Actors Touring Company produces international contemporary theatre that travels – making the global, local and the local, global.
We are one of the only British theatre companies committed to producing international plays; and to touring the work of those global voices throughout the UK (and beyond).
Matthew Xia, one of British theatre’s most exciting talents, has been Artistic Director since 2019. Matthew brings with him fresh thinking about the global identities within contemporary British society. Matthew’s work explores voices from the cultures that make up our globe and our nation – and the ways in which they intersect.
- We create theatre with a global perspective
- We engage with the issues, the events and the changes that impact and affect all of us – across society – at this moment in history
- We are the only British theatre company dedicated to the production of international plays for UK audiences
- We give voice to ‘the other’, exploring cross-cultural and internationalism, how tribes and nations interact, exist with and effect one another in a hyperconnected world
- We place the actor at the heart of our ethos
- We employ a lean aesthetic which promotes environmental sustainability
OVER 100,000 PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD
have seen ATC’s productions since 2019.
MATTHEW XIA
Artistic Director
ANDREW SMAJE
Executive Director
Andrew Smaje (he/him) is a theatre producer, consultant and mentor. He has been Executive Director of ATC since 2016, where he has produced in collaboration with venues such as the Young Vic, Orange Tree, Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, Dublin Theatre Festival and Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Known for his work as a producer of contemporary theatre, particularly new writing, Andrew’s productions and commissions were nominated at the TMA/ UK Theatre Awards in 2003, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2017 (including two nominations for Best Touring Production and three nominations for Best New Play).
He is also a consultant for leading theatre companies, organisations and artists, with clients including Theatre Royal Plymouth and The Empty Space.
Andrew was Chief Executive of Hull Truck 2010 – 2012, producing work by contemporary playwrights both in Hull and on tour, and co-producing with partners including Headlong, nabokov, Paines Plough, The Gate, Opera North and the RSC. Andrew was Associate Director of Theatre Royal Bath 2000 – 2010, supporting and developing new and innovative theatre across a broad spectrum of performance genres and practice: commissioning theatre-makers such as Rash Dash, Theatre Ad Infinitum and The Paper Birds; and working regularly with directors such as Lorne Campbell, Tessa Walker and Natalie Abrahami.
Andrew created the Bath International Puppet Festival (2000-2009), a showcase for adult puppetry; and was co-Director of the Bath Shakespeare Festival (2005-2010), an unplugged festival of contemporary perspectives on Shakespeare’s work. The festivals commissioned much new work to UK artists and gave UK premieres to productions from Belgium, Portugal, USA, Australia and Zimbabwe.
Andrew is trustee of Curious Monkey, led by Artistic Director Amy Golding.
MELINA BARNETT
Associate Producer
Melina Barnett (she/her) developed a love for Arts at a young age where she dabbled in Acting and Musical Theatre; where she then went on to train at Birmingham School of Acting (Now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire). Melina then became inspired to work more in the community using the theatre as a way to engage.
In 2019 Melina decided to make the move to London; as London has present multiple opportunities of personal growth and development to her. Melina joined Young Agitators programme at The Royal Court and Front-line Facilitators at the Old Vic where Melina was able to refine her skills as creative.
Melina then went onto work for The Old Vic, Coram Shakespeares Schools foundation, Battersea Arts Centre, Eastside Educational Trust, Chain Reaction Theatre Company, Arts Bridge Charity, Talawa Theatre Company as well as working as an usher at the Young Vic.
Before joining ATC Melina worked alongside Pentabus Theatre Company and Theatre By The Lake curating an education and wrap around programme for Jacaranda which is a beautiful two hander by Alfred Fagon winning playwright Lorna French. Through this work Melina attended a life changing event called Anti-Racist Cumbria Summit which inspired Melina to become more proactive in working with venues that are committed to anti-racism policies.
Melina is extremely passionate about bringing new writing into communities where those communities feel represented on stage. With the hopes to inspire, engage and curate ways to break barriers and making theatre accessible to all.
JULIANA BEARSE
Administration Director
Juliana Bearse (she/her) is a theatre maker and administrator from the US. She received her Bachelor of Fine arts from the University of Connecticut.
Before moving to London, she worked professionally in New York in both administrative and creative roles in theatre, arts access, and community support.
She’s worked with theatre organizations including Theatre for a New Audience, The Rattlestick, The Wild Project, and the Lark.Her most recent work, with Repair the World NYC, focused on distributing supplies and resources to folks experiencing socioeconomical barriers in Central Brooklyn.
Juliana’s work focuses on keeping the HUMAN at the centre of every interaction.
Her goal in her administrative work is to be a conduit for clarity and to strengthen the foundation for all.
KATE SARLEY
Finance Director
Kate (she/her) was born Baghdad Iraq and raised in East London; Kate’s traditional Arab name is Inaam-Catherine Alhashimi.
