Meet the 2024-2025 Bridge the Gap Producers!
After receiving 95 very competitive applications, it was hard to make a decision this year; so hard we expanded the group! Without further a do, we are delighted to introduce you to our 2024-25 Bridge the Gap Producers.
Pictured (left to right): Becca Rowson, Caleb Lee, Clarisse Makundul, Diego Gutiérrez Córdoba, JD Young, Layla Chowdhury, Mina Moniri, Moé Saito, Estelle Homerstone, Jas Nisic, Nore Lempriere, Rafia Hussain, Sharni Lockwood.
There are 13 producers taking part in the programme this year. Layla Chowdhury will be participating in the programme alongside her Stage One Trainee Producer Placement with Lyric Hammersmith Theatre which she will start later this summer.
Read more about each producer below:
Becca Rowson
Becca is a queer, neurodivergent & global majority producer passionate about new writing, new business models and supporting industry improvements. She’s staged work across London at venues including The Park, Soho and New Wimbledon Theatre, with a focus on joyous untold stories, queer work, & historical comedies. She currently operates as the Executive Producer for Futures Theatre. She has a masters in Creative Producing from Mountview and has previously worked at the Donmar, Norwich Puppet Theatre, and Golden Goose Theatre.
Caleb Lee
Caleb is a creative producer, lecturer and theatre critic originally from Singapore. He is currently Co-Artistic Director of Five Stones Theatre – an international collective creating dance and theatre for children and young people that are ‘a little different’. Caleb has extensive experience internationally working as a festival manager and producer; from Japan to Australia and everywhere in between. His current work cuts across the creative industries, applied performances and digital technologies, with interests in musical theatre, untold stories and young people’s health and wellbeing.
Clarisse Makundul
Clarisse is a producer, playwright, and performer. Her producing credits include: “One Who Wants To Cross” (The Finborough Theatre, in the Guardian’s 10 best theatre shows of 2023); “Under The Kundè Tree” (Southwark Playhouse); “Facing Mother” (Park Theatre, staged reading); and “The Great Privation: How to flip ten cents into a dollar” (Theatre503, Associate Producer). Clarisse is also a member of the Orange Tree Theatre’s Writers’ Collective.
Diego Gutiérrez Córdoba
Liverpool is home to Diego Gutiérrez Córdoba, a passionate Mexican Production Manager and Creative Producer focusing on projects for the Latinx-LGBTQ+ community. His dedication to this subject matter motivated him to co-found Spicy Q Productions, which actively supports and produces content for this community. Currently, Diego works as Assistant Production Manager at the Everyman&Playhouse theatres in Liverpool, where he continues to pursue his passion for inclusive and diverse projects. Recent credits include Tell Me How It Ends (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), Soledad (Ignite Festival, London), Black The Clown (Arcola Theatre and Cervantes Theatre, London), Te Quiero Hasta la Luna (Teatro Benito Juarez, Mexico).
Estelle Homerstone
Estelle Homerstone (She/Her) is a 6-time award-nominated producer, actor and theatre maker. Recent projects include ‘Run to the Nuns – The Musical’ (Riverside Studios, Brighton Fringe), ‘Summoning Sondheim’ (New Wimbledon Theatre, Museum of Comedy, Brighton Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe), and ‘Working for Crumbs’ (4 x award-nominated Broadway World & Broadway Baby Play; The Space Theatre). She is an interdisciplinary artist with a collaborative approach to making. Her work prioritises access, relevance and boldness. She is the owner of Estelle Homerstone Productions, which is a 100% neurodiverse and queer collective, championing new writing and genre-bending theatre. She has recently taken on a role in screen, acting as a producer on a sitcom currently in development.
Jas Nisic
Jas Nisic (they/them) is a working-class and LGBTQIA+ Producer from Manchester. Trained originally in Musical Theatre from the Royal Academy of Music their work has been nominated for two consecutive OffFest awards and shortlisted for Best LGBTQIA+ production at Greater Manchester Fringe as well as being supported by Suerbia Queer Arts and LBGT Foundation. Jas is excited to start their new role as Trainee Producer with Sheffield Theatres and Stage One.
JD Young
JD has been working as a producer and performer within queer cabaret for 6 years, and recently has started making the pivot into commercial producing within theatre. Their work centres narratives and stories that need platforming the most, and aims to engage with wider audiences by being both entertaining and accessible. They also work as a drag artist called Carrot, travelling the UK gigging and producing many shows including Gallifrey Cabaret, The Enby Show and more. Social handles: @j.d_young_ // @carrotdrag
Layla Chowdhury
Layla is a queer, British South Asian, producer and theatre maker. She has been predominantly working for The Mango Ensemble, a new theatre company looking at underrepresented political stories from new writers. She produced and directed the RSC Award winning play North Star (Mercury Theatre, Cambridge Junction) , and is currently producing their national tour of Forgotten in the Land of Egypt. She has been working for the last year as a Production Assistant at the Orange Tree Theatre where she has learnt about in house producing. This has lead her to take up an exciting new position with Stage One and the Lyric Hammersmith for the next year.
Mina Moniri
Mina (she/her) is a creative producer, writer and stage manager based in Oxford. She has 10 years’ experience in technical theatre, having stage managed in amateur, off-West End, and international venues. She is also a PhD student at the University of Oxford, studying biochemistry and neuroscience. Her recent work has focused on reimagining older work to highlight underrepresented groups and move away from classical stereotypes. Through her production company, Scar Theatre, she has recently produced shows at the Oxford Playhouse, Riverside Studios, and The Cockpit. She is mainly focused on using her experience to produce bold, new theatre that pushes the boundaries of both technical and creative storytelling.
Moé Saito
Originally hailing from Japan, Moé is an international producer with a background in business, whose life’s mission is creating commercially successful productions that champion underrepresented voices. She is currently production coordinator at Jonathan Church Theatre Productions. Before arriving in the UK in 2021, Moé worked in the TV & theatre industry in Japan.
Nora Lempriere
Nora (she/hers) is a Community Artist and Producer from Lewisham. Previous TheatrePeckham Resident Artist, Participation Coordinator at Southwark Playhouse, and now Events and Community Producer at the Vagina Museum. She has six jobs and six jokes. Co-Founder of, Underbelly UNTAPPED award winner 2023, No Table Productions, she focuses on telling individual stories about infrastructural issues, in South London and beyond. Nora is committed to consent forward theatre-making practices, making art for a livable wage and making men uncomfortable.
Rafia Hussain
Rafia is an independent producer working on socially engaged productions and projects locally, nationally and internationally. As well as an independent producer, Rafia is the Strategic Producer of In Good Company, the leading artist development organisation for the Midlands. You can find out more about her work here.
Sharni Lockwood
Sharni is Assistant Producer at Shakespeare’s Globe. Being of mixed heritage, Sharni champions theatre that reflects the plurality of our society, that widens the frame and holds a mirror up to the world. She loves story-telling and making stories happen: finding connection and shared humanity. Sharni started working at Shakespeare’s Globe on a work-placement in 2017, and since joining the producing team has worked on Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, and Henry VIII (Globe Theatre); The Duchess of Malfi, Shakespeare’s Women, and Tim Crouch’s I, Malvolio (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); and Shakespeare in the Abbey (Westminster Abbey). She writes and illustrates in her spare time – and loves all things relating to books/afternoon tea/Anne Boleyn (she calls it geek chic…).