Livia Rodrigues
creations advisor
I first met Livia when I was the head of performing arts and her drama teacher at school. Liv threw herself into my lessons with a zeal that I have come to appreciate over time as one of my most favourite characteristics of her fiery personality. In truth, I look at those old photos of us both with a feeling that is quite difficult to name. I am acutely aware that neither of us is the same person we were in those photos. We have journeyed a long way away from that makeshift stage in that bright blue hall. We have moved through the trials, triumphs and tribulations of life, working relentlessly to discover the way to become the women we are now. And I just love that the defining driving force of that journey has involved being empowered through theatre, allowing it to teach us how to claim and sometimes (re)claim its inherent power and potential for ourselves.
Liv is our Collab Creations Advisor because I see in her the makings of a damn fine director and producer. Her request for mentorship opportunities with me was already something I knew we needed to embark on together, me equipping Liv with the skills, knowledge and awareness to evolve her artistry into a space where she will make the most difference in our industry. She is the one with the raw talent, and I am simply the one to help her figure out how she wants to refine that talent over time.
Aimee Khalifa
classroom advisor
I first met Aimee when she walked over to my props station as I sat sprawled across the Sunmarke stage and asked whether I might hot glue a buckle back onto her shoe. As we sat awkwardly close to one another waiting for the glue to set, her hand holding up the shoe and mine holding down the buckle, she wondered out aloud whether the buckle would even stay on long enough for her to act and sing her way through to at least the end of Full Disclosure! For a woman so damn talented, I was loving this ridiculous encounter - there was no trace of ego in her entire being, and there still isn't, despite me knowing now that she is much more talented than I ever realised back then.
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Aimee is our Collab Classroom Advisor because she and I have such similar feelings around the essence of quality arts education. We are both insanely devoted to our craft, never feeling as if we know enough and always reaching for more. We are both in a position to learn from each other, acknowledging that our collaborations have so much to teach us about directing and producing for Aimee and musicality and musical theatre for me. We both love the idea of crafting unique pop-up environments which consciously empower creatives to elevate themselves through their art.
Ivana Vajman Jackson
collective advisor
I first met Ivana during the rehearsal process for a ten-minute play which we both performed for Short+Sweet. We vibed on stage. We vibed off stage. We just vibed, y'know? In Ivana I found not only a friend but a kindred spirit. Discovering later in our friendship that she had a degree in scenography and had drifted into amateur theatre to immerse herself in that world again, I just knew we were destined to stay closely aligned from now on. Ivana was cast in the role of Athena in the original Antigone Retold and we have shared in some truly iconic moments together as a result - a stage performance for the royal family of Dubai and a month-long international tour, to name just a few!
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Ivana is our Collab Collective Advisor because one of my favourite characteristics of this patron of heroes is, in fact, her ability to hero our patrons. Ivana has the uncanny ability to connect the dots between people to form powerful constellations of stars which are empowered to shine in their own right, but understand that they could shine even brighter by working in collaboration. I am most excited to mentor her on the managerial framework of our local and international collaborative partnerships.
Nicola Willoughby
safeguarding advocate
I first met Nickie when I supported her and about twenty other performers to capture the unified look of the Addams' ancestors on stage (the fifty shades of grey, as I fondly called it) whilst ensuring that they were also uniquely identifiable as individuals within the group. The design requirements for this show were astronomical: set, costumes, props, cast and crew headshots, playbill proofreading, even art installations! The opportunity for some behind-the-scenes shenanigans on my side of the stage was a welcome reprieve during the show... and that's where I met the real Nickie.
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Nickie is our Safeguarding Advocate, responsible for ensuring that we remain accountable for our attitudes and actions not only at an advisory board level, but also when our cast and crew engages with one another and our audiences. It is obvious to me that there are aspects of my industry that give rise to opportunities to circumvent an ethos in favour of "getting ahead" but that is never going to be acceptable for a creative community like the one I have been building since 2021. Nickie's role as an advocate involves the creation of safe spaces which also means she will encourage and support us all to choose the path that is right over the path that is easy.
Ancy Alexander
inclusion advocate
The best way I can think to represent Ancy is to provide proof of how every-body can and will be advocated for through her artistry. The stills in this post were taken at our Advancing the Arts conference for creatives last year where Ancy led us in a movement workshop which supported individuals in education to better understand the movement journey of different bodies and our subsequent expectations thereof. It was fascinating to be an observer and I am excited to be able to participate in the next one!
