm to deliver stop motion animation sessions, as well as creating captivating willow sculptures and bringing more traditional oriental crafts such as Origami to new audiences in Yorkshire. Simon is passionate about engaging children to learn and build self confidence through play and creativity! Simon now splits his time managing projects and delivering workshops for OMTC by day, and performing at festivals, cabarets and other events by night. |
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| Sameer Butt came into the Arts through the back door. A chance meeting with Steve and Taiba while doing work experience at the Arts Centre in Rotherham led to him taking the lead part in the second play in the Faultlines Trilogy. From there he was employed running African, Brazilian and Indian drumming workshops and then developed the Rock and Dhol workshops. He also acted as Shakespeare's Othello in his early years with Open Minds. He now spends most of his time with Rock & Dhol which are highly in demand in schools right now. Rock & Dhol is a mixture of Eastern and Western music and dance with live Indian drumming combined with a keep fit element. Sameer believes the arts are the best way to engage with young people from different backgrounds. The arts help to build bridges and celebrate the diverse culture we have in society today. It is like a language that everyone can understand and relate to. | |
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Sara Allkins, Leader of the Life Act,the theatre company for actors with learning disabilities run by OMTC. She has an MA from Leeds University Workshop Theatre where her dissertation focussed upon Theatre in Education. Since then she has worked as a professional actor, cabaret singer and theatre maker. Sara specialises in creating performance with communities, young people and people with disabilities; she has a passionate belief in the power of art to help create social cohesion and identity within communities. As a practicing performing artist she uses drama and theatre to promote self-esteem and self-discovery within the groups she runs. Sara’s work seeks to explore peoples lives and experience through the safety of fiction; to break down barriers and enable us to find a new understanding of what being us entails. She couldn't be more pleased to be working with OMTC and Life Act. This is what Life is all about! |
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Victoria Hilton, Visual Arts Practitioner and Volunteers Coordinator.
After completing a BA in Textile Crafts at Huddersfield University, Victoria went onto work as a sculptor and airbrush artist. She worked for an animation and 3D insulation specialists creating interactive insulations for adventure parks such as Alton Towers, also creating visual installations for shopping stores such as Selfridges and Co. London. Victoria joined Open Minds Theatre Company in 2009 as a volunteer. She quickly progressed to become a support worker and now leads and facilitates her own Visual Arts workshops including 3D workshops, Mural design, immersive learning environments, prop making and much more. Victoria believes that it is essential to promote creativity and innovation. ‘We all have creative abilities and we have them in different ways. Its fantastic when you help someone to unlock their own creativity, it’s the best part of the job!’ |
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Open Minds Theatre Company |
