Matthew Eames

Chair

Matthew has a distinguished background in theatre and arts leadership, Matthew currently serves as Head of Theatres (Contemporary and Commissioning) at Lowry in Salford. His journey in musical theatre began at the Royal Academy of Music, where he trained before embarking on a successful career as a performer in West End and touring productions. Transitioning to directing, he served as a resident and associate director before shifting his focus to arts management in 2012. 

Over the past decade at Lowry, Matthew has played a pivotal role in commissioning and programming innovative new musicals, including Police Cops the Musical, The Good Enough Mums Club, The Children’s Inquiry, and 42 Balloons. He has also spearheaded the commissioning of new family co-productions such as Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book, The Koala Who Could, and A Squash and a Squeeze. 

In 2017, Matthew launched the REWRITES platform at Lowry, an initiative dedicated to supporting emerging musical theatre creators. REWRITES has since evolved into a nationwide partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome, MAST Mayflower Studios, and Norwich Theatre, championing talents like Spitlip (Operation Mincemeat), The Letter Room, Silent Uproar, Sheep Soup, Finn Anderson, and Lewis Cornay. 

Matthew’s leadership credentials extend beyond musical theatre; he was part of the inaugural cohort of Clore Leadership’s Leading Systemic Change programme and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM). 

Steven Greenhalgh

Board Member

Concord Theatricals: VP, Acquisitions and Artistic Development (Europe)

Steven came to Samuel French in April 2017 and subsequently Concord in 2019. In addition to acquiring publishing and licensing rights to exceptional plays and musicals, Steven focuses on catalogue revitalisation, the development of new works and the promotion of all Concord’s works and services. Steven is a keen champion of new british musical theatre.  Prior to working in theatrical publishing and licensing, Steven worked at various agencies for eleven years and served as an Olivier panellist in 2013.

Rebecca Gwyther

Board Member

Rebecca Gwyther is a theatre producer, who runs RJG Productions Limited, and chartered accountant at Buzzacott LLP. She was recently Associate Producer on Amélie the Musical (Criterion Theatre, West End) having also produced award-winning A Hundred Words for Snow by Tatty Hennessy (Trafalgar Studios, UK Tour & VAULT Festival) and the original production of ANNA X by Joseph Charlton. Rebecca is currently developing a number of new productions and is supported by the StageOne Bursary Scheme.

Stephen Pidcock

Board Member

Stephen is an Associate for Theatre at Clintons.

Advises clients from the subsidised and commercial sectors on all areas of theatre and live performance, including commercial, licensing, intellectual property and rights issues. Has also advised on corporate transactions in the entertainment, fashion, leisure and retail fields.

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Stephen was a theatre publicist working in-house at the Royal Court Theatre and then for The Corner Shop PR in the West End and across the UK. As a publicist, his clients included many of the leading West End theatre production companies.

An award-winning translator of new Italian plays.

Trustee of the Bush Theatre, and of Rabble theatre company in Reading.

Qualified as a Solicitor in 2018.

Sarah Reilly

Board Member

A life-long lover of musical theatre, Sarah is Executive Director and Creative Producer for the Tabard Theatre in West London and its in-house production company Take Note Theatre. She won Standing Ovation Awards for her productions of The Mikado and The Snow Queen in 2025, and the Tabard Theatre won London Pub Theatre of the Year in the same year.

As a writer, Sarah’s adaptations of The Secret Garden, Five Children and It, The Snow Queen and The Railway Children have delighted family audiences for Christmas at the Tabard Theatre over the past four years.

Alongside this, Sarah is a fundraising consultant and freelance bid writer, working with arts organisations and charities to advise on fundraising strategy and secure income. Her fundraising career spans two decades and organisations including Orange Tree Theatre, National Portrait Gallery, Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Khayaal Theatre and many other charities.

Sumerah Srivastav

Board Member

Sumerah is a British MT book writer, playwright and TV writer. Most notably, she has written on the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated series LUPIN as well upcoming episodes for MANIFEST and COLOSSEUM. Other TV credits include GOOD KARMA HOSPITAL, MESSIAH, CASUALTY and EASTENDERS.

