Introducing…

 

After receiving over 80 very competitive applications, it was even harder to make a decision this year. Without further a do, we are delighted to introduce you to our 2023-24 Bridge the Gap Producers.

Pictured (left to right): Humnah Abdullah, Georgi Bessey, Jade Samuels, Javairya Khan, Tunji Falana, Radha Mamidipudi, Liam Gifford, Nadia Anim, Emily Hamilton, Mwansa Phiri, Tamina Davar and Kai Gama.

Alongside participating in the Bridge the Gap programme, Javairya Khan will be taking on the Stage One Bridge the Gap Producer Placement with Leeds Playhouse which she started in June 2023.

Read more about each producer below:

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Humnah Abdullah

Humnah is a queer, British South Asian, female producer. Predominantly working for Pink Milk Theatre, a new theatre company looking at underrepresented stories from queer voices in the theatre industry – with a particular focus on telling stories by non-white queer creatives. She was the Producer for their critically acclaimed shows ‘A Splash of Milk’ (Camden Fringe 2022, The Hope Theatre 2022 and 96 Festival at Omnibus Theatre 2023) and ‘Naughty’ (UK Tour, 2022). She was also accepted onto Stockroom’s Freelance Producer’s Fellowship for New Writing (October 2022 – February 2023), as well as being selected as an Early Career Producer by Tara Theatre for their Global Majority Producer Development Roundtable (November, 2022).

Nadia Anim

Nadia is a theatre maker based in Liverpool. She creatively produced an album as part of the 2021 Generations For Change with the Liverpool Combined Authority. Nadia’s interest for producing exists in connecting creatives to help push their visions forward. She is looking forward to explore the world of commercial producing.

Georgi Bessey

Georgi is a producer originally from Lowestoft in Suffolk. She is the founder of Blonde Boss Theatre – a company that specialises in developing new work using the untold stories of women. She is currently working as Head of Ticketing at Hampstead Theatre.Production credits include Me ‘.Ansum (SparkFest), Mawther (Norwich Fringe) and INFAMOUS (Camden Fringe)

Tamina Davar

Tamina is an actor, writer, and creative producer with a long history producing and promoting social justice focused events in New York and London. Her cross-disciplinary performance-making has encompassed dance; as well as physical, devised, immersive, and outdoor creative works. Theatre producing projects have been supported by Arts Council England and Arcola Theatre Lab. She completed the Optimists (China Plate Theatre) producer training; and co-produced Constellations, Tara Theatre’s inaugural artist residency showcase.

Tunji Falana

Tunji is a British-Nigerian Actor & Producer, he has worked as an actor both on stage and on screen. Tunji has worked in different roles in Production.His most recent was a co director for The Pocket which played at the Peckham Theatre last year. As a producer he has produced training videos on racial bias & equality for King’s College London, artistic cultural concept videos to raise the platform of independent black artists.Produced a community outreach video to encourage the community & members during the pandemic for his local Church. His most recent work as  Producer is “Pick It” a short Film which was born from a project Devolution Evolution,commissioned by the critically acclaimed Tangle Feet. “Pick It” is currently screening at a few short film festivals.

Kai Gama

Kai is a London based creative producer with a focus on community projects. Kai has produced and facilitated creative programmes for a number of charities and youth organisations, creating professional theatre performances and short films as programme outcomes. Kai also brings a wealth of music industry experience from his time in the band – The Insomniax.

Liam Gifford

Liam is a working/benefit/criminal class theatre-maker of British and Irish heritage raised in North Devon and now living in Southampton. Now in his mid-30s, he has had a range of experiences working collaboratively with professional and non-professional creatives of all ages and on mass participation projects, new writing, devised work and dance theatre. Liam’s works have been presented at fringe venues, on mid-scale professional stages and in large-scale outdoor settings both in the and Europe at such venues as Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Theatre Royal Bath, Arnolfini, Tobacco Factory Theatre as well as festivals such as BE Festival, Birmingham International Dance Festival, Hat Fair and NEU/NOW Festival. Liam is passionate about working environments which are person-centred, embed co-collaboration and truly reflect the diversity of our society.

Emily Hamilton

Emily is a London based, queer theatre Producer and Fundraiser, currently working as Development Coordinator at the Young Vic.  I care about the liveness of theatre, the collective feeling of being in an audience and supporting new work that tells stories in innovative ways. I have produced at venues including Theatre503, Park Theatre and SALT Oslo.

Javairya Khan

Javairya is a British Pakistani producer based in West Yorkshire. While finishing up a degree in neuroscience at the University of Leeds, Javairya started working with Batley & Spen Youth Theatre Company and went on to work with a range of companies and artists including Slung Low, Javaad Alipoor and Unlimited Theatre. She is currently the Assistant Producer at Leeds Playhouse, as part of Stage One’s Bridge the Gap placement in partnership with the Aziz Foundation.

Radha Mamidipudi

Mamidipudi Radha is a producer with a commitment to compassionate and political theatre-making that engages in ethical practices and centres entertainment. She has a BA in Theatre Arts, Education and Deaf Studies from the University of Reading, and an MA in Performance and Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Goldsmiths. During the pandemic, she completed an MFA Creative Producing from the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked with companies such as Kali Theatre and Wretched Theatre during that time. She is the Assistant Producer at Headlong Theatre and has been part of the team that produced Corrina, Corrina at the Liverpool Everyman; Jitney at the Old Vic and on tour; Henry V at the Shakespeare’s Globe and on tour; A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction at the Barbican and on a groundbreaking experimental touring model.  Radha is a queer, neurodivergent, first generation immigrant woman of colour.

Mwansa Phiri

Mwansa is a London based playwright and producer. She is an alumna of Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab where she wrote her debut play Talking Stages which was shortlisted for the 2022 Tony Craze Award. She was awarded a Seeding Space artist residency from London Performance Studios to develop her second play waiting for a train at the bus stop. This had a sold-out run at VAULT Festival 2023 and was shortlisted for the 2023 LET Award. It won the 2023 Eclipse Award and Keep it Fringe award and will have a run at Summerhall in August 2023 for Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with support from Soho Theatre’s Edinburgh Lab. Mwansa has had work staged at The Pleasance London, Soho Theatre, Golden Goose Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Southwark Playhouse and Greenwich Theatre.

Jade Samuels

Jade is a Birmingham based producer that specialises in working on projects that get unknown, untold stories out there. She is a founding member of the UKs 1st ‘All Black and Black Mixed race Female Shakespeare company’ ‘Mawa’ (Featured in Vogue/ BBTA Nominees/Industry Mind award winners/event at Birmingham Hippodrome & Shakespeare’s Globe). She works alongside China Plate Theatre Company as an Associate Producer and is a freelance producer for artists