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Ancy is our Inclusion Advocate which is a weighty role given how important inclusion is in our work already. Whilst we accept that we do more for inclusion than many other performing arts spaces in this region, we also know we are capable of doing so much more to widen our approach. Given that Ancy herself has a body which requires additional considerations around accessibility, having someone advocating for inclusion who lives this experience every day is truly unparalleled. She has as many success stories as she does horror stories of ways that inclusion is thought about and then applied with varying degrees of "that's such a clever idea!" to "what did you just say they said?!"
Kirsty Mitchell
marketing advocate
When she's not on stage delighting children with her mischief as Jingles in The Elf in the Gulf (December 2024), she is all in on anything she can do to support any project she is involved in.
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Kirsty is our Marketing Advocate, empowered by the ethical framework of our company which seeks out cyclical collaborative opportunities which consciously develop us and those we work with. Her chief responsibility will be managing our brand new creative internship program which aims to train young or up-and-coming videographers, photographers, sound engineers, composers and designers in what is required to work within a multidimensional performing arts organisation - bringing them back for paid opportunities and mentorship roles for others as they evolve their own practice and they complete their training which lists us as their official reference for further studies or bigger gigs. It's an exciting world when creatives from multiple industries start collaborating in earnest!
Sashin Kandhai
international advocate
Sashin is one of our International Advocates with a focus on funding. What most do not realise about my little black book of ideas is just how much of a slog it is to take an idea from inside that book and make it a reality in a climate where it was more cost-effective to do The Woza Habibi Tour to South Africa than it would have been to do a two-night run of the same show in a similar space in Dubai! This is why funding our organisation is so significant.
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“As artists, we have the responsibility to make engaging and thought provoking work and not simply entertain. It is up to us to use our craft to inspire society and cultivate safe artistic spaces for young creatives to thrive in. I was there when Collab Company took its first steps and all these years later, sitting on the company’s board of international advocates is nothing short of an honour. Lauren and I found each other over a decade ago and I have been her go-to choreographer ever since, no matter where we were in the world. When a company is run by someone who is so true to their word and their art, it is a privilege to help build its future.” Eloquent as ever!
Mlondiwethu Dubazane
international advocate
I first met Mlondi in my early 20s. I had just started teaching at a little private school in Pinetown and, given how little had happened in the high school for years when I arrived, I immediately started working on reviving their dormant drama department. A Sisyphean task but by the time I left for Dubai our little department had succeeded in creating a thriving academic and extracurricular program for the performing arts. Mlondi was the very first recipient of the Honours scroll for culture in over a decade. I am proud even now as I type that out, prouder still that he has morphed into a creative colleague, a professional peer... and a dear, dear friend. I'm so excited to share a stage space with you again in our future!
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Mlondi is one of our International Advocates with a focus on funding. Work on The Woza Habibi Tour gave us reason to delve into funds, grants and calls which were available to a woman-owned, cross-continental performing arts organisation. Having endured the most embarrassing displays of mismanagement and disorganization in one of only two funds on offer for expat-led theatre projects in the UAE, we were determined to find more opportunities. And that's why we now have an entire advocacy team with a focus on funding within our advisory board. Let's hope we can uncover some exciting opportunities for those of us living and breathing theatre in the UAE, South Africa, UK and Ireland - all spaces where our international advocates work!
Vishal Kumar
international advocate
I first met Vish during an interview which I conducted for a musical theatre show a few years ago, and we hit it off immediately! Falling into step with one another about everything from politics to performance, it made perfect sense to include Vish in an upcoming project all about ancient Greek mythology and 21st century feminism. A dramaturg after my own heart, Vish and I share an innate nerdiness that even some of my nearest and dearest cannot fully comprehend. Something exhilarating happens inside my mind when I am in an intellectual and creative back-and-forth with Vish, and I cannot wait to be again soon!
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Vish is one of our International Advocates with a focus on funding. The need for us to cast a wider net over opportunities for training in grant-writing and applications for funding cannot be overstated. This is the only group advocacy program in the Collab Company advisory board with three official members, one unofficial for now, and a few more I am aiming to recruit. Organisations like ours require funding and we are determined to discover how best to access this historically exclusionary space so that we can do more for our creative community and audiences.
