Making Space Resident Artists

Bishop May Down (they/them) is a Glasgow-based emerging performance and visual artist, making work about their identity as queer and transmasculine. Inspired by the absurd and the surreal, their work tells real-world stories through new and engaging lenses. Bishop is a student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has presented multiple public works. This is their first time working with Scottish Youth Theatre and they are beyond excited to be working as a resident artist on the Making Space programme.
 

Gemma Legan is a 20-year-old musician, theatre-maker and performer from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. She studied Acting and Performance at New College Lanarkshire for 2 years and was a member of Scottish Youth Theatre's National Ensemble 2020.
 

Goose Masondo (he/him) is an Argentina-born, London-raised, Glasgow-based writer, performer, director, and current student of English Literature and Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow. His work is heavily influenced by video games and narrative design, using interactive online performance to explore topics such as migration, queer identities, and technology's impact on culture. Part of the Scottish Youth Theatre 2020 Stories cohort, he's excited to continue working with Scottish Youth Theatre and develop his exploration of hybrid performance forms.
 

Isla Cowan is a playwright and theatre-maker, specialising in ecofeminist performance. Her work for stage includes Daphne, or Hellfire (Pleasance, Assembly Roxy, 2019), Sno Wite and the Seven Dickenzians (Strange Town/Scottish Storytelling Centre, 2019), and The View From 2038 (LYT/Royal Lyceum, 2018). In 2020, Isla’s plays made the Shortlist for the Phil Fox Award and Top 100 for the Verity Bargate.
 

Keir Aitken is a Glasgow based director/performer who believes that theatre should celebrate its own theatricality, place audiences at its centre and provide a space for connection and debate. Through experimental forms, he invites his audiences to become co-authors of a performance, offering them influence over the performance’s shared experience.
 

Kirsty Florence is a performer, writer and storytelling enthusiast from the North East. She likes to make work rooted to her as its creator, using language to bring stories to life and share the diversity of Scottish people. Key components of this process are authenticity, exploration and imagination. 
 

Padraic Riddle is an Edinburgh-based performer and theatre-maker and one of the current Artists in Residence at Performing Arts Studio Scotland. He recently graduated with a BA (Hons) in Dance and Drama at Edinburgh College and is keen to continue developing his practice as a performer.
 

Sean Patrick McNamara is an actor, writer and creative. His work aims to make theatre more accessible for people – particularly younger people – from deprived areas and lower-income families.

Image: F&M Media.
 

Sophie Michelle is a Glasgow-based creative focused on making stimulating, collaborative productions. Since her training at New College Lanarkshire, Sophie co-founded the emerging theatre company SKELF Theatre Co. and is currently studying Arts and Humanities. Her solo work explores empowerment through the retelling of Scottish folklore.
 

Jennifer Galt (she/her), co-founder of False Start Productions, is a recent Theatre Studies graduate from University of Glasgow and is now working towards becoming a creative producer and innovative theatre-maker. Jennifer is thrilled to work with Scottish Youth Theatre to create an immersive piece of theatre in these ever-changing times. 
 

Glasgow-born Marnie Russell is a writer, actor, drama tutor and co-founder of False Start Productions. She graduated in 2020 with a degree in English Literature and Theatre Studies and has performed with the Citizens Theatre Young Company, Boston College, Hopscotch Films and Live Witness Theatre. Marnie is represented by Theatre Studio Agency.
 

Bethany Tennick is a creative based in Scotland. She graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA in Musical Theatre in 2018 and, since then, has performed in the West End, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and on a national tour, as well as in film and television. She is also a composer: her debut single, Bleed, being released in October 2020. Bethany won Best Score for her work with Kick the Door at the 48HR Film Festival. She also composed the score for their new musical – Thread. 
 

Fraser Scott is a film and theatre director and writer based in Paisley. He graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2020 with a BA in Filmmaking. Whilst studying, he founded Kick the Door with collaborator Iona Ramsay. Fraser has directed multiple award-winning short films and is currently working on Thread, an original musical with Kick the Door. Fraser is passionate about storytelling for an audience and strives to make bold and challenging new Scottish work.
 

Iona Ramsay is a Scottish writer and theatre-maker based in Paisley. She graduated from the University of St Andrews in 2019 where she studied English and since then has formed her own theatre and film production company alongside collaborators Fraser Scott and Bethany Tennick. As part of Kick the Door, Iona has worked with the team to produce several award-winning short films and is currently writing the book for their original musical Thread.
 

Abbey Adams is a multidisciplinary theatre-maker, engagement practitioner and performer based in Dundee. Graduating with a BA (Hons) in Choreography and Dance from Falmouth University, Abbey uses a blend of art forms to empower, challenge and resonate with audiences and participants. Abbey's passion is working with non-performers and telling the stories of underrepresented voices. 
 

Bo Hogan mainly focusses on writing plays centred around characters who are part of underrepresented groups, such as disabled people and people in the LGBTQ+ community. They aim to create characters and stories that are well-rounded and represent identities accurately through including people’s lived experiences.
 

Emily Briggs is a dancer from Shetland in her final year at Performing Arts Studio Scotland, Edinburgh. Her choreographic interests have grown whilst studying, especially within interdisciplinary contexts outside of dance’s more habitual haunts. As an asker of too many questions, Emily is delighted to channel her curiosity into this project. 
 

Kate Ireland is an artist, writer and facilitator from Glasgow. One of her main interests is in community arts practice, which began while doing a residency delivering drama workshops to inmates in HMP Risley in Manchester, whilst studying a degree in Drama. Kate aims to cross disciplines between visual art, text and performance to create work that is process-based and exploratory, intent on fostering dialogues between people and embracing the messiness and plurality of issues often obscured by debate. Collaboration and conversation are at the core of her work and she's thrilled to be part of the New Collaborator strand of the Making Space programme.
 

Liam Alexander Brown is a Glasgow-based bassist and composer. He loves writing music in various styles, especially the more avant-garde side of jazz and rock, but he's also a huge fan of writing for orchestra and more unusual ensembles. When not performing or teaching, Liam composes scores for film, TV and video games.
 

Lucy Wilson is an actor, writer, poet and theatre-maker based in central Scotland. She is currently part of the first cohort of Old Vic Theatre Makers.
 

Niamh McCarron is a theatre-maker and creative facilitator based in Glasgow. Recently graduated with a First Class Honours degree from Queen Margaret University, Niamh’s work often explores visual and physical theatre with a particular focus on ecology and nature. Niamh is focussed on making work in community settings and specialises in young audiences and creating inclusive spaces.