1st Edition
The Art of Collaboration Director and Stage Manager as Co-creators and Colleagues
The Art of Collaboration explores the critical relationship between directors and stage managers. The book is an essential guide for theatre professionals seeking to build strong creative partnerships, emphasising mutual respect, clear communication and shared goals.
Through real-world examples, practical strategies and expert advice, it offers a framework that stimulates collaboration, enhances the rehearsal process and promotes a seamless production.
Whether you’re a seasoned director, an aspiring stage manager or simply want to know more about how to navigate the production process, this book provides insight to the vital, often-overlooked, role of teamwork in bringing performances to stage.
The Art of Collaboration: Director and Stage Manager as Co-creators and Colleagues
Jacqui George
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8515-7888
and
Matt Ball
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8347-0985
Authors
Jacqui George
Jacqui has been working in Stage and Production Management for the last 25 years, with a major focus on Conservatoire training. She has taught at several conservatoires and is a Master of Education and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2018, Jacqui joined the senior leadership team at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy to design and implement a Conservatoire performing and production arts undergraduate training programme in the MENA region.
Jacqui has worked with professional companies such as National Theatre Wales, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and Shared Experience. She has toured the UK extensively, produced Rep seasons in the West End, and internationally worked in Shanghai; World Expo, Berliner Festspiele, and Paphos, City of Culture. Jacqui also enjoys producing work with her and her husband’s company, We Made This.
Jacqui was one-half of Stand By Please, the stage management podcast with Antonia Collins, and is the Project Director for World Stage Design 2025.
Matt Ball
Matt is a theatre maker from the UK who has been working professionally for over 20 years, in Drama schools and universities alongside his professional practice. He was Creative Associate at National Theatre Wales (2011-13) and Artistic Director of Camden People’s Theatre (2006-11), and is currently Associate Programme Leader at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy (SPAA) in the UAE
As a director, his recent work includes: The Girl with Incredibly Long Hair & Light Waves Dark Skies (We Made This), Woyzeck, Anna Karenina & Blood Wedding (Bath Spa), Bottled (Experimentica/ Bristol Ferment), Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco (Waking Exploits), & Orson Welles Complex (BBC Cymru Wales). His devised production, Icarus 2.0 was nominated for a Total Theatre Award and a Stage Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of The First by Hassan Abdulrazzak, and devised Songs for the End of the World, What Number do I Call? and Things we lost in the floods with students at SPAA.
Matt has a BA (Hons) in Drama & Theatre Arts From Goldsmiths’ College an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, and a member of Stage Directors UK.
Contributors
Anne Bogart
Anne is a theatre and opera director, Co-Artistic Director of the ensemble-based SITI Company, head of the MFA Directing program at Columbia University, and author of six books: A Director Prepares, The Viewpoints Book, And Then You Act, Conversations with Anne, What's the Story and The Art of Resonance. For her directing, she has won two Best Director Obie Awards; in 1995, she received the ATHE Career Achievement Award; in 2005 received the American Theatre Wing Award; and in 2012 was the recipient of the Richard B. Fisher Award and the Doris Duke Artist Award.
Michelle Carwardine-Palmer
Michelle has over 20 years of senior arts executive management experience within the UK cultural sector, including commercial, receiving & producing houses, theatre-in-education and national/international touring.
Michelle started her career as Deputy House Manager at Wycombe Swan after graduating in Performing Arts & English and later moved into various venue management roles. She was Managing Director of National Theatre Wales for seven years from the company’s second year of operation, and CEO of Salisbury Playhouse for five years. As a consultant, she has worked as interim CEO for leading organisations including Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Punchdrunk Enrichment and National Dance Company Wales and has provided business strategy support for organisations such as Common Wealth Theatre, Theatr Brycheiniog and Chichester Festival Theatre.
She has represented the cultural sector, presenting at the Welsh Parliament and House of Lords Select Committees and as part of international touring and national trade missions to Japan, Europe and China. Michelle has also been a committee member for the British Council and board member for UK Theatre.
Michelle is currently the Theatres Advisor for Theatres Trust, the UK’s national advisory public body for theatres and a statutory consultee on theatres in the planning system.
Matthew Dunster
Matthew Dunster is a theatre and film director and writer. He was born and raised in Oldham and now lives in South East London. Previously an actor, he has directed or written over sixty theatre shows, often with major national companies (including RSC, NT, Royal Court, Young Vic, Royal Exchange, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Bridge), as well as directing on the West End, Broadway and internationally. He has been the Associate Director of The Young Vic and Shakespeare's Globe.
His most recent productions include: 2:22 A Ghost Story, which ran in the West End for 694 performances; Shirley Valentine and The Pillowman, both at The Duke Of Yorks; The Homecoming at the Young Vic and Dealer's Choice at The Donmar.
Matthew has been nominated for four Olivier Awards and his Broadway production of Hangmen was nominated for five Tony’s.
In Autumn 2025, he will direct Conor McPherson’s stage adaptation of The Hunger Games.
Scott Graham
Scott is Artistic Director of Frantic Assembly, co-founding the company in 1994. He has received nominations for his work on Beautiful Burnout (Drama Desk Award, New York), and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Olivier, Tony and Fred Astaire Awards). With Steven Hoggett, he won the TMA Award (now UK Theatre Award) for Best Direction for Othello. He has created productions and/or provided movement direction for productions at the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland, National Theatre Wales, The Royal Court, The Donmar Warehouse and Singapore Rep. He has developed and written extensively about The Frantic Method. His recent directing credits with Frantic Assembly include Metamorphosis, Othello, TOUCH, I Think We Are Alone, Sometimes Thinking, Fatherland, and Things I Know To Be True. He is writing the third edition of The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre (Routledge) and recently developed The Frantic Assembly Studio, an online educational resource. Scott created Frantic Assembly’s hugely successful Ignition programme.Scott is passionate about creating opportunities for people who might see theatre as a challenge or alienating and believes that these new voices and fresh perspectives are vital to the health of the arts sector.
