Meet the team
Lucy Bell
Artistic DirectorMore
Lucy is the recipient of the Kevin Elyot Award 2020 and Ronald Duncan Playwriting Award. She had a selected play in Bristol Old Vic Open Session 2018/19, is resident artist at Exeter Phoenix and an alumnus of the Soho Theatre Writers Lab. Stage plays include SCORE (A Nation’s Theatre Festival), PULLING OUT and LAMINATED (a pick of Ferment Fortnight in The Stage), plus commissions by Theatre West (ARE YOU THERE?), Villages in Action (UNEARTH) & Theatre Royal Plymouth (SNIP). Her radio drama of PULLING OUT was broadcast on National Prison Radio. Lucy has taught verbatim-inspired theatre at Arts University Bournemouth & The Egg Theatre, Bath. She works part-time in a coastal secondary school and started gathering contributor research on BBC Documentaries’ New Directors Scheme.
Ngozi Ugochukwu
Advisory Board Memberand Creative Collaborator
More
Ngozi is a photographer, journalist and filmmaker who has worked within broadcasting at the BBC since 2011. She directed and edited an award-winning documentary about her travels in Cuba which has been screened at film festivals internationally. Ngozi is on the board of Manchester International film Festival and has performed nationally and internationally in Wheelchair Ballroom and Latin Dance competing for Great Britain.
Fin Irwin
Advisory Board MemberMore
Fin is a committed advocate of quality arts in the far South West. He grew up in Bodmin and then moved to Exeter where he was the founder and director of The Bike Shed Theatre and Cocktail Bar. He has worked as a theatre producer, programmer for The House Theatre in Plymouth and a part-time farmer on his parents’ farm in Cardinham. He is artistic director of intoBodmin, a prominent theatre venue in his home town.
Sarah Meadows
Advisory Board MemberMore
Sarah was selected as a director on the Old Vic 12 programme 2019. This year she directed the critically acclaimed One Jewish Boy at Trafalgar Studios and was associate director on Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward (dir. Sir Richard Eyre, Theatre Royal Bath/Duke of York’s Theatre). She has a very cluttered mantelpiece: the Edinburgh Fringe People’s Choice Award with Where Do Little Birds Go?, the Origins Award for Outstanding New Work 2016, Brighton Fringe Award For Theatre and The Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award 2015. Sarah has worked across many new writing development schemes, has curated work at Theatre 503 with Lisa Spirling and was chair of the Kings Cross Award for New Writing. Sarah grew up in Coniston and worked extensively in the North West, so is passionate about nurturing culture and stories from communities far from London.
Naomi Turner
Advisory Board MemberMore
Naomi is Live Programme Coordinator at Exeter Phoenix and Theatre Programme Producer at Exeter Northcott Theatre. She is also a theatre and film maker, and one half of LeMoon; a performance and film collective whose work explores the human condition and the importance of place. Her short film ‘Scapelands’, commissioned by BBC Arts/BBC New Creatives Scheme, recently aired on BBC4.
Rebecca Crookshank
Advisory Board MemberMore
Devon-born Rebecca is a writer, international visual artist and was selected as one of the commissioned playwrights for Old Vic 12. Her award-winning solo play, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was informed by her lived experiences in the Royal Air Force and premiered on 42nd Street, New York. She’s an activist for women’s rights and was nominated for a Liberty and Human Rights Award. Rebecca is currently developing an original TV series with Sky Drama, a play inspired by revolutionary women (supported by the British Council) and working on her first feature film.
Ryan Wilce
Associate ProducerMore
Ryan is a South West based theatre maker with experience in a variety of roles across the arts industry, from being a Director and a Practitioner to Company Stage Manager and Wardrobe technician, with additional experience working in and producing visual art and live art installations. Ryan has worked for several arts organisations in the South West in various roles including Theatre Royal Plymouth, Barbican Theatre and Radiant Gallery.
Carla Thomas
Company Development MentorMore
Carla is a photographer with a background implementing IT systems for healthcare providers including the NHS. Over the last decade she has led on marketing, events and client experience. She is lending her strategic experience to DT as she is invested in more authentic representation of all parts of British Society in the arts.
Julia Antram
Assistant Producer InternMore
Julia is a recent Theatre & Performance graduate, with a First Class Honours from Plymouth Conservatoire. She is an associate artist at By Design Theatre in Devon, and freelances as a theatre producer/ facilitator in the South West. In recent months, she has joined the DT team as an assistant producer, which combines her main areas of interest in social history and community arts.