Elle While (she/her) - Artistic Director
Elle grew up in rural Herefordshire and recently moved back to Hereford. She is an Associate Artist of Shakespeare's Globe. Directing includes: Driftwood, One Of Them Ones & Idyll (Pentabus); As You Like It- Int. kidscreen Nomination & Twelfth Night (cbeebies); Private Peaceful (Nottingham Playhouse & UK Tour); The Silence and The Noise- Winner Best Film & Best Actor Broadstairs Int. Film Festival & Destiny (Pentabus/ Rural Media); Blue Stockings (Storyhouse); A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It and Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe); 2017/2018 Revival director UK and International tour of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and West End (Gielgud); Dance Nation, Blindsided and RAGE- UK Premiere (RWCMD); Wretch (Shoreditch Church and London homeless shelters); Glory Dazed (Soho Theatre, Adelaide Festival and Underbelly, Edinburgh-Winner of Holden St. Theatre award and Critics Choice award); Country Music (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Frisky and Manish: Just Too Much (Udderbelly, London and Edinburgh); and recording director for The Old Vic’s production of Cause Celebre on Radio 4.
Verity Overs Morrell (she/her) - Executive Director
Verity is an accomplished arts leader with rural roots in Cornwall and currently based in Shropshire. With over a decade of dedicated service to Pentabus, she has held various roles, initially as a Producer and Fundraiser, showcasing her versatile skills. In November 2022, she assumed the role of Executive Director and Joint CEO, marking a significant milestone in her career. Bringing more than 20 years of experience in budget management, fundraising, and production, she has established herself as a seasoned professional in the field. Her career includes the successful management and production of over sixty shows at the Edinburgh Festival for Off The Kerb Productions. Productions for Pentabus include Milked by Simon Longman, The Lone Pine Club by Alice Birch, Wolves Are Coming For You by Joel Horwood, and Here I Belong by Matt Hartley. Her impressive track record also includes the production of A Dangerous Woman by Manjeet Mann, