Kirstie graduated in English, Drama, Film and Television from St John’s College in York and went to London to set up a production company to bring new Irish, Scottish and Welsh plays to the capital. She also became various Directors’ assistant and directed at Drama Schools. For 2 years she was part of the team, which set up LAMDA in Kenya, and during this time she also worked with teenagers in New Jersey, USA. On return to the UK she freelanced as a director on touring productions around Europe and as Literary Director at the Playhouse Theatre in Charing Cross. Her first encounter with Forest Forge was as Youth Theatre Director at Salisbury Playhouse where she directed 10 productions and helped produce the new writing programme in the Salberg Studio. She left the Playhouse to go to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and from there she became Associate Director at the Watford Palace Theatre for 6 years where she became Acting Artistic Director with Joyce Branagh. From Watford she went to the Cheltenham Everyman where she was responsible for programming the Studio and overseeing the Creative Learning and new writing programme as well as the professional mentoring strand of work. She has been with Forest Forge Theatre Company as CEO and Artistic Director since January 2009. Contact Kirstie at artisticdirector@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:48:16Z 1 Kirstie Davis 2009-08-17T09:48:16Z After five years working in the marketing department of a large company in London Karen moved to the New Forest where she and her family have been settled for over 35 years. She then worked in the Vice-Chancellor's Department at the University of Southampton and helped out in The Photographic Gallery on the campus. She then moved to Southern Arts in Winchester - the then regional office of the Arts Council – as Assistant to the Theatre Officer before leaving to have her son and daughter. She spent an idyllic 5 years as a full-time mother, running a pre-school playgroup, and growing vegetables, before returning to work as part-time Administrator at Forest Forge. She is now Administrative Director and has been with the company nearly twenty years. In her spare time she is learning to speak Turkish, and to teach English as a Foreign Language. Contact Karen at karen@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:48:41Z 2 Karen Jeffries 2009-08-22T11:42:51Z David's interest in theatre began when taking a gap year before university. He got involved with a community theatre company in York and soon found himself writing, stage managing and performing in a big community project about the great York Races. As his imagination was caught, the gap year stretched into two and he worked on Mystery Plays, pop videos and music theatre productions at the ICA. Thinking his future lay in Stage Management, David studied at Rose Bruford College on the Technical Theatre Arts course but soon realised he preferred Design. He specialised in Design and then went on to do the postgraduate Motley Theatre Design Course under the tutelage of Margaret (Percy) Harris. Leaving London after a year of profit shares with little profit and a lot of assistant designing and scene painting jobs, David took the first full time job he could find and moved to Salisbury Playhouse as Scenic Artist and Resident Designer. He spent three great years at Salisbury, where he worked with many Designers and also met his future wife, Jane, who was the Stage Manager there. After a brief stint at Colchester Mercury David returned to the South West and worked as freelance Designer at Forest Forge in 1994, becoming a full time member of staff in 1997. Over the years David's role at Forest Forge has transformed. Although he still designs some shows for the company, his emphasis has shifted towards writing and directing. Recent directing credits include _Molly Sweeney_, _The Gamekeeper_, _To the Marrow_, _A Clearing_ and various Christmas Shows. He also works with students and has been responsible for the Arts and Health programme at Salisbury Hospice where he runs weekly workshops with patients, carers and staff. David lives in Salisbury with his wife and their son, Frankie. Contact David at david@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:48:56Z 3 David Haworth 2009-08-20T11:35:54Z Lucy finished her degree in Performing Arts and English at Cheltenham and arrived at the company as a trainee 12 years ago, working her way up to the dizzy heights of Creative Learning Director managing the Outreach Team of core staff and freelancers. On her way she has created, planned and delivered countless projects and workshops with a huge variety of participants. A huge part of her work is the Youth Theatre, which has tripled in capacity since she arrived. Working with and developing the Youth Theatre to perform in our base and site-specific street theatre pieces and shows has ensured the Youth Theatre stays a vibrant and vital part of the Company. Past Youth Theatre Shows include - _Marat/Sade_, _The Three Musketeers_, _Metamorphoses_, _Faust_, and _The Caucasian Chalk Circle_. She has also directed two professional shows for the Company, _The Mouse and the King of the Elephants_, which toured to Key Stage 1 and 2, and _Maybe Baby_, which toured to Care homes. Contact Lucy at lucy@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:49:11Z 4 Lucy Bailey 2009-08-20T11:36:38Z Dom came to us from the Royal Theatre in Northampton where he trained to be a touring community SM. He has worked at Forest Forge since 2003, full time since 2005, encompassing 26 main touring productions. In his time here he has designed the lights for all our touring shows, prepared the sound, had his own percussion corner, played the guitar, appeared on stage, met his future wife, had a baby, and directed Youth Theatre shows. Not to mention savouring the wonderful cakes and hospitality of the surrounding shires and beyond. Contact Dom at dom@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:49:27Z 5 Dom Phillips 2009-09-02T13:18:09Z Lisa studied Drama, Theatre and Television at King Alfred’s College, Winchester and then went onto to a postgraduate diploma in Theatre for Development at King Alfred’s/Southampton University. Lisa has over 15 years experience working in drama and community arts, both in the UK and Zimbabwe, and is passionate about the role that drama can play in people’s personal, social and political development. Lisa joined Forest Forge Theatre Company 4 years ago, and during that time has developed projects, shows and DVDs with a diverse range of community groups. She is a founding member of Theatre in a Bag, Southampton Story Club and Southampton Storytelling Festival, and would describe herself as a facilitator, street performer and storyteller. Contact Lisa at lisa@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:49:42Z 6 Lisa Halpin 2009-08-19T15:47:17Z Fiona has lived just the other side of the Hampshire border, in Dorset, all her life. Originally she worked for a well known Building Society, for a period spanning over 9 years. She was then fortunate enough to take a well-earned break raising her two children Sam & Sophie (well, not so much a break as a different direction!) for four years. Fiona joined Forest Forge in September 2000 on a part time basis after deciding it was time to return to the world of employment again. She looks after some of the administration for the company, which includes a wide range of activities from paying the wages to designing programmes for the shows. She is also the main contact for Friends. This is her first job experience within the Arts and she hasn't looked back since! Contact Fiona at fiona@forestforge.co.uk 2009-08-17T09:49:55Z 7 Fiona Wrixon 2009-08-24T10:31:37Z