In theatre, Sumerah came up through the Royal Court and Criterion Theatre playwright programs. Her recent theatre credits include James Graham’s SKETCHING (PW Productions), #846LIVE (Stratford East), and JIGSAW (Migration Museum). Sumerah is an alumnus of Stratford East’s Musical Theatre Initiative and has two musicals in active development.

Prior to her writing career, Sumerah launched and ran a radio station in London, with music targeting Asian youth audiences (Club Asia) for which she won a Women in Public Life award and an Asian Woman of Achievement award.

@sumerahas

www.sumerah.com

Tim Sutton

Board Member

Tim is an award-winning composer and musical director. He has worked extensively with the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre of Scotland, Young Vic, Almeida Theatre and Sonia Friedman Productions.

Music for theatre includes Measure for Measure (The Globe), The Good Life (Bath Theatre Royal), The Omission of the Family Coleman (Ustinov, Bath), As You Like It and Titus Andronicus (RSC), The Amen Corner and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (NT), The Secret Garden (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Dreamfighter (Lichfield Festival), The Bacchae (NToS), As You Like It (Wyndham’s) and As You Desire Me (Playhouse). Original music for radio includes Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar Series 1, 2 & 3, The Absence of Normal, The Now Show and Paul Sinha’s General Knowledge (BBC Radio 4); Arrangements for radio include John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme and Just a Minute (BBC Radio 4), Whistle Through the Shamrocks (Hat Trick) and Hall of Mirrors (BBC Radio 3).

His community opera Cycle Song won the Royal Philharmonic Society Learning & Participation Award 2012. He is twice recipient of the Stiles and Drewe Best Song Award, and won the Vivian Ellis Prize for Best Musical for Beauty and the Beast.

Danielle Tarento

Board Member

Danielle is a freelance producer and casting director. She won Best Producer at the Off West End Awards 2012, was nominated Producer of the Year at the Stage Awards 2015 and was listed as one of the top ten producers of Musical Theatre in 2016 in The Stage.

She is co-founder of the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Danielle has worked extensively in theatre across London, the UK and internationally. Her productions include a new production of Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM! for China, the multi award-winning Titanic the Musical, which played its 10th Anniversary UK and international tour in 2023, The Bodyguard, West Side Story, Chicago, Evita and Grease for the Ljubljana Festival, Slovenia, plus tens of productions at the acclaimed Southwark Playhouse including Benjamin Scheuer’s The Lion (also in the US, South Korea and Japan), the UK première of Dave Malloy’s Preludes, The Woods by David Mamet, the UK première of Grey Gardens, Tony Kushner’s adaptation of Brecht’s Mother Courage And Her Children, Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s Allegro, Grand Hotel, the UK première of Dogfight, Gods And Monsters, Anya Reiss’s adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Mack & Mabel, Victor/Victoria, Parade and Company.

As well as producing, Danielle teaches at several prestigious drama schools. She is proud to be Vice-Chair of the National Youth Musical Theatre and a trustee of Mercury Music Developments.

www.tarento.net

Anthony Drewe

Vice President

Anthony has worked with composer George Stiles for more than 30 years. Their multi-award-winning work has been performed around the world in dozens of languages. Together, their writing credits include Honk! (National Theatre, UK Tour and Worldwide), Mary Poppins (West End, Broadway, International and currently on UK Tour), Cameron Mackintosh’s new version of Half A Sixpence (Chichester Festival Theatre and West End), Travels With My Aunt (Minerva Theatre, Chichester), The Wind in the Willows (UK Tour), Betty Blue Eyes (West End and UK Tour), Just So (Tricycle Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and International)), Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Royal Festival Hall and International), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre and in concert at the Queen’s Theatre), The Three Little Pigs (West End, UK Tour and International Tour), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Singapore Repertory Theatre), and The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Singapore Repertory Theatre).

Future projects include a stage version of Robert Harling’s film Soapdish, and Becoming Nancy with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell.

