Skip to main content Skip to footer site map

Open Door Unveils Elevate Participants For 2022/23

Open Door was launched by actor David Mumeni in 2017 to help provide budding actors and behind-the-scenes creatives from low income households.

Open Door Unveils Elevate Participants For 2022/23

Open Door have unveiled the graduating actors selected to be part of Open Door Elevate, a brand-new initiative now in it's third year, designed to help emerging talent from lower-income backgrounds as they enter the professional industry.

Open Door was launched by actor David Mumeni in 2017 to help provide budding actors and behind-the-scenes creatives from low income households with the opportunity to enter the industry. The organisation counts Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Riz Ahmed and David Morrissey among its supporters and in December, was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the British Independent Film Awards. Its participants are already making waves in the industry, with graduate Jerome Lance securing the leading role in forthcoming prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds, Dionne Brown who landed the leading role in upcoming Apple TV+ series Criminal Record alongside Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi, as well as multiple participants landing roles at The National Theatre, Regents Park Open Air Theatre and at The Old Vic.

As factors such as the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing barriers to the industry continue to disproportionately impact on those from lower-income backgrounds, Open Door once again supports emerging talent preparing to graduate from Drama School who had not previously been involved with the organisation.

The actors selected for the 2022/2023 Elevate Group are: Ava Hinds-Jones (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts), Eva Morgan (Central School of Speech & Drama), Holly Rhys (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama), Kara Lynch (Rose Bruford College), Osamudiamwen Audu (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) and Prince Owusu (Guildhall School of Music and Drama).

Open Door Elevate launched last year, with each Drama School in the Federation of Drama Schools invited to nominate two candidates who met the criteria of being a final year student on their respective B.A. Acting Course and who come from a household with a combined income of £30,000 per year or under.


Forty individuals were put forward by Drama Schools and the selected seven actors were chosen by a leading industry panel made up of Open Door founder David Mumeni, Shaheen Baig (Casting Director), Amy Ball (Head of Casting at the Royal Court), Will Hollinshead (Talent Agent at Independent Talent) and Kat Oliver (Talent Agent at Conway Van Gelder Grant).

Open Door said: "We're delighted to launch this programme again this year. This group of actors are really exciting. The Elevate programme has proven to be a great support to those that have been on it before with participants going on to securing leading representation and work. Such as Ntombizodwa Ndlovu starring in The Mountaintop at The Manchester Royal Exchange and Kitty Watson featuring in multi BAFTA nominated film Tár alongside Cate Blanchett."

The actors supported by Open Door Elevate will merge with those participating in the Open Door Graduating Group programme, which offers support to actors already part of Open Door as they prepare to transition from Drama School into the professional industry. The actors selected for Open Door Elevate will receive the same opportunities, enhancing the support they may receive at their drama school. Actors will participate in Q&As and workshops, with the recent programme including a workshop delivered by The Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Q&As with leading talent agencies including Independent Talent, United Agents, ARG, Emptage Hallet, Conway Van Gelder Grant, 42 Management and Curtis Brown.

For further information please visit opendoor.org.uk.



Review: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, VAULT Festival Photo
You are going to die. It’s a certainty, but it’s also the title of the latest play by This is Not Culturally Significant writer Adam Scott-Rowley. Performed entirely naked, You Are Going To Die is a show about everything and nothing. You can read as much or as little as you wish in it. What does it deal with? We’d love to know - we came out of it with more questions than answers. It feels like a social experiment or an impenetrable piece of performance art. It might just be simply throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.

Review: FREAK OUT!, VAULT Festival Photo
Coin Toss Collective are an exceptionally creative young company. Freak Out! highlights a problem that wouldn’t cross the mind of the average British person who lives in the inland. They deliver an amusing, chaotic farewell to East Anglia. Who would’ve thought that a show about coastal erosion would be so cool!

Review: VANILLA, VAULT Festival Photo
Laura Mead writes with prudish humour while Keith Swainston directs her, Ned Wakeley (Dan), and Scott Henderson in a production that’s almost as uninteresting as Katie and Dan’s sex life. Mead’s script is as traditional as the missionary position, but wishes to be as funny as an inappropriate joke at a funeral. She gives her character a silver tongue and wit for days, and she’s great at delivering too, but the plot is awkwardly stale in its predictability.

Review: BURNOUT, VAULT Festival Photo
This approach has the story losing focus and looks like a plain attempt at quirkiness. Ultimately, while they mention how difficult it is to have only one hour, the piece comes off as struggling to fill those 60 minutes. All in all, the spirit of Burnout is strong and the creatives behind it have all the right ideas. Perhaps a stronger grasp on a more developed plot might help this naive call to arms.


More Hot Stories For You


Photos: Go Inside THE OLIVIER AWARDS 2023 WITH MASTERCARD NOMINEES' CELEBRATIONPhotos: Go Inside THE OLIVIER AWARDS 2023 WITH MASTERCARD NOMINEES' CELEBRATION
March 19, 2023

On Friday 17 March, the Olivier Awards 2023 with Mastercard hosted their Nominees’ Celebration, in partnership with Cunard at The Londoner hotel, the world's first super boutique hotel in the heart of London's theatre district. Notable nominees such as Rose Ayling-Ellis, Beverley Knight, Rob Madge, Rafe Spall and Giles Terera were in attendance, among many of the other nominated theatre makers. Check out the photos here!

GRIMM to Play Grimsby's Docks Beer and The BargeGRIMM to Play Grimsby's Docks Beer and The Barge
March 19, 2023

Grimsby native, Evangeline Henderson, and Sugar Punch bring the world of immersive theatre to Grimsby with a story about its forgotten heritage, the families of fishermen and trawlers that made it.

Broadway's D. Sabella To Bring THE RAZZLE DAZZLE OF CHICAGO To The PheasantryBroadway's D. Sabella To Bring THE RAZZLE DAZZLE OF CHICAGO To The Pheasantry
March 18, 2023

Broadway's David Sabella will bring his solo show The Razzle Dazzle of Chicago to The Pheasantry April 21-22, 2023 7PM.

Photos: First Look at Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES at the Donmar WarehousePhotos: First Look at Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES at the Donmar Warehouse
March 17, 2023

All new production photos have been released from  the upcoming revival of Noël Coward’s Private Lives directed by Michael Longhurst, that runs at the Donmar Warehouse from 7 April until 27 May.

Ardent Theatre Announce The Full Cast Announced For STRIKE at Southwark PlayhouseArdent Theatre Announce The Full Cast Announced For STRIKE at Southwark Playhouse
March 17, 2023

Kirsty Patrick Ward directs Tracy Ryan's extraordinary account of the Dunnes Stores Anti-Apartheid Strike which took place in Dublin from 1984 to 1987.  This action would play a pivotal role in world history with Ireland becoming the first Western European state to ban South African imports and ultimately leading to the fall of the apartheid regime.