Carolene Liew
Carolene established her career as a stage manager in Singapore, working on an extensive variety of productions with festivals and companies. Her experience also includes venue production coordination at The Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, festival production management and arts administration at the National Arts Council and project management at Resorts World Sentosa.
She is part of the trio that set up The Backstage Affair, and it’s Apprenticeship Programme to nurture future industry professionals with the focus of cultivating values of integrity and kindness.
Carolene Ruth Liew graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a BA(Hons) in Stage Management and received the title of an Honorary Associate. She is a recipient of the National Arts Council Overseas Scholarship and the Lee Foundation Bursary.
She believes that stage management is more than a supporting role in the larger team. It encompasses active, creative collaboration, delicate people management that comes from the core of care and, most importantly, servant leadership.
Róisín McBrinn
Róisín is Artistic Director, and co-CEO of the Gate Theatre. She was previously Joint Artistic Director and CEO of Clean Break Theatre Company in London where she also held the role of Head of Artistic Programme. Clean Break is a company dedicated to transforming the lives of women who have been to prison or who are at risk of involvement in the criminal justice system. She trained under Michael Grandage at the Donmar Warehouse and frequently assisted Kathy Burke.
She has been nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award and UK Theatre Award for Best Director and is the recipient of The Young Vic Jerwood Director's Award and the National Theatre's Quercus Award.
Gate Theatre credits include The Borrowers, Circle Mirror Transformation, Fun Home and The Snapper.
Other directing credits include Dixon and Daughters (National Theatre); Afterplay and Typical Girls (Sheffield Crucible); Before It Rains, A Family Affair (Sherman Theatre).
Matthew Aaron Stern
Matt is the founder of the Broadway Stage Management Symposium, the annual conference for stage managers & co-founder of Event Training Academy, an online course for event stage managers. Broadway credits include: Come From Away, Finding Neverland, On The Town, Spider-Man, Fiddler On The Roof, Doctor Zhivago, Side Show, Hands On A Hardbody, An Evening with Patti LuPone & Mandy Patinkin, The Little Mermaid, Wicked, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Full Monty & Play On!; Tours: Mandy Patinkin: Dress Casual, John Lithgow’s Stories By Heart, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, Les Miserables & Grease. Other: Lord of the Rings Symphony Concerts, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Blue Man Group at the Hollywood Bowl. Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theater, Dance: Martha Graham Dance Company, Ballet Iowa. Corporate event clients include Google, Samsung, Lenovo, Toyota, Volkswagen, Lincoln Financial, GSK, Abbvie, and many more. Alum of UC San Diego, Matt teaches at SUNY Purchase and Montclair State University, has guest lectured at numerous colleges, serves on the Board of the Stage Managers’ Association, and is a proud AEA member. More info at www.broadwaysymposiuim.com and www.eventtrainingacademy.com
Amy Wildgoose
Amy is a freelance stage and event manager based in Liverpool, UK. After studying for a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London and then for an MA at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, her work has gone on to span many facets of the live entertainment industry: musicals, opera, touring productions both nationally in the UK and internationally, new writing and devised pieces, west-end, immersive and site-specific experiences, corporate events and screen including drama series, short film and live broadcast.
Alongside professional practice, Amy also has experience in several educational environments and was invited by Jacqui to be interim Stage Management Tutor at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy in 2023.
In 2022, Amy was awarded Associate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, which celebrates significant contributions to arts and society in their early career. Amy is chair of the board of directors of the UK Stage Management Association and is currently serving her 6th year on the board.
Amy was delighted to be asked to contribute to this book. Our industry is largely made up of freelancers, so having a platform for these conversations is vital. Collaboration is the lifeblood of creativity.
Biography
Jacqui George has been working in Stage and Production Management for the last 25 years, with a major focus on Conservatoire training. She has taught at several conservatoires and is a Master of Education and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2018, Jacqui joined the senior leadership team at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy to design and implement a Conservatoire performing and production arts undergraduate training programme in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Jacqui has worked with companies such as National Theatre Wales, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and Shared Experience. She has toured the UK extensively, produced Rep seasons in the West End and internationally worked in Shanghai World Expo, Berliner Festspiele and Paphos, City of Culture. Jacqui also enjoys producing work with her and her husband’s company, We Made This.
Jacqui was one-half of Stand by Please, the stage management podcast with Antonia Collins, and is the Project Director for World Stage Design 2025.
Matt Ball is a theatre maker from the UK who has been working professionally for over 20 years, in drama schools and universities alongside his professional practice. He was Creative Associate at National Theatre Wales (2011–13), Artistic Director of Camden People’s Theatre (2006–11) and Associate Programme Leader at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy (SPAA) in the UAE (2019–25).
As a director, his recent work includes The Girl with Incredibly Long Hair & Light Waves Dark Skies (We Made This), Woyzeck, Anna Karenina & Blood Wedding (Bath Spa), Bottled (Experimentica/ Bristol Ferment), Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco (Waking Exploits) and Orson Welles Complex (BBC Cymru Wales). His devised production Icarus 2.0 was nominated for a Total Theatre Award and a Stage Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of The First by Hassan Abdulrazzak, and devised Songs for the End of the World, What Number Do I Call?, Things We Lost in the Floods and Root & Branches with students at SPAA.
Matt has a BA (Hons) in Drama and Theatre Arts from Goldsmiths’ College and an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a member of Stage Directors UK.