Independently as a lyricist, Anthony’s credits include The Card (Watermill Theatre, Regents Park Theatre) and A Twist of Fate (Singapore Repertory Theatre).

Other projects include: song contributions for Dame Edna Everage’s Look at Me When I’m Talking to You, The Shakespeare Revue (RSC) as well as a variety of material for TV and radio.

As a director Anthony’s work includes Snoopy (Watermill Theatre), Honk! (South Africa, Chicago, Tokyo and Singapore), Just So (North Shore Music Theatre, Massachusetts and Chichester Festival Theatre), The Thing About Men (London’s King’s Head Theatre), You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (Tabard Theatre) and The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Singapore Repertory Theatre)

Awards include the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical for Honk!, three of the top prizes at the Musical of the Year Awards for Peter Pan ,The Straits Times Award for Best Musical (A Twist of Fate) and the first ever Vivian Ellis Prize (Just So). Mary Poppins has won 45 major theatre awards around the globe including Tony, Olivier, Helpmann and London Evening Standard Awards. Laurence Olivier nominations include Mary Poppins and Betty Blue Eyes.

Along with George, Anthony’s passion for new musical theatre writing is recognised via the annual Stiles and Drewe Prize for Best New Song, now in its 11th year and their Mentorship Award supported by Music Theatre International (Europe). They are founding board members of Mercury Musical Developments (MMD), Associate Artists at The Watermill Theatre and patrons of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra and the Music Theatre Academy (MTA).

www.stilesanddrewe.com
@stilesanddrewe

George Stiles

Vice President

George has worked with lyricist Anthony Drewe for more than 30 years. Their multi-award-winning work has been performed around the world in dozens of languages. Together, their writing credits include Honk! (National Theatre, UK Tour and Worldwide), Mary Poppins (West End, Broadway, International and UK Tour), Cameron Mackintosh’s new version of Half A Sixpence (Chichester Festival Theatre and West End), The Wind in the Willows (UK Tour and West End), Travels With My Aunt (Minerva Theatre, Chichester), Betty Blue Eyes (West End and UK Tour), Just So (Tricycle Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and International), Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Royal Festival Hall and International), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre and in concert at the Queen’s Theatre), The Three Little Pigs (West End, UK Tour and International Tour), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Singapore Repertory Theatre), and The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Singapore Repertory Theatre).

Future projects include a stage version of Robert Harling’s film Soapdish, and Becoming Nancy with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell.

Independently as a composer, George’s credits include the musicals Moll Flanders, The Three Musketeers, Tom Jones and the scores for Sam Mendes’ stage productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya (Donmar Warehouse, BAM NYC). His score for Troilus and Cressida (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) was nominated for a Jefferson Award

George has worked as Dame Edna Everage’s composer and Musical Director on Look at Me When I’m Talking to You. Other projects include song contributions for The Shakespeare Revue (RSC) as well as a variety of material for TV and radio.

Honk! has won many international awards including the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Mary Poppins has won 45 major theatre awards around the globe, including Tony, Olivier, Helpmann and London Evening Standard Awards. Stiles and Drewe were nominated for Best New Musical at the 2016 WhatsOnStage Awards for Half A Sixpence and Betty Blue Eyes was nominated for the 2012 Olivier Award. Other awards include the TMA Best Musical Award for Moll Flanders.

Along with Anthony, George’s passion for new musical theatre writing is recognised via the annual Stiles and Drewe Prize for Best New Song, now in its 11th year, and their Mentorship Award supported by Music Theatre International (Europe). They are founding board members of Mercury Musical Developments (MMD), Associate Artists at The Watermill Theatre and patrons of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra and the Music Theatre Academy (MTA).

www.stilesanddrewe.com
@stilesanddrewe

David Babani

Patron

Don Black

Patron

Judi Dench

Patron

Maria Friedman

Patron

Julia McKenzie

Patron

Paul Nicholas

Patron

Tim Rice

Patron

Jeremy Sams

Patron

Richard Stilgoe

Patron