This Is Who We Are

Asif Shakoor

Writer: The Mystery Of The Missing Medals

Asif Shakoor is an independent researcher. He grew up in Manor Park and studied at the University of East London. His grandfather, Mahomed Gama, enlisted in the Mercantile Marine during the Great War and arrived at the Royal Victoria Dock in 1917 Asif wrote about his search for his grandfather’s war medal in Britain at War (January 2018). He has presented research at national conferences and local events. He has worked on a project to digitise Cooks Certificates for Indian seamen at the National Maritime Museum. Asif has preserved the history of the local area through setting up an independent collection of images and set up the South Asian Contribution to Great Britain project.

James Baldwin

Writer: He Comes To The River To Breathe

James is a writer, and an enabler and facilitator of writing. As a writer he has collaborated in prisons, women’s refuges and with vulnerable young people – often making radio plays and podcasts. This work has contributed to two Young People Now Awards and several Koestler awards including Gold at the Southbank in 2019.

He has worked with the National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Old Vic, in the West End, The Marlowe and regionally. He is the recipient of the Lilian Baylis Award for Theatrical Excellence, the Ideastap Innovator's Award and was the runner up in the Barbican Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award 2019. He recently joined the pool of writers on BBC daytime drama 'Doctors', is a trustee of Arts at The Old Fire Station - Oxford, and an Associate Artist at the egg, Theatre Royal Bath.

Tshelane Reid

Writer: Evolution

Tshelane Reid is a young writer, creative and corporate research professional.

Born and raised in Newham to parents of Afro-Caribbean heritage, she spent her entire childhood in and around the Royal Docks Area.

With a background in fashion, having studied the subject in university, she used her time in education as an opportunity to explore creative writing through magazine publication.

In her work she particularly enjoys investigating themes surrounding intersectional feminism, the struggles of marginalised communities and injustice in modern Britain. She frequently explores the social and environmental impact of corporate decisions on society.

Tshelane is currently working on a podcast hosted alongside other black women that focuses on the unique challenges faced by queer black people.

Abi Zakarian

Writer: What The Thames Told Me

Abi Zakarian is an award-winning British-Armenian playwright based in London. Her plays include: PERFECT MYTH ALLEGORY produced by Jermyn Street Theatre for their ‘15 Heroines’ series, TATHA WAKES UP FROM A VERY LONG SLEEP produced by Pitlochry Festival Theatre for their Shades of Tay season, CLAPPED produced by Damsel Productions for their site specific Damsel Outdoors season, I AM KARYAN OPHIDIAN produced by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for the Sam Wanamaker Theatre; ENOUGH, produced by Small Truth Theatre for the Kensington Karavan Festival and also recently adapted for audio as part of the Digital Caravan trio of plays which won an OffWestEnd OnComm award; FABRIC, produced by Damsel Productions for SOHO THEATRE and a London Community tour; I HAVE A MOUTH AND I WILL SCREAM produced by Joyous Gard for VAULT Festival where it won the festival's 2018 People's Choice Award; THE BEST PIES IN LONDON, produced by Rift Theatre for their immersive Shakespeare in Shoreditch festival; THIS IS NOT AN EXIT, produced by the RSC for The Other Place and transferred to the Royal Court. Abi was awarded an MGCFutures bursary in 2018 and is also the recipient of a Peggy Ramsay Foundation grant.

Anne James

Writer: Walking The Manor

Born and raised in the Royal Docks, Anne grew up believing that it wasn’t possible for working class kids like her to make a career in the arts. As a young woman, she found a welcome at Theatre Venture, based in the Tom Allen Centre in Stratford where she put her heart into the community theatre they produced. Without formal training or connections in the arts she instead chose a career in the public sector, in social housing. At 52, Anne enrolled in university for the first time and went on to receive a First-Class Honours Degree in Creative Writing.

