About the Project

Brian Lobel is a performer, teacher, and curator who is interested in creating work about bodies and how they are watched, policed, poked, prodded, and loved by others. His practice is most efficiently described as former-American-Camp-Counselor-Turned-Performance-Artist, and his work has been shown internationally in a range of contexts from Harvard Medical School, to Sydney Opera House, to the National Theatre (London) and Lagos Theatre Festival, blending provocative humour with insightful reflection. Major projects include BALL & Other Funny Stories About Cancer, Purge, Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There, Cruising for Art, BINGE, and 24 Italian Songs & Arias which have been presented in over 25 countries internationally. His book Theatre & Cancer was published by Macmillan in 2019. Brian has received commissions and grants from the Wellcome Trust, Complicite, Jerwood, British Council, and Arts Council England, among others. Brian is a Professor of Theatre & Performance at Rose Bruford College and the co-founder of The Sick of the Fringe. He is also a winner of a very fun 2017 episode of the British television staple Come Dine with Me.

Gweneth Ann Rand trained at the University of Exeter, Goldsmith's College, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. She was a Vilar Young Artist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and has represented England at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. She is currently an Associate Artist at London’s Wigmore Hall.

Her operatic engagements include Aida (English National Opera, Theater Bremen, Oper Kiel, Finnish National Opera, Macedonian Opera, Opera Poznań, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater); Leonora in La forza del destino (Oper Köln, Opera Holland Park); Leonora in Il trovatore (Welsh National Opera); Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (Theater Erfurt); Aida, Santuzza, La Gioconda, La Wally; and critically acclaimed performances of 4.48 Psychosis for the Royal Opera, Prototype Festival and Opéra national du Rhin.

Gweneth Ann is widely known for her acclaimed interpretations of Messiaen’s song cycles Harawi (including Cheltenham Festival, Wigmore Hall and for Opera North) and Poèmes pour Mi (Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra).

Allyson is a native of Ottawa, Canada. She completed her undergraduate studies at Oberlin College (Ohio), where she received a B.Mus. and B.A., and her postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

Allyson is in demand as a musical director, recitalist, and teacher. Her performance schedule has taken her to France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, the US, the Caribbean, and throughout the United Kingdom. She has also recorded for the BBC, CBC, Radio France, and RTE1 (Eire).

As a music director, Allyson has directed the premiere of Looking At The Sun (Battersea Arts Centre) and Kismet (Arcola) and assisted on Porgy and Bess (Lisbon). She has written music for several productions for Tangle International Theatre. As artistic associate and music director with Nitro, she worked on projects such as Mass Carib (Lord Mayor’s Festival, Greenwich Festival, Hackney Empire), An Evening of Soul Food/African Cargo (Greenwich Theatre), and the successful UK tour of Desert Boy. As the creative and directive force behind NitroVoX, she has directed the a cappella group in performances at the Bath Literature Festival (To Kill A Mockingbird) and the London Literature Festival (A Celebration of Maya Angelou), in addition to recording for BBC Radio 4 (The Fisk Jubilee Singers). More recently, Allyson collaborated with Renée Salewski and Trevor A Toussaint on Struggle and Protest – Voices of Change, a new, verbatim piece that looks at regeneration and gentrification in South London.

British contralto Naomi Felix was born in London, but grew up and was educated in Guyana, South America, where she began singing at the early age of 10 in local church and school choirs.

She returned to London to continue her vocal studies at Trinity College of Music, later touring the U.K and Japan with the musical Carmen Jones under the direction of Simon Callow. Her many performances have taken her around the world including the US, Holland, and Italy, where she resided for a year. Other performances include 24 Italian Songs and Arias, The Trojan Women (Hera), and Porgy and Bess in Portugal, and Falstaff (Pegasus Opera).

She continues to have singing lessons with David Jones (N.Y) and Ann De Renais (London) and often can be found singing at weddings and funerals at St Peter’s Italian Church in London.

Tom Wilson is part production manager and part sound designer. He graduated from the Recording Arts degree program at SAE Institute, and accidentally ended up working in theatre after supporting himself through his studies with occasional work in venues across London.

As a production manager, he helps facilitate the work of Brian Lobel, FK Alexander, Martin O’Brien, Daniel Oliver & Frauke Requardt, The Wellcome Collection, Something To Aim For, and The Sick Of The Fringe. His sound design credits include immersive and participatory work with Analogue Theatre Company, RiFT and SPID Theatre, as well as shows with Mercury Theatre Colchester, Theatre 503, Ovalhouse, and RADA.

Tom is a member of the technical team in the Drama Department at Queen Mary University London, as well as an associate teacher in the Technical Theatre department at RADA and a student mentor at ALRA.

The Uncultured (Ashleigh Bowmott + Laura Sweeney), are arts independents working collaboratively to produce, curate, facilitate, and advocate. They put artist and arts worker development at the core of their practice, believing sustainability is in crisis and must be addressed by everyone in the sector. They are champions for better working practices and support others to speak up too.

They work primarily with performance and live artists including Brian Lobel, David Shearing, Lauren John Joseph, Malik Nashad Sharpe, and Xavier de Sousa.

They advocate to develop the sector in more equitable ways through their work on Producing for the End of the World, the OPEN DOORS campaign with East Street Arts, Freelance Taskforce, and pay parity reviews with organizations.

As facilitators, they have most recently worked with Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford College, The Yard Theatre, London Studio Centre, Cambridge Junction, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Theatre Bristol.