school founders
David Redston has managed theatres [the 1000 seat Sandown Pavilion, then Shanklin Theatre] since 1993, producing literally thousands of shows, mainly professional musicals and plays, but hundreds of children’s performances as well. He has been running stage schools for fifteen years.
David studied composition under Sir Lennox Berkeley at the Royal Academy of Music and has worked in entertainment since: on TV incidental music [Fanny by Gaslight], and arrangements [A Night On The Town]; in film orchestrating the feature film ‘Priest of Love’ [starring Sir Ian McKellen]; in recording rearranging and supervising the Offenbach and Sullivan theatre pieces [with the London Symphony Orchestra], original music and arrangements for army bands and the Royal Tournament; in publishing he founded ‘Middle Eight Music’ [specialist instrumental music]; in the theatre arrangements for Michael Ball and Elaine Paige; MD and arranger for scores of musicals [‘Carousel’ at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, ‘Judy’ and ‘Kismet’ in the West End].
He has written [words and music] two major musicals ‘Notre Dame’, performed in London and Oxford, and ‘A Christmas Carol’, performed on the Island and originally starring James Paterson, one of the leads from ‘Phantom Of The Opera’
Dominic Pope studied philosophy at Warwick University but since leaving University has been a professional actor, writer and director. He has appeared in and directed over a hundred different productions.
He has taught drama for ten years at stage schools and also to A level, G.C.S.E. and BTEC students.
He is a specialist in writing and performing for children. In the past decade he has written ten pantomimes, a dozen ’kids‘ shows (performed to a hundred thousand visiting school children), hundreds of sketches for drama schools and with David he has written twentyfive new musicals for stage school and workshop presentations.
David and Dom have involved thousands of children on the Island in theatre. They also direct workshops twice a year in Paris and have taken their theatrical experience as far afield as Sri Lanka.
our team
Traci Porter After graduating from the Guildford School of Acting, Traci has enjoyed many years in professional entertainment.
West End credits include "42nd Street", "The Hunting of the Snark", and " My One and Only". She has toured nationally with "Pickwick" alongside the late Harry Secombe and Roy Castle, and "The Rocky Horror Show" for Richard O'Brien‘s company, later appearing in a further production of the same show for Paul Nicholas and David Ian at the B.I.C.
Plays in national rep. include Agnes in "Dancing at Lughnasa", Jaqueline in "Don't Dress For Dinner", Lisa in "Dead Funny", Sally in "Dangerous Obsession" and Audrey Lemon in "Woomberang". Traci originated the role of Barbara in Conundrum Theatre Company's comedy "It Takes Two to Trifle", for the London fringe, and has appeared in T.V ads for BUPA and Kelloggs.
For the past eight years she has worked at Shanklin Theatre as a performer and director/ choreographer. Of the numerous roles here, favourites include Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors", frigid Bridget in "A slice of Saturday Night", Theresa Philips in the Ayckbourn comedy "How the other half loves", and Margaret in "Last Tango in Little Grimley".
Andrea Colley has a BA(Hons) Degree in Theatre Dance from London Studio Centre plus I.S.T.D teacher training for ballet foundation and national foundation in dance. Andrea has been teaching children of all ages up and down the country for five years including being a lecturer in performing arts for the Tresham Institute in Kettering, teaching BTEC 1st Diploma at Northampton College and teaching I.S.T.D syllabus work in the Kilburn School of dance.
Andrea has also performed in many shows including the ’Vagina Monologues‘ at the Canal Café Theatre, a national tour of ’The Wiz‘, ‘16 Gobs‘ at the Kings Head Theatre and ’The Sound of Music‘ at the Theatre Royal, Northampton.
Andrea is extremely passionate about musical theatre and is a very talented singer, dancer and actress.
Claire Moore started singing and dancing at the age of 4 and took to the stage in her first pantomime one year later. In the mid 90‘s she joined Shanklin Theatre under the supervision of David Redston and performed in many professional shows including ’Little Shop of Horrors‘, ’A Slice of Saturday Night‘ and ’The Best of the West End‘.