Now, she is particularly interested in writing stories about women. The activities of the docks she grew up in are usually entirely illustrated by pictures of men operating cranes and unloading boats. Anne is most interested in telling the overlooked stories of the army of women behind them, keeping their homes, bearing their children, and often working outside the home too. The mothers, aunts, sisters and wives who kept the world running so the men could be part of history.

Rebecca Atkinson-Lord

Director

Rebecca is an award winning film and theatre maker who directs, writes, devises and produces theatre and performance.

Directing includes: Theatre. For Arch 468, Mediocre White Male, Dead and Breathing (Touring), MilkMilkLemonade, Learning How to Swim (Ovalhouse), Cuddles (UK tour and 59E59 Theaters New York), Seeking Oblivion, The Sluts of Sutton Drive (Finborough Theatre). Other directing includes: The Crunch (Look Left Look Right), Work/Play, Fosterling, (Ovalhouse), Top Brass, Anhedonia (Theatre 503), Seeking Oblivion (BAC), Mother Clap’s Molly House and The Flies (Crescent Theatre, Birmingham). Film. Domesticity.

From 2010 - 2015 Rebecca was Director of Theatre at Ovalhouse. She is Founding Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Arch 468 and Chair of the Board of Dante or Die.

Sarah Booth

Designer

Sarah studied Drama at the University of Exeter and trained on the Motley Theatre Design Course. She is the co-founder of 'THE ATTIC' costume collective. She’s a regular collaborator with Wonderful Beast, Tete a Tete and Icon Theatre. Previous design credits include: The Mrs Mcmoon show, The Egg, Bath; A tale of Two Cities, Darlington Civic Theatre;Caught, Pleasance Theatre; Grass, Unicorn Theatre and national tour; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Park theatre; A World Elsewhere, Theatre 503; The Fosterling, Ovalhouse; The Poet's Manifesto, Theatre Royal Stratford East;L'Enfant et les Sortileges, & Wind in the Willows for Iris Theatre, St Pauls, Covent Garden. She also designs for live events and photo shoots with previous clients including Zoella, Playstation, Ray Ban, Assassins Creed Syndicate and the Wellcome Trust.

Dom Kennedy

Sound Artist

Dominic Kennedy is a sound designer and music producer for live performance and audio experiences; he has a keen interest in developing new work and implementing sound and music at an early stage in a creative process. Dominic is a graduate from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He has developed specialist skills in collaborative and devised theatre making, music composition, recording techniques and installation practices. He often approaches his work in an experimental and improvisational manner; implementing elements of found sound, field recordings, music composition and synthesis.

Recent design credits include: GOD’S DICE (Soho Theatre), A HISTORY OF WATER IN THE MIDDLE EAST (The Royal Court), LIT (Nottingham playhouse), ROUNDABOUT SEASON 2019 (Paines Plough), YOU STUPID DARKNESS (Paines Plough/Theatre Royal Plymouth), POP MUSIC (Paines Plough/Birmingham REP/Latitude); SKATE HARD TURN LEFT (Battersea Arts Centre); ROUNDABOUT SEASON 2018 (Paines Plough/Theatr Clwyd); ANGRY ALAN (Soho); THE ASSASSINATION OF KATIE HOPKINS (Theatr Clwyd); WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK (Paines Plough/BBC Radio 1Xtra); RAMONA TELLS JIM (Bush); AND THE REST OF ME FLOATS (Outbox); I AM A TREE (Jamie Wood); BOX CLEVER (nabokov).

Shuyi An

Graphic Designer

Shuyi An was born in China, where she graduated with a distinction in BA Visual Communication. In 2020, she graduated from the University of the Arts, London with a distinction from the MA Illustration course. She spent six months in Florence studying Art History and Fashion Design at Polimoda and Academy of Fine Arts of Florence.

Shuyi relishes life with curiosity and passion. She is fascinated by drawing living creatures. She enjoys unpolished qualities and narrative paintings which depict the emotional description and relationships between the characters. She loves boutique and vintage style illustrations that have inspired her predilection for low saturation color and childish drawing. She is now embarking on a career as an Illustrator and Graphic Designer in the film & theatre industry.