Meet the Team
Paul Hernes Barnes
Joint-CEO
Paul is a site-specific theatre-maker. He makes theatre and installation work for non-typical that seeks to empower remote communities. In 2020 Paul graduated with Distinction in MA Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, for which he received a scholarship from the Mackintosh Foundation.
He is also a co-founding member of the ANTS Theatre, an international experimental theatre company based in London. Their on-going home-delivered theatre-meets-escape room show ‘We Still Fax’ has received critical acclaim in No Proscenium, Reviewshub, The Upcoming, and Format Festival.
Andy Owen Cook
Joint-CEO
Andy is a writer, theatre-maker and socially-engaged artist.
Over the last six years he has worked creatively with young people, adults with learning disabilities and people experiencing homelessness. He was an Associate Artist at Grimm & Co and has worked with The Manchester Art Gallery, National Coal Mining Museum, Heritage Doncaster, Off the Shelf, The Writing Squad, Crisis Skylight and elsewhere.
He has a Distinction in Masters in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and co-founded the critically-acclaimed Forest Sounds Theatre, which recently received Four Stars in the Guardian.
Lauren Phillips
Creative Access Producer
Lauren is a community arts practitioner. She works with and for a variety of communities in deprived areas. Currently her focus is leading community theatre groups for Face Front Inclusive Theatre- a disabled theatre charity in Enfield. She also produces Face Front’s digital TiE programmes, exploring domestic violence and transitions, which run across the entirety of London. In 2020 Lauren graduated from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with a First degree in BA: Drama, Applied Theatre and Education.
Diana Vallverdu
Software Developer
Diana is a mathematician and theatre-maker from Barcelona, Spain. Formerly, she studied at Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC), works as a programmer, and latterly is an MFA 2021 Advanced Theatre Practice graduate from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. With ANTS Theatre (www.antstheatre.com), she has combined her two passions; applying logic to theatre making. Additionally, she led the tech development for ANTS Theatre’s critically acclaimed show ‘We Still Fax’ (a home-delivered escape room, making use of microelectronics), which received critical acclaim in No Proscenium, Reviewshub, The Upcoming, and Format Festival.