The event will be an opportunity to ask people in ‘Decision Making’ roles for advice on putting on your own work, getting commissions, developing relationships with organisations and all the behind the scene processes of producing and making work.

The event will be 1.00pm – 2.30pm with opportunities throughout to ask the panel any questions you may have. This event is open to those from all disciplines from creative, technical and production.

Kumiko Mendl

Kumiko has worked in the theatre industry for more than thirty years as an actor, director, producer and teacher. She is a founder member and Artistic Director of New Earth Theatre (formerly Yellow Earth Theatre) the UK’s award-winning British East and South East Asian (BESEA) Theatre company.

Kumiko is also co-Artistic Director of A Thousand Cranes a company she set up to bring the stories and art forms of Japan to UK young audiences and artistic associate at artsdepot. She is a Clore leader and trustee of True Heart Theatre and Curious Directive.

Ria Parry

Ria is Co-Director of The North Wall Arts Centre in Oxford. She was previously co-founder and producer of Iron Shoes Theatre Company, touring small-scale new work across the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival, winning Fringe First Awards for new plays by Gbolahan Obisesan, Paul Charlton and Marika Mckennell.

As a freelance director and producer she has worked with companies such as the Bush Theatre, Young Vic, Unicorn Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, National Theatre, Southbank Centre, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Rada, Lamda, New Earth and Touretteshero. She was previously a Creative Producer at Watford Palace Theatre, Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio, and is an alumnus of the Step Change Leadership Programme.

Lian Wilkinson

Lian is the Executive Producer of New Earth Theatre, touring work created by British East and South East Asian artists. She has previously worked for Belgrade Theatre Coventry, English Touring Theatre and the COMEDIA Theater Cologne in Germany. She has produced shows in the UK, Adelaide and New York, as well as worked on productions in technical theatre capacities such as stage management and head of props.

Jude Christian

Jude Christian is a theatremaker, director, writer, dramaturg and facilitator whose previous work includes Nanjing (The Yard, Shakespeare’s Globe, Theatertreffen Stückemarkt 2021), Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith, National Theatre), Lela & Co, Bodies, My Mum’s a Twat (Royal Court), Trust, I’d rather Goya robbed me of my sleep than some other arsehole (Gate Theatre), Parliament Square (Bush Theatre, Royal Exchange), and Remget/formember, the 12th of Jalember (a manual for grieving) (Chinese Arts Now). She is an Associate Artist at the Gate Theatre and has previously worked as Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio, and Associate Director at HOME. As dramaturg/associate, Jude has worked with RashDash (The Darkest Corners, Three Sisters), the Royal Opera House and Candoco (The Lost Thing), and Lyric Hammersmith (The Seagull, Shopping and Fucking).

Tuyet Van Huynh

Tuyet Van Huynh is an independent theatre & film producer, film programmer & curator. She is an advocate for amplifying and championing underrepresented voices in the arts and as a British Vietnamese/Chinese Producer she seeks ways in how to raise the profile of Southeast Asian arts and artists within the UK cultural industry and increase this voice and representation within the UK’s cultural discourse.

She previously worked at the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio, an R&D lab space that was used to examine how virtual reality, 360˚film, augmented reality and other emerging technologies can widen and enhance dramatic storytelling.

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