Creatives
Creative Team
Caroline Wilkes
Director
Caroline Wilkes' credits include Marvellous at @SohoPlace (as associate), A Leap in the Dark for the New Vic and various shows at Birmingham Rep.
Caroline has been Associate Director at the New Vic Theatre, Stoke as well as an RTYDS Connect Artist, Artistic Associate at Birmingham Rep, and a Beyond Artist with Graeae. She is the Artistic Director of a large collective of theatre makers from across the Midlands where she leads on artist development.
Nikki Charlesworth
Facilitator/Nottingham Playhouse Agent for Change
Nikki Charlesworth is a Theatre Designer, Maker and Puppeteer from Nottingham. In her professional life Nikki has worked at the forefront of disabled-led theatre-making contributing to new, ground-breaking work in the sector.
Nikki is Agent For Change at Nottingham Playhouse, where she advocates and campaigns for greater access and inclusion across the organisation.
Scott McHurley
Book, Music and Lyrics
Scott McHurley is a writer and composer whose work focusses on disability. His radio musical Stoma: The Musical was produced as part of the BBC New Creatives programme and was broadcast on Radio 4Xtra and Radio 6 as well as BBC Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
Other credits include On Ego at Zoo Places and What is Love? for Symbolism Studios.
He lives in Birmingham with his family, his dog, and his stoma.
Tim Lole
Facilitator
Tim Lole is a Nottingham-based Musical Director, pianist, composer, singing teacher, and workshop leader with a career spanning opera, choral music, and education. He studied at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio.
He is currently the Musical Director of NTU Choir, VoiceChoice and Streetwise Opera, Nottingham, where he works to inspire and develop singers of all backgrounds and abilities.
His work as a repetiteur included working at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Birmingham Opera, and Glyndebourne.
Robyn Saunders
Musical Director
Robyn began her work in theatre as a clarinettist performing in ‘Julius Caesar’ at the Royal Shakespear Theatre. As musical director, she’s worked on The Gaiety Theatre’s pantomime for the past 4 years and has been fortunate enough to work as an accompanist in New York with the Broadway casts of ‘Wicked’, ‘Big Fish’ and ‘The Lion King’.
Robyn is a Royal Global Artist and producer/writer of the drag cabaret ‘High Heels & Bass Squeals’ (The Other Palace).
Co-Creators
Ryan McDade
Co-Creator - Theo
Ryan was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy 26 years ago and has first hand experience of what it’s like to be a disabled person in the theatre world.
Ryan has loved everything about musical theatre from a young age; after seeing The Wizard of Oz at 3 years old, he was hooked.
As an electric wheelchair user, Ryan combines his love of musicals with a quest for true equality in the arts sectors.
After being told that someone with such a severe disability would never be able to work in the theatre industry, being a part of Secret Sides of Us has been a dream come true. Ryan cannot wait to share this show with the world.
Ella Greatorex
Co-Creator - Serena
Ella is a 21 year old neurodivergent musical theatre enthusiast with cerebral palsy. Her passion for the theatre world started in May 2018 when she saw Wicked in London for the first time and has since been performing on stage herself in many productions with BrightLights Theatre School and BrightLights Plus, not letting conditions get in her way. She has recently graduated from Nottingham College with a Level 5 Foundation Degree in Acting.
This is the first time Ella has been involved in the creative team for a musical and she says, "It's wonderful to be able to see the world of musical theatre through a creative lens. I hope this show brings a sense of true belonging to our disabled community. I am so proud of what we have all achieved and cannot wait to see our show come to life on stage."
Samantha Cole
Co-Creator - Theo, Mollie
Samantha is a recently medically-retired doctor, who is passionate about using her own extensive experiences of illness and disability to help educate and encourage others. As an ambassador for a large global med tech company, she enjoys delivering keynote speeches, and participating in interviews and podcasts.
Pursuing medicine as a career from an early age, meant that creative pursuits had to take a back seat and it has been such a joyful and enriching opportunity for Samantha to be one of the close-knit team of co-creators on this vitally important creative project, telling disabled stories that need to be heard.
Tami
Co-Creator - Tilly
Tami is a co-creator on Secret Sides of Us. On being a co-creator, she has said:
"Before ‘Secret sides of Us’ I found my fun creating characters and letting their world unfold around them. Musicals were an entirely new venture for me, and soon a very loveable, collaborative one.
Before we knew it the story had recognisable voices behind it; loud and necessarily confident. You’ll soon see!"
LDray Jo
Co-Creator - Serena
LDray is a 34 year old Content Creator. She vlogs and creates lifestyle and fitness video as someone with an invisible disability. She got sick 12 years ago and had to start using a wheelchair and from that moment she saw the world differently and learned quickly that the world now also see her differently too, which is something she struggled to accept.
On the show, she says "Being a Co-Creator on Secret Sides of Us has truly meant the world to me and helped me understand myself more. This project has been a much needed creation that will hopefully open people eyes into some of the struggles we have as a disabled community in a brilliantly creative Musical which is fun, eye opening & heartfelt."
Jessica Healey
Co-Creator - Tilly
Jessica loves musical theatre, both watching and taking part! She has been attending Nottingham Playhouse since being young when she joined the Youth Theatre.
She is currently studying Level 2 Diploma in Performing & Production Arts at college.
We would also like to recognise the contributions of A Songbook for Us participants who are no longer part of the group.