Chol Theatre is based at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in the centre of Huddersfield. The organisation has a small core staff team operating year-round from its office base.

Chol is managed by a Board of Trustees that delegate the day-to-day running of the company to Susan Burns and Andrew Loretto, the Company Directors. The Directors share the decision-making and work closely together to conceive, develop and deliver the programme of work.

Other company members are Company Administrator, Roohi Sarwar and Projects Administrator, Rebecca Legg. Chol also employs numerous freelance artists on a project-specific basis.

Susan Burns – Director-Participation

Susan has worked in various capacities for Chol Theatre since 1999 and is currently the company’s Director of Participation. She is also a Creative Agent for the Creative Partnerships programme in West Yorkshire. Susan is particularly interested in new writing and enjoys all aspects of creative producing. She is studying for an MA Writing at Sheffield Hallam University. Susan was formerly a director for the Arvon Foundation’s creative writing centre at Lumb Bank.

Andrew Loretto – Director-Performance

Andrew has been Director of Chol Theatre since June 2006. Formerly Artistic Director of Theatre in the Mill, Bradford 1999-2003 and of the National Student Drama Festival 2003-2006. Originally from Belfast and now living in Huddersfield, Andrew was also a lead facilitating artist for Arts Council England’s Young People’s Participatory Theatre project. Andrew is a director, writer and producer and his main interests in theatre include new writing, physical and visual work and international exchange.

Rebecca Legg – Projects Administrator

Rebecca began working for Chol in 2008. Originally from Canada, Rebecca moved to England to complete her Masters in Drama and Theatre Education from the University of Warwick in 2006. She also received a degree from Queens University, Canada in drama and sociology. She has worked as a teacher, actor and writer in both Canada and England. Her theatre interests include: international and intercultural work, street theatre and theatre with young people.

Roohi Sarwar – Administrator

Roohi Sarwar has been Administrator for Chol Theatre since 2003. She is responsible for overseeing all financial and administrative aspects of running the company. Roohi’s performing arts interests include ballet, contemporary arthouse movies and modern drama. She has recently completed a BA Honours course in Business Information Technology from the University of Huddersfield.

Board of Trustees:

Dave Calvert-Chair (Senior Lecturer, University of Huddersfield drama department)

Dave's background is in participatory theatre, especially with learning disabled adults. He moved to Yorkshire in 1998 to join Mind the Gap as Associate Director, later becoming Director of Theatre Education. In 2001 he also joined The Pierrotters, performing as Smiley Smacko in the longest running street band and last remaining professional pierrot troupe. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Huddersfield. Previously he has sat on the Boards of Start in Bury, an arts and mental health charity, and Promenade Promotions. He joined the Chol Board in 2007, becoming Chair in 2008.

Elaine Price-Vice Chair

Elaine’s background is in the music industry, in roles including band management, rehearsal space ownership, performance, promotion and event management.

Elaine spent 16 years working for the Musicians’ Union, representing musicians at all levels and in all spheres of the profession, advising on a wide range of subjects from legal and careers advice to workplace problems and employment issues. As a trained negotiator and advocate, she has worked alongside some of the regions largest employers of musicians and regularly represented members in County Court and Employment Tribunals. She has specialist knowledge in Employment Law applicable to the arts, copyright, and contract law.

Elaine has been a member of the Brit Awards Voting Academy, was a long-standing board member of Generator (the north-east’s popular music development agency) and acted as an advisor to Leeds College of Music’s Research and Enterprise Sub-Committee.

Elaine now lives and works in Huddersfield . She has wide ranging interests in the performing arts and joined the Chol Board in January 2009.

Jenny Wilson-Development Director, Network-UK

Jenny Wilson has been Network’s Development Director since May 2007, and Programme Director for Audience Data UK since October 2007. Network is the UK umbrella organisation supporting the audience development agencies.
Prior to her Network role, she was Arts & Festivals Development Manager at Bradford Council, where she was responsible for the development and implementation of a District-wide strategic arts plan.

Jenny is also a performer/director, having established herself in her earlier career with Mind the... Gap and her own experimental performance company. She joined Chol’s board in 2007 and she is Vice Chair

Liz Heywood – Board

Liz was until recently Programme Leader for the Department of Performing Arts at Huddersfield New College. In this role she was responsible for involving students in a range of collaborations: with the Contemporary Music Festival, (including delivering training for teachers working with artists in residence), Opera North, The London Sinfonietta, various artists in residence, Full Body and the Voice, Frantic Assembly... At New College, directing credits lnclude Lope da Vega, Sharman MacDonald, Lorca, Ionesco, Cole Porter, Ariel Dorfman, Peter Whelan, Caryl Churchill, Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop, among many others. She has directed and performed in collaboration with the University of Huddersfield and at the University of Durham, and has taught directing and script-based units at Huddersfield University and at Bretton Hall College. Since 2004 Liz has also been co-director of the Kosovo Youth Education Project, running summer and autumn arts projects for youngsters and teenagers in towns in Kosovo.

Andrew Rawlinson – Board

Andrew is manager of the large scale, city centre venue, the Palace Theatre in Manchester. Prior to this, Andrew was the Executive Director and Chief Executive of Blackfriars Arts Centre, Boston; an Arts/County Council funded arts centre, theatre and cinema. Before this, Andrew was General Manager of Horse + Bamboo Theatre Company, a national and international touring theatre company, where his key role was to manage the national and international touring programme.

Away from work, Andrew enjoys spending time with his wife, Emily, his three year old daughter, Emma and their two Springer Spaniels, Brandy and Bramble. He is currently studying to complete his MA in Cultural Management, with Northumbria University.

Madeleine Irwin (Creative Programmer, Creative Partnerships, West Yorkshire)

Madeleine grew up and went to school in Huddersfield. After completing a degree in Film, TV, Literature and Theatre Studies at Leeds university and an MA in Theatre Directing at Goldsmiths College, London she went on in the roles of Community Director for Interplay Theatre in Leeds. In September 2004 was appointed as Creative Programmer at Creative Partnerships in Bradford. As Acting Director for Creative Partnerships Bradford Madeleine recently led the transition between de-merging from the Arts Council and establishing a new delivery organisation for a West Yorkshire wide creative learning programme.
In the past Madeline has worked in a voluntary capacity as an audio describer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, describing productions to visually impaired audiences. She is also a Trustee of the Manav Kalyan Trust supporting Mamta Mandir Special school in Gujarat, India.