The Company

Helen Avouris - Artistic Director

Helen began directing at the age of eight, when she wrote, produced and starred in a number of school plays, with titles such as The Watercress Men.

Years later she was still at it, and decided to make a career out of bossing students around, so she enrolled at Manchester University’s Drama Department, and followed this with a post-graduate year at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has recently completed a further post-graduate Certificate in Directing Text with Young People at Central School of Speech and Drama.

Helen was pleased to assist directors Roger Haines & Laim Steel at The Library Theatre, Manchester, on their recent Christmas production of Tom's Midnight Garden.

Helen’s directing credits are many and various, featuring a number of classics, but with an even greater range of hard-hitting contemporary plays in the repertoire. Recent successes have included:

Female Transport (Gooch), Edinburgh Festival Fringe; An Experiment With An Airpump (Stephenson), CAMSFC Theatre; Black Milk (Sigarev), CAMSFC Theatre; Just (Smith), The Lowry; The Miracle (Coghlan), The Lowry & The National Theatre (Olivier Stage); Ladybird (Sigarev), The Lowry, Buxton Festival Fringe (Best Young Production 2007).

Sarah Allcard

Sarah has recently finished a sixth month course at the Oxford School of Drama, and since then has taken a temporary position at Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College as a drama tutor.

Before Oxford Sarah had been involved in many projects such as teaching in secondary schools, directing sixth formers, acting in many plays, and singing as much as possible.

Sarah is hoping to take up a place at a leading drama school in September.

Productions in recent years include:

Acting: ‘Black Milk’ (Sigarev), ‘Passion Play’ (Nicholls) ‘Five Kinds of Silence’ (Stephenson), ‘Just’ (Smith) & ‘Port’ (Stephens)

Directing: ‘Death and the Maiden’ (Dorfmann), ‘On the Shore of the Wide World’ (Stephens), ‘Some Girls’ (La Bute) & ‘How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found’ (Kennedy)

Sarah Coomer

Sarah is currently taking a gap year, before taking up her place at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, to read Drama & Performance Studies.

At school, Sarah took an active part in all of the annual musicals. She performed in a murder mystery for charity, and took part in the Shakespeare in Schools festival, which gave her the chance to perform at The Lowry in a 30 minute adaptation of ‘Macbeth’.

Sarah is very much looking forward to working with Northern Gap and is excited by the prospect of performing at a variety of festival venues.

Recent productions include: ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’, ‘The Fifth Angel’ and ‘A Fish Out of Water’.

Mark Fountain

Mark’s first role was at the age of ten, when he played the part of Michael in the pantomime ‘Peter Pan’ at the Bradford Alhambra. That experience took him by surprise, being on stage and seeing people enjoy what he was doing!

After finishing school Mark took up a place at the Oxford School of Drama, where he met a lot of people all in the same boat, which was strangely reassuring.

Mark has had roles in numerous TV, film and theatre productions. One of his best times was working on the set of ‘Sorted’, meeting some of the older cast members and getting to chat to them about the reality of life as an actor.

At the moment Mark is learning to play the piano and preparing for drama school.

He says, “I feel really fortunate to have found Northern Gap. It’s such a good idea and it really gives younger actors like me a great place to work on our skills.”

Mark is represented by Lime Management.

Chelsea Grace

Chelsea’s love of acting did not develop until late in high school, when she played Alison in John Osborne’s ‘Look Back in Anger’.

She trained as a Latin and Ballroom dancer for 13 years with The Dance Emporium, and has 7 British Championships to her credit.

Chelsea is currently studying BA Performing Arts at Salford University, where she has gained many skills such as presenting and devised theatre.

Recent Performances include ‘Teechers’ (John Godber) ‘The Human Voice’ ( Jean Cocteau) and ‘Peepshow’ (Isabel Wright).

