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Personnel |
| Steve Rogers, Drama Practitioner, Artistic Director, OMTC. Steve 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 thirty years. He has also regularly taken groups of students into primary schools, special schools and old peoples’ homes to perform. He has worked in the last four years 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, delivering equality and diversity training, directing, as well as managing various arts projects. | |
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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 two highly successful and oversubscribed youth theatres 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 Manager of Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance, our partner body in delivering equality and diversity training which she is also involved in devising and delivering. | |
| Joanna Toop, Drama Practitioner OMTC. Joanna graduated with a first class honours degree in Performing Arts specialising in acting from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). She has since worked as a professional actress and singer for various theatre in education companies including Impact Universal Ltd, VXII Theatre Company and Pintsize Theatre Company as well as OMTC. Joanna has also worked for ITV and Yorkshire Television with cameo roles on ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘Blue Murder’. Joanna has grade 8 Piano and Grade 7 singing through the Royal College of Music as well as dance training through the International Dance Teachers Association. Joanna strongly believes in teaching through drama, dance and music and is experienced in devising activities and techniques to develop workshops and rehearsals to not only enhance the speaking and listening skills of the young people she works with but to help build confidence, give valuable life skills and also bring them up to a performance standard. Joanna writes plays, composes music and is involved in maintaining current projects for OMTC as well as developing new activities. | |
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| Claire Saddington trained in dance at The Thompson Dance Studios, which initiated her interest in teaching and choreography. She continued her training at the University of Surrey, Roehampton which inspired her to explore Community Dance. She is a certified IDTA Associate Ballet Teacher and works widely within the local arts sphere with Open Minds Theatre Company, SWAMP Circus, Maltby Minors Youth Society and Rotherham Culture Company. | |
| Elaine Witherspoon-Morton: Drama practitioner for O.M.T.C. Elaine began her teaching career in 1976, as a Drama specialist in a large Rotherham Comprehensive School where she ran a very successful Drama department with excellent results at both G.C.S.E. and A.S./A Level, during which time, she was also a Drama examiner and team leader for twenty eight years with the Edexcel Examination Board. She has been hugely involved in all aspects of theatre ranging from writing ; designing sets; performing and directing a very wide range of productions with both adults and children,including numerous T.I.E. productions in Primary Schools to enhance the delivery of Literacy at Key stage 2/3 level. She has studied and performed in a wide range of genres from Greek Theatre through to Modern Musical Theatre and is currently still teaching part time in Secondary Education, whilst working for O.M.T.C. as a Drama practioner with the Youth Theatre,a role she passionately enjoys. |
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Open Minds Theatre Company |