ATC and LAMDA Appoint Associate Director, Ameera Conrad

Today, acclaimed UK touring theatre company Actors Touring Company and drama school LAMDA announce that they have appointed Ameera Conrad as their joint Associate Director as part of the Weston Creative Bursaries 2020 -22 programme, an initiative which aims to promote socio-economic diversity in the arts. This comes hot on the heels of this week's announcement of ATC's first major production in eighteen months - Rice written by Michelle Lee and directed by the company's artistic director Matthew Xia, will be co-produced by and staged at The Orange Tree Theatre this autumn as part of the theatre's re-opening season.

In her new role, Ameera (she/they) will be working with Matthew Xia and LAMDA Director Sarah Frankcom in the development and realisation of new projects. The two organisations will support and showcase Ameera's artistic practice and offer key professional development to a theatre-maker at a crucial stage of their career. The appointment begins on April 19 and runs for 12 months.

Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries is a programme to empower more people from low socio-economic backgrounds into cultural careers, especially in providing a pathway to leadership roles.. Across the UK there are 50 exciting opportunities to develop a career in the arts, with each post playing an important part in the host organisation.

Ameera Conrad is a theatre-maker from Cape Town, South Africa. She is an Associate Artist for the National Youth Theatre, and is one of the visiting lecturers for Mountview's MA Theatre for Community and Education. Her theatre credits include In These Four Walls, Totally Over You, Kate Spencer Did A Good Thing (all ArtsEd, London), Pipeline (Assistant Director - Arcola, London) The Royale, Towers (both Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London), The Fall (Co-Curator - Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, Royal Court, St. Ann's Warehouse, South African State Theatre, Galway International Arts Festival, Melbourne Arts Centre, Festival Arts Bordeaux, Studio Theatre), and Reparation (South African National Arts Festival).

She is an alumnus of the 2017 Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab, and a recipient of the Theatre Arts Admin Collective's Emerging Theatre Director Bursary. She has won a Fleur du Cap Encore Award, Scotsman Fringe First Award, The Stage Edinburgh Award for The Fall. She has also won the Filipa Bragança award for best emerging solo performer at the Edinburgh Fringe (2019) and the Western Cape Department of Sports and Culture award for her contributions to theatre in South Africa (2018).

Ameera Conrad's work focuses on decolonising the canon of theatre, and amplifying the stories of groups marginalised because of their ace, gender, and sexuality.

ATC Artistic Director, Matthew Xia says, "I'm hugely excited to welcome Ameera into the fold at ATC. Firstly, because the partnership of ATC, LAMDA and the WJCB programme will offer such wide-ranging support and artistic development. Secondly, because Ameera is a brilliantly radical and conscientious theatre-maker and cultural activist whose values and principles both align with and will challenge ATC's ethos and work. "

LAMDA Director, Sarah Frankcom says, "In looking for the right candidate for this opportunity, we sought a person with confidence, courage, and a breadth of experience in all areas of theatre making and performance. We are delighted to have found those exact qualities in Ameera Conrad, who will bring a creative activist voice to the work of LAMDA, and thereby inspire our students to launch forth with that same force and integrity."

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