Philippa Grainger

Philippa has been performing from an early age, starting out as an Irish dancer. She attended the AB Academy of Performing Arts, where she performed in works ranging from Panto to Pinter! She was also a member of the AB Singers, which took her on a tour to Australia in 2001.

Philippa graduated from York St John University in 2007 with a degree in Performance: Theatre. During her time as a student she was a member of The York Settlement Players, and also played God in the York Mystery Plays, a role which caused some controversy!

Other experience includes work with the Moscow Arts Theatre, directing sessions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Patrick Stewart and a comedy workshop with guest comedians, including Peter Kay.

Cara Hurst

Cara studied a HND in Performing Arts at Oldham College. Here she formed La Femme Theatre Company and put on 'Female Fancies Revisited'. Cara toured with The Masala Girls and most recently she performed at Duke 92 with 'Speed Dating'. She is very much looking forward to performing with Northern Gap.

TV and Film appearances include: 'Blackpool', 'Convictions', 'Girls Night Out' and 'By the Book'.

Cara currently teaches Drama at the Academy School of Performing Arts and is studying English Literature at the Open University.

She also enjoys belly dancing and creative writing.

Steve Johnson

Although having starred in a couple of musical productions at primary school and played the role of ‘Grandpa Joe’ in a production of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ at his secondary school, it wasn’t until the age of 18 that Steve took up acting as a pastime. He joined his local amateur dramatic society, The Carver Theatre in Marple, Stockport and 16 years on, Steve is still an active acting member, having performed in 18 plays and 7 pantomimes.

His recent roles were those of Felix Humble in Charlotte Jones’ ‘Humble Boy’ at the Carver Theatre, and Alistair Spenlow in Ray Cooney’s ‘Move Over Mrs Markham with the Partington Players in Glossop.

When not treading the boards, Steve also lends a hand backstage including set construction, lighting, sound and stage management.

Steve is looking forward to working with Northern Gap and the experience it will bring.

Anna Kay

Anna has had a genuine interest in drama from being very young, taking part in a theatre group in her early years, and later going on to study Drama at GCSE and AS Level. She also attended a speech & drama group for 2 years, during which time she attained grades 4 & 5 with LAMDA.

Northern Gap is a chance for her to work with the freshest actors, to develop her skills and to begin to achieve her ambitions.

Anna has taken part in several productions at Romiley Forum, as well as ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ and ‘What is War?’ at CAMSFC Theatre.

Meredith McGrath

Meredith began taking an interest in acting after appearing in a number of shows at primary and high school. Meredith went on to take Performing Arts and Drama at Sixth Form College, where she took part in many productions, including 'The Miracle' by Lin Coughlin. This production transferred to The Lowry, Salford Quays, followed by The National Theatre, London in July 2006.

Meredith has also performed in 'Port', 'Woyzeck', 'Time to Dance', 'Stags and Hens' and 'Teechers', where she provided much of the creative and directorial input.

Meredith is glad to be involved with Northern Gap and is looking forward to performing with her fellow company members.

James Mclennan

James has just completed his A Level studies, where he focused on Drama and Theatre Studies and Performing Arts. He managed to achieve full marks in most of his practical examinations.

James is planning a gap year, during which he intends to audition for a place at drama school.

Recent productions include:

‘Kes’ (Hines), ‘Burn’ (Gearing), ‘The Threepenny Opera’ (Brecht) and ‘How To Disappear Completely’ (Kennedy)

Rachel Moorhouse

Rachel began performing at the age of 9, when she appeared in her school’s production of Cinderella. It wasn’t until the final year of her A-levels, however, that she realised her passion lay behind the scenes.

After directing her own adaptation of ‘Nothing Compares to You’ she decided to scrap her original plans to study Media at university, instead re-applying to study Theatre the following year. During her gap year she worked as DSM on Helen’s production of ‘5 Kinds of Silence’. Rachel accepted a place at Reading University, where she spent a year and a half studying Film and Theatre.

