Michelle Payne
MICHELLE PAYNE
DIRECTOR & WRITER
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - DEAR EVAN HANSEN (UK TOUR + ASIA)
COMMUNITY OUTREACH & PARTICIPATION
AiTOPIA
Young Vic Taking Part: Neighbourhood Theatre Company presents 'The Collective'.
An 8-month co-creation initiative to empower community artists (age 25+) to create a full production from scratch.
We chose 50 local adults to form 'The Collective' and divided them into working groups based on interests & skillsets. These working groups each held a piece of our process whilst being led & up-skilled by industry professionals to actualise The Collective's ideas & concepts.
The process was divided into four terms;
Term 1 Spring 2024 (1 evening a week) - ideas generation & exploring what the participants cared about.
Term 2: Summer 2024 (1 day a week) - writing scripts & initial design.
Term 3 Autumn 2024 (1.5 days a week) - model box presentation, acting workshops & dramaturgy.
Term 4 Jan/Feb 2025 (3 weeks intensive) - rehearsal, tech, 1wk production run.
Every participant actively contributed to each stage in this process and I was lucky enough to facilitate their journey, ensuring they could each see a part of their contribution somewhere in the final show.
Creative Team
DIRECTOR Michelle Payne
MOVEMENT CONSULTANT Christopher Tendai
SET & COSTUME DESIGN CONSULTANT Natalie Pryce
SOUND DESIGN & COMPOSITION CONSULTANT Matt Greaves
IN-HOUSE ADDITIONAL SOUND DESIGN SUPPORT Neil McKeown
IN-HOUSE LIGHTING DESIGN CONSULTANT George Heaton
CO-DRAMATURG Emma Dennis-Edwards
CO-DRAMATURG & EXEC PRODUCER Shereen Jasmin Phillips
LEAD PRODUCER Alisha Artry
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Michelle Cullimore
ASSISTANT PRODUCER Enyonam Ansah
TRAINEE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Nim Gill
COMPANY STAGE MANAGER Abi Morris
DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER Valentina Cutri
PHOTOGRAPHY Aaron Imuere
AiTopia ran for 1-week at the Young Vic in January 2025.
.jpg)
OUR VOICES - 'THE STORYTELLERS'
Inspired by the culture and community of North Kensington, the award- winning Caravan Theatre is back with 15 minute micro plays, putting our much loved community at the heart of our theatre making to celebrate & amplify the young voices in our area and beyond.
Supported by the Grenfell Health And Emotional Wellbeing For Children And Young People Fund and Arts Council England, we are working with some of the best artists in UK theatre and TV.
Michelle worked with participants at Henry Dickens Community Centre and was commissioned to write an audio play to be directed by Abi Falase.
THE STORYTELLERS written by Michelle Payne
Join Stevie and Hayley on their fun filled storytelling adventures. There’s detectives, there’s swimming, there’s mac & cheese and (of course!) a sprinkle of community magic.
Creative Team
DIRECTOR Abi Falase
SOUND DESIGNER Nicola T Chang
PROJECT CURATOR Yasmeen Arden
CREATIVE PRODUCER Lucille Findlay
Cast
Mohamed Bangura and Effie Ansah
Featuring Remmy, Vee, Luana, Lorenzo, Loveday, Lola and Skyla (Young Creatives of North Kensington)
YOUR STORY
Your Story was a 12-week new writing project funded by Havering Changing for and about the people of Rainham, Essex. Six writers were mentored and supported in writing a monologue for telling their own stories. The monologues were published as part of a magazine that was distributed to local business and also recorded by local actors from the London borough of Havering and released via YouTube.
Creative Team
LEAD CREATIVE, DIRECTOR-DRAMATURG Michelle Payne
WRITERS Alex Raynham, Aman Dhami, Gemma Salter, Holly Sheen Richa Dhami, Sarah Clements.
PHOTOGRAPHY Zac Cooke
Cast
Ashley Runeckles, Charlotte Payne, Sean Hinds Jnr, Sharan Atwal & Tianna Sealy-Jewiss.
GEMMA SALTER
"It's been an absolute pleasure being involved in this over the last couple of months. My first venture into writing! Thank you Chelle Payne for all your help and inspiration!"
AMAN DHAMI
“I learned so many skills and techniques from Michelle throughout this course. It was lovely using writing as a release from lockdown and to meet new people in Rainham! Everyone's stories really came together by the end and what I loved is that they were all so different! It’s going to be amazing seeing the final results and for everyone to see the beauty of this small village. The end was really emotional, saying goodbye to everyone, but we’ve decided to arrange meet-ups for coffee, so I’m hoping it's not really the end!”
SARAH CLEMENTS
"Thank you for so much for inspiring us to write Chelle Payne. You have been a great inspiration and mentor and who knows where the future will take us. Thank you so much".
RICHA DHAMI
HOLLY SHEEN
"Thank you Michelle you have been a great mentor and inspiration! Looking forward to seeing what happens next!"
"Chelle Payne you have created the most amazing course! Thanks so much for making the last 12 weeks so lovely!"