LAD

John is a writer & actor, trained at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. His play ‘Bwoy Dem’ won the 2021 Take Off competition with In Good Company, Derby Theatre, Notts Playhouse & Arena Theatre. John has received commissions from  The Bush, Paines Plough, Middle Child & Derby Theatre. He has been longlisted for the BBC Writers Academy and shortlisted for the RSC’s 37 plays. Previously he was part of the Nottingham Playhouse Amplify writers and an associate artist at New Perspectives Theatre.  He is currently a member of the Royal Court Writers’ Group.

Training: Emil Dale Academy, Guildford School of Arts. Kwamé is a recent recipient of the ‘Best Graduate’ award at the 2024 Black British Theatre Awards.

Theatre Includes: Starter for Ten (Bristol Old Vic, Birmingham Rep), MJ the Musical Original West End Cast (Prince Edward Theatre),  RSC’s Queen Anne (Royal Haymarket Theatre), Motown the Musical Original West End Cast (Shaftsbury Avenue Theatre), Thriller Live Japan (Tokyo), The Bodyguard The Musical Original West End Cast (Adelphi Theatre).Television Includes: BBC’s Doctors, BBC’s Line of Duty, BBC’s Citizen Khan, BBC’s Survivors. 

Kwamé feels privileged to be bringing this piece of theatre to his home town in and around the Midlands.

Kurtis trained at the Oxford School of Drama.

Stage includes; PROTEST! (Southwark Playhouse), WONDER WINTERLAND (Soho Theatre), POOL (NO WATER) (Royal Court Theatre).

Film includes; ATTACK OF THE ADULT BABIES, CHILDLINE #LISTENTOYOURSELFIE, GIVE ME YOUR CLASSICS AND I’LL SHOW YOU THE FUTURE, PROM DISASTER.

Radio includes: THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, DOMBEY AND SON.

Daniel is a director for stage and screen, a dramaturg, and a writer. He was formerly Associate Artistic Director at the Bush Theatre, London, having joined the team in 2019 alongside Artistic Director Lynette Linton. Prior to that he was Associate Director at Birmingham Rep Theatre, after initially joining as Assistant Director as part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme and then working as Artistic Director of the New & Nurtured Season 2017–2018. He made his West End debut in 2024 with the award-winning RED PITCH, which he originally directed at the Bush (2022 and 2023), and for which he received The Stage Debut Award for Best Creative West End Debut. Other roles include Associate Artist at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio, Resident Assistant Director at The Finborough Theatre, and Artistic Director of New Heritage Theatre. Daniel reads for Talawa, Soho, the Verity Bargate, Bruntwood, and Birmingham Rep and Alfred Fagon Awards.

Other directing work at the Bush Theatre includes Beru Tessema’s WOLVES ON ROAD, Lenny Henry’s AUGUST IN ENGLAND (co-directed with Lynette Linton), and Temi Wilkey’s THE HIGH TABLE (Stage Debut Award winner 2020).

Other Directing credits include the US premiere of RED PITCH (Olney Theatre, Washington DC); THE BOY WITH WINGS adapted by Arvind Ethan David from the book by Lenny Henry (Polka Theatre); I WONDER IF (Young Vic Theatre); BLUE ORANGE; CONCUBINE; STUFF; I KNEW YOU; ABUELO, JUMP! WE’LL CATCH YOU; MADE IN INDIA/BRITAIN; and EXHALE (Birmingham Rep).

His film and TV director credits include: DROPPED (Mother’s Best Child/Channel 4), ON BELONGING (Young Vic), MALACHI (S.E.D), FLOATING ON CLOUDS (Kingdom Entertainment Group) and Y.O.L.O. Therapy (S.E.D).

Fifth Word is a touring theatre company based in the East Midlands specialising in innovative, relevant new writing for younger audiences (16-30). Recent productions include: LIBERATION SQUARES by Sonali Bhattacharyya (★★★★ The Stage) directed by Milli Bhattia, WE NEED NEW NAMES, adapted by Mufaro Makubika from NoViolet Bulawayo’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel (★★★★ The Guardian) directed by Monique Tuoko, and LAVA (★★★★ The Stage) by James Fritz, co-directed by Laura Ford and Angharad Jones.

Alongside productions, Fifth Word delivers creative engagement projects co-designed with local partners and participants, empowering people to tell their own stories and build confidence through theatre-making, writing and performance. These projects foster creativity, community cohesion and pride of place. In partnership with Nottinghamshire Archives & Mansfield Museum Fifth Word is currently delivering Our Story, training trans and gender diverse young people in oral history practice to gather testimonies from people who are trans & gender diverse creating a vital archive of voices in the region. [More info on Fifth Word here.]