She trained in Technical Theatre and Stage Management at RADA before studying Arts Admin at Birkbeck College, University of London. Kate then spent over ten successful years as a Stage Manager for a variety of organisations including Birmingham Rep, the RSC, Unicorn Kids Theatre and in the West End.
Having moved into administration Kate worked for English Heritage, Soho Theatre Company and Theatre Royal Stratford East, before undertaking senior management contracts with Colchester Arts Centre, Culture&, Talawa Theatre Company, Oval House, Daily Life Ltd, Jacksons Lane, Discover Centre for Children, Eastern Angles, Shape East Architectural Centre and Hoxton Hall.
Current clients include Actors Touring Company, WeareUnit, and Curious Directive.
DIANA WHITEHEAD
PR Consultant
Sudha Bhuchar (she/her) is an actor/playwright and a pioneering artistic leader. She is co-founder of Tamasha theatre company where she served as co-artistic director for 26 years.
She has written extensively for Tamasha and her landmark plays include Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral (winner of Barclays/TMA Best Musical) an adaptation of the booker shortlisted A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry, and Strictly Dandia (all with Kristine Landon-Smith). Her solo plays include The House of Bilquis bibi (Lorca’s The House of Bernada Alba transposed to contemporary Pakistan) and most recently the critically acclaimed My Name is… which Sudha also adapted for Radio 4.
Sudha’s extensive acting career includes Eastenders, Doctors and Casualty for the BBC, Stella for Sky tv, and most recently she played Sonia Rahman in Coronation Street. Theatre credits include Khandan by Gurpreet Bhatti and Sudha is a regular contributor on Radio 4.
Alan Evans (he/him) is General Counsel and Director General for Legal Services at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and a member of the department’s Executive Committee. Alan has held a number of other senior legal posts in government – including Legal Director at Defra and BEIS – and chaired and served on several departmental and cross government boards. Earlier in his career, Alan was a legal adviser to the Cabinet Office and at the European Commission. Prior to working in government, Alan practised international commercial litigation at law firms in the City of London. He is a past member of the Law Society’s European and Employment Law Committees.
Alan is passionate about theatre – regularly attending productions at a broad range of venues. He is also a strong advocate for diversity, including as a senior diversity champion in government over the last five years.
Sanpreet Janjua (she/her) is a fundraiser with experience in the arts and cultural charitable sector. She started her career as an Arts Fundraising Fellow through the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Fundraising Fellowship Programme. Having completed her Fellowship at Nottingham Playhouse, as well as a few years in post as Fundraising Officer, she is now Development Manager at Awards for Young Musicians.
Sanpreet is passionate about making artistic and creative experiences available to all. She also loves theatre, especially contemporary and new writing by often marginalised and overlooked writers.
Professor Nick Tyler (he/him) CBE FREng is the Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering at UCL and the Director of the UCL Centre for Transport Studies. Nick combines highly diverse fields in his research, from civil/transport engineering and architecture to neuroscience, psychology, physiology, ophthalmology, audiology, orthopaedics, lighting, olfaction, haptics, sound, and acoustics. He has a particular interest in performance arts and how the built environment enhances or detracts from these for either performers or audiences. To do this he has created a £50M massive (44,000m3) multiscale multisensorial Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL) to allow him and his team to study the interactions of environments, people and their activities at life-scale – as a means of ensuring that we design and construct environments that are accessible and enjoyable for everyone. He is a co-investigator of the UCL Ecological Brain Doctoral Training Programme and the RELIEF Centre, where he is working on social space in refugee camps in Beirut. Apart from research into access to trains and platforms for London Underground and London Buses, issues around hearing, seeing in urban environments, and navigation for people with dementia. Nick is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, and the Royal Society of Arts, and was appointed CBE in 2011.
Steven Kavuma (he/him) is a writer and director that, throughout his career, has passionately advocated for change within the theatre industry. Kavuma trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Recently, he was appointed Course Leader of Foundation Acting at ArtsEd and featured in The Stage 100 list (2020) as one of the most influential people in theatre. He is the co-founder of Uproot Productions, is a socially driven cross-arts production company and co-founder of Diversity School Initiative, a campaign initiative
addressing under-representation / diversity in UK drama schools.
Directing credits include: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Globe Theatre / Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland; An Octoroon (Radio Remix) by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, UAL; Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall, ALRA; Teleportation by Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, Bunker Theatre and BOYS, devised by the company, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden.
Associate / Assistant director credits include: Holes by Louis Sachar, directed by Adam Penford
(Touring); Still No Idea, Royal Court Theatre, directed by Lee Simpson; An Octoroon, National Theatre & Orange Tree Theatre, directed by Ned Bennett.
