The JMK National Programme across our partner venues is curated and run by our four Director Practitioners (DPs) – who are established, locally-based directors.
These DPs curate our Programme for their region, working with their nearest partner venues to tailor our Programme to the needs of local directors. The emerging directors who take part in our Programme benefit from the mentorship, guidance and support of their local DP, who is in place to oversee their creative and professional development. The DPs also lead workshops at each others’ venues, exchanging knowledge and skills to benefit all our participants.
The Director Practitioners (DPs) that lead our groups at our partner venues are:
Maria Crocker: North East and Scotland
Maria is originally from Middlesbrough in the North East of England. Her theatre credits as a Director include: Growth (Northern Stage Studio); Brian Looks Like Alan Rickman (York Theatre Royal Studio); Found (Alnwick Playhouse). Theatre as Associate Director: Meek (Headlong); Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone (Greyscale, International Tour); The Gamblers (Greyscale, Dundee Rep). Theatre as Movement Director: Leaving (Curious Monkey). Theatre as Assistant or Staff Director: Hadestown (National Theatre); Mood Music (The Old Vic); Pinocchio (National Theatre); Animal Farm (Northern Stage); Catch 22 (UK Tour). Theatre as Deviser: No Miracles Here, Five Feet In Front, Bonenkai (The Letter Room).
Karen Traynor: North East & Scotland (Cover)
Karen is a Scottish theatre director and actor, living in the North East of England. During her 25 year career she’s worked extensively in theatre radio and television, with companies such as The RSC, Northern Stage, The Young Vic, BAC, Live Theatre, Lyceum Edinburgh and Hull Truck – devising and collaborating on new writing, classic texts and family theatre alike. She is an associate at Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, where she recently directed Tiny Fragments of Beautiful Light, by Allison Davies, to widespread critical acclaim. As a director her focus is predominantly in new writing, nurturing the director/writer relationship to create a truly connected experience for the audience. Other credits include: Sucking Eggs, The Sky Sings, NASA Lie – The Earth Is Flat No Curve, The Last Stop, Night Trade, Pollice et Digitos and Christmas Carol, all for Alphabetti.
She also received the JMK assistant director bursary to work on A Christmas Carol at Northern Stage and returned the following year with The Snow Queen.
Piers Black: North West
Piers is Artistic Director of Manchester-based company, Ransack Theatre. He trained on the National Theatre Directors’ Course, and was Resident Director at the Almeida Theatre. He is recipient of the John Fernald Award, BBC Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, and JMK Assistant Director Bursary. As Director, theatre includes: Catching Comets (Pleasance), Crops (The Yard, Live Drafts), Love and Money (ALRA), Minus Touch (Royal Exchange); Moth (Hope Mill Theatre); The Dumb Waiter (Site Specific – Lucy Davis Vaults, NSDF and HOME); Solve (Edinburgh Fringe). As Assistant / Associate Director, theatre includes: Light Falls (Royal Exchange) Stories (National Theatre); The Writer (Almeida Theatre); City of Glass (Lyric Hammersmith and HOME); So Here We Are (Royal Exchange and HighTide Festival); Yen (Royal Exchange).
Christa Harris: Midlands
Christa is the Resident Director of Olivier-award winning Back to the Future the Musical and artistic associate of Olivier-nominated Les Enfants Terribles. She is also the co-founder of arts organisation WildChild which champions new voices from unrepresented backgrounds and aims to create social mobility in the arts. Christa was the recipient of the regional Leverhulme Arts Scholarship for the Birmingham REP with the JMK Trust in 2015. Her directing credits include: Inside Pussy Riot (Les Enfants Terribles); One Duck Down (Vaults; Paines Plough, Pleasance Theatre et. al.); The Hole (Rachel De-Lahay/NYT); Mr Men Little Miss On Stage (Selladoor/World Tour & WestEnd); United Queendom (Les Enfants Terribles); Love & Information (DTA, Birmingham) and Park Bench (Park Theatre) With her assistant and associate credits being: The Game’s Afoot (Les Enfants Terribles); The First Hippo on The Moon (Les Petits Theatre); Kiss Me Quickstep (New Vic; The SJT; Oldham Coliseum); Only on Sundays, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Birmingham REP); A Third (Finborough Theatre).
Helena Middleton: South West
Helena is an award winning theatre and film director and founding member of The Wardrobe Ensemble, a theatre company committed to making devised, ensemble-based theatre. She has dedicated the past 11 years to making theatre for all ages with a particular focus on devised work and new writing. Helena’s theatre directing credits include, Robin Hood: Legend of the Forgotten Forest (Bristol Old Vic), Education, Education, Education (Royal and Derngate, Trafalgar Studios), The Star Seekers (National Theatre) and Pippi Longstocking (Royal and Derngate). She has also worked as dramaturg, associate and assistant director on various productions, including Witness for the Prosecution which has been running for over 4 years at London County Hall.
If you would like to join any of our groups at these partner venues, simply email rowan@jmktrust.org