In 2002 Claire left the Island to train at the Guildford School of Acting, during the three year course she played the parts of Ann in ’Balm in Gilead‘, Marilla Cuthbert in ’Anne of Green Gables‘ and was lucky enough to be in the British premiere of the American musical ’Side Show‘.
Since graduating Claire has worked as a Production Singer for Costa Cruises, where she not only performed but also supervised all the singing for the weekly ’Crew Show‘.
Other professional engagements include a one off performance of ’Beyond the Barricade‘ at The Royal Albert Hall and most recently Claire has been working in London with The Apt Theatre Company on a new musical call ’Speed Dating‘.
Claire is thrilled to be back on the Island working for Stage by Stage.
Laura Sharrocks is one of our home grown talents. Having attended the stage school at Shanklin Theatre from the age of 7 she has now become a teacher herself.
She has been involved with most of the professional productions at Shanklin Theatre for the past 4 years playing the Good Witch in ’The Wizard of Oz‘, the Fairy Godmother in ’Cinderella‘, the Genie of the Ring in ’Aladdin‘ and wowing audiences with her amazing voice in numerous musical compilation shows.
Laura has been teaching at stage schools for the past two years and has been working with thousands of visiting school children sharing her experiences of working in a professional theatre company.
Mary Bowdery graduated from Stella Mann College with a NVQ level 4 in musical theatre and professional dance. Before studying at college she was in the TV series ’Reach for the Moon‘. During her studies she worked as assistant stage manager for, ’A Show of a 1000 Voices‘, featuring Glenn Close and Roger Moore and worked as a cabaret dancer for Razmataz .
She has worked as a backing dancer for many musical groups performing all over England and she danced at the ’UK Live and Unsigned‘ finals at the Guildhall.
Mary has choreographed for the ’Inner Giants‘ national R&B/Gospel tour and two music videos for ’Looze Screws‘ and ’Blue Soul Pharmacy‘.
She taught street dance and hip hop classes in south London and formed a street dance group called AGC. For the past few months she has been teaching street dance classes and workshops in Island youth clubs and schools.
Mary is really looking forward to teaching with David and Dom at Stage by Stage.
Jayne Morris is one of our most successful former students. She trained with us, then completed a three year course in dance at Stella Mann College and has worked continuously ever since. She travelled the Med, the Caribbean and America for 2 years while dancing for Costa Cruises then spent a year as a showgirl at the Benidorm Palace, Spain, as part of a cast of 50! In between, Jayne has also danced for Katrina and the Waves; choreographed for England Beach Soccer and appeared in pop videos.
She has just returned from Casino Krystal in Croatia and is teaching this term at The Academy before heading to Tokyo later this year.
Michelle Davis received a diploma for dance and performing arts from Elmhurst in 2005 after completing her final year with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Since graduating she has performed in adverts, music award shows such as the Mobo’s and danced in shows in Hong Kong, India, China, Spain and Indonesia. She has performed in many different disciplines including musical theatre, commercial/street dancing and classical/contemporary dance.
She has worked as an assistant choreographer and is now going to be teaching with us and sharing her experiences with you.
Stacey Ruth started dancing at the age of three. At 16 she went on to train at 'Performers College' in London receiving a diploma in dance and drama an A level in anatomy and qualified as a dance teacher.
After graduating Stacey appeared on Top of the Pops with such bands as 'Blazin’ Squad', 'Boogie Pimps' and 'Blink 182'. She also danced on the opening credits of ITV's 'Love on a Saturday Night' with Davina MaCall.
Most recently she has been dancing on Costa Cruise ships around the Med.
Stacey came back to the Island last summer and has been teaching modern, tap and ballet to children aged 3 to adult.
QUICKLINKS
- Lights Camera Action
Saturday 18th October 2008 - Once Upon A Time
Sunday 19th October 2008
OUR TEAM
07896 257450
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