Geraldine Brodie (she/her) is the Professor of Translation Theory and Theatre Translation and Vice-Dean (Advancement) at University College London. Her research centres on theatre translation practices in contemporary London, on which topic she speaks and publishes widely. Recent publications include her monograph The Translator on Stage (Bloomsbury, 2018) and the volume Adapting Translation for the Stage, co-edited with Emma Cole (Routledge, 2017). She is a member of the Clore Leader network, which draws its members from across arts, culture and the creative sector.
Geraldine is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. She has worked in audit, tax, professional development and graduate recruitment for KPMG in London and New York and is the director of a private property investment and management company specialising in the residential and commercial sectors in South East England.
She has served on a range of charitable, voluntary and industry boards and organisations, most recently including the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and the Barbican Centre Trust. She is also a member of the Wates Foundation, an independent grant-making family trust supporting the charitable and voluntary sector.
Maria M Delgado (she/her) is an academic, critic and curator. Professor and Vice-Principal (Research and Knowledge Exchange) at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, she has published widely in the area of European theatre and Spanish-language theatre and film. Publications include Federico García Lorca (Routledge 2008), ‘Other’ Spanish Theatres (MUP 2003, revised Spanish language edition 2017), Contemporary European Theatre Directors (2nd edition, Routledge, 2020), Contemporary European Playwrights (Routledge, 2020), A Companion to Latin-American Cinema (Wiley Blackwell, 2017) and seven further co-edited volumes.
Her film work includes 25 years as a programme adviser on Spanish and Spanish-American cinema to the London Film Festival, and curatorial/programming work for the Ciné Lumière, ICA and BFI Southbank. Maria writes on film and theatre for a range of publications including Sight & Sound, The Theatre Times, and European Stages, and is a guest contributor to a range of BBC radio programmes. She is on the board of Governors of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and on the committee of the International Ibsen Award.
Vincent Keaveny (he/him) is Lord Mayor of London for 2021/22. He is a partner at international law firm, DLA Piper UK LLP. He advises financial institutions and companies throughout the UK and Europe on banking and finance matters. He was elected as Alderman for the Ward of Farringdon Within in the City of London in 2013 and served as Sheriff of the City of London in 2018/19. He has been a member of a number of City of London Corporation Committees and currently sits on the Policy & Resources Committee.
Vincent is also the Court of Aldermen’s representative trustee on the Board of the Sir John Soane’s Museum. Vincent is a director/trustee of the contemporary music ensemble, Exaudi. Vincent was Master of the City of London Solicitors’ Company in 2014/15. He served on the Committee of the City of London Law Society from 2006 to 2013 and was President of the Society in 2014/15.
Allegra Nespoli (she/her) is a theatre and live events producer. Over
the last ten years, she has worked in a range of leading arts organisations including Raindance Film Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, the Roundhouse and The Old Vic Theatre. She is currently Producer for Curious Monkey, a theatre company of sanctuary based in Newcastle who works with people of refugee background and young people with experience of the care system.
Allegra is also an independent producer. Her theatre
company 1989 Productions focuses on producing socially
and politically engaged work that gives a platform to
emerging artists and marginalised voices.
Margherita Laera (he/him) is a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at the University of Kent. Her research focuses on the intersections between contemporary performance, modern languages and translation. She is co-Director of the European Theatre Research Network and the Arts Lead for the Kent’s Migration and Movement Signature Research Theme. Margherita is the author of Playwriting in Europe: Mapping Ecosystems and Practices with Fabulamundi (Routledge Focus, 2022); Theatre & Translation (Red Globe Press, 2019) and Reaching Athens: Community, Democracy and Other Mythologies in Adaptations of Greek Tragedy (Peter Lang, 2013), and editor of Theatre and Adaptation: Return, Rewrite, Repeat (Bloomsbury, 2014). Her website of teaching and learning resources, Performing International Plays, has been nominated as ‘Outstanding Drama Education Resource’ at the Music and Drama Education Awards 2022. Margherita also works as a theatre translator from and into Italian and English. She won the Theatre and Performance Research Association Early Career Research Prize for 2018.
CASTING
We have no casting opportunities at the moment. More often than not we do all our casting through independent agents, and as such do not accept unsolicted CVs.
PRODUCTIONS
We are not hiring at this time.
SCRIPTS
Our team & Reader’s Group are reading a constant rotation of scripts. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer a reading service or accept unsolicited scripts.
Please contact ATC’s publicist, Diana Whitehead, Fourth Wall PR
You can contact Diana on: 07939 149887 or diana@fourthwallpr.co.uk
TOURING INFORMATION
ATC tours in the UK and internationally. In this section, you will find information on our current projects. Please take a look at the information and get in touch if you’d like to discuss how we can visit you and your audiences.
CURRENTLY BOOKING
Please check back soon for more information on how to book our 2024 shows in your venue.
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
We have a portfolio of productions both in repetoire and in development, which are potentially available for UK and international touring. If you would like more information please contact us on atc@atctheatre.com