During this time she worked as an actor and director on a number of scripts, including ‘Rutherford and Son,’ and co-directed numerous short films. She also did voice-over work for a short film produced by the Student Arts Board, as well as co-presenting her own radio show, ‘The Friday Show’. She was most proud of her department’s production of ‘The Machine Wreckers’, for which she assisted in stage managing and set design, as well as performing.

Unfortunately Rachel had to take a leave of absence from her studies due to illness. However, in the mean time she is delighted to be working with Helen once more and is very excited at the prospect of touring the festivals next summer.

Anthony Morris

Anthony’s first taste of acting experience came when a friend suggested he make up the numbers in an amateur production of ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ with Lostock Harlequin Youth Theatre. Since then he was absorbed by the world of acting and theatre and went on to work with Harlequin Youth Theatre in a self-written parody of “A Series of Unimportant Events”. He also became heavily involved within his school theatre, performing annually in various roles such as Mark Ingestre in the melodrama ‘Sweeney Todd’, Roger in ‘Lord of the Flies’, Tony in ‘Abigail’s Party’, and with an upcoming performance as Geof in ‘A Taste of Honey’.

Anthony is also a member of the Altrincham Garrick Theatre, performing as second lead male Arthur in the musical, ‘Billy’, last summer. He has also been a member of Helen Donahue’s School of Speech and Drama for three years, developing various aspects of musical theatre.

Anthony is currently studying at A-level, taking Theatre Studies and English with the potential of either studying these at university or gaining a placement with a leading drama school in London. He hopes Northern Gap will give him the raw materials he needs to make a career as an actor and highly looks forward to working with everyone involved in the company.

Robert Shaw

Robert became interested in the world of theatre after playing Humpty Dumpty at the age of eight. He then went on to work with the AB Academy, learning about the ups and downs of the career as a whole, and leaving at the age of 18 with a BTEC in Performing Arts and a genuine desire to pursue a career on the stage.

He hopes to study at a leading drama school from Autumn 2008.

Previous stage credits include:
‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (Benedick), ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Lysander), ‘Twelfth Night’ (Malvolio), ‘Comedy of Errors’ (Dromio of Ephesus), ‘Wizard of Oz’ (Scarecrow), ‘Honk!’ (Drake), ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’ (Pluto).

Melissa Ward

Melissa began acting in school productions such as ‘Joseph’ and ‘The Pied Piper’. Her interest in performing led her further afield to classes at The Carol Godby School of Acting and P.A.D.O.S. Further school productions included ’The Royal Hunt of the Sun’ (Pizarro), ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Lion) and ‘Taking Breath’ (Alana), a National Theatre play which was also performed at Theatre Clwyd (Mold).

Melissa has presented for a Granada Television programme, ‘Off the Block,’ and has also presented radio shows in Manchester. She was fortunate to train on a course at The Gaiety School of Acting (Dublin), where she studied Irish playwrights and performed in a showcase.

Currently Melissa is on a HNC (Performance) course at The Arden School of Theatre. She is an avid fan of character actresses such as Kathy Burke, who she recently had the pleasure of meeting.

She is very excited about her involvement with the production of ‘Cracked’ and being part of Northern Gap, which she feels is a golden opportunity.

Previous stage productions include: ‘Lavinia’s Dream’ (Contact Theatre), ‘Arabian Nights’ (The Royal Exchange Theatre), ‘The Strangeness of Others’ (Blue Box Theatre)

Matthew Wright

Matthew began acting at an early age when he joined his local youth theatre, which resulted in him developing a passion for performing. Matthew went on to study Drama at Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College, where he performed in a wide range of different roles.

During his time at Northern Gap he hopes to further his acting skills by working with other talented and passionate performers and gain more experience into the world of theatre. In the future Matthew aims to go on to train at a high quality drama school and become a full time actor.

Recent productions include: ‘Love Song’ and ‘Bouncers‘.

2006/2007 Company