Katherine Nesbitt
Katherine is a director originally from Belfast and currently based in London. She is an Associate Artist of the Traverse Theatre and an Associate Director of National Theatre Connections.
Directing credits include Everyman by Carol Ann Duffy (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), This is Paradise by Michael John O’Neill, The Present by Stef Smith (National Theatre of Scotland/BBC), Jade City by Alice Malseed (Bunker Theatre), AKEDAH by Michael John O’Neill (development, Playwrights Studio Scotland), View From Here Festival work by Alice Malseed, Zodwa Nyoni, Oliver Emanuel and Morna Young (Theatre503), boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb (Theatre503), The Ocean is Downhill From Everywhere (devised, Imaginate/Tron), When The Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell (Tron Theatre), The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter (Arches/Edinburgh Fringe) and Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp (West End Festival).
Associate Director credits include Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley (Orla O’Loughlin, Traverse Theatre) and The Open House by Will Eno (Michael Boyd, Bath Ustinov/Coronet). Assistant director credits include Holy Sh!t by Alexis Zegerman (Indhu Rubasingham, Kiln Theatre), iHo by Tony Kushner (Michael Boyd, Hampstead Theatre), Swallow by Stef Smith (Orla O’Loughlin, Traverse Theatre), and A Walk at the Edge of the World (Nicholas Bone, Magnetic North) for which she was also touring Staff Director.
She was awarded a JMK Regional Directors bursary with the Traverse in 2015. She is also a script reader for the Traverse, National Theatre of Scotland, Sphinx Theatre and the Theatre Uncut Award.
Isy Sharman
Isy Sharman is a producer and theatre maker from London. After studying at Glasgow University, she completed an MA in Acting at ALRA, and was part of China Plate’s Optimists in 2017. She is currently Assistant Producer on the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival for Imaginate, with a particular focus on Family Encounters and the Delegate programme. She is also supporting different strands of the Creative Development programme among other projects. She is the lead producer for Snap-Elastic.
Her interests lie in new writing, feminist and political theatre, family theatre and devised works. She was previously Associate and Administrator of feminist theatre company Sphinx Theatre, where she has helped to run their Women Centre Stage festivals since 2016.
Isy’s performing credits include: Your Toys (Slot Machine, National Tour); The Sword of Destiny (BAC Freshly Scratched); Eat Me (R&D, Nordland Visual Theatre, Norway); Miki (Slot Machine, Norden Farm); A Stone’s Throw (Giddy Aunt, Edinburgh International Book Festival); Eat Me (SOAK, Manipulate Festival, Traverse); Jack Frost (Moon on a Stick, UK tour); Your Toys (Slot Machine, Regional tour); Sleeping Beauty (Syndrome) and Prom (View From Here; Theatre503); Little Match Girl (Moon on a Stick; Regional Tour); The Tempest (Tree Folk Theatre, The Cockpit Theatre); Nightingales (Camden People’s Theatre); Spin Cycle (Emergency Exit Arts, Regional Tour).
Philippa Mannion
Philippa is a playwright, stage manager and theatre-maker from Edinburgh, who is now based in Cardiff. She completed an MA in Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths College in 2013. Her plays include: I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Edinburgh Fringe), [Un]Known Unknowns (The Arches), Putting Words in my Mouth (The Arches/Tron Theatre/Prague Fringe), The Only Way Is Cinders (Scottish Storytelling Centre), Trench (Pleasance Theatre/Litmus Festival), Binary (Camden People’s Theatre), Crossrail (The Space Arts Centre), Supernova (Pulse Festival). Her theatre-making juxtaposes scientific theories and case studies with personal stories. Her main body of work explores female sexuality through the lenses of geography, computing and science. In 2010, she won the BBC Scotland Radio Drama – Finding New Dramatic Voices competition and was mentored by the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland.
Philippa is also an enthusiastic and experienced stage manager, with a varied skillset of production management, project co-ordination and technical stage management, especially in outdoor arts and site-specific theatre. She has a strong base in creative problem solving, troubleshooting, logistics and people management. Recent work includes Grandmother’s Closet by Luke Hereford and An Audience with Milly-Liu by Francois Pandolfo.
She has worked with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Wales Millennium Centre, Greenwich Theatre, Nutkhut, Actors Touring Company, Welsh National Opera, August012, ArtsActive and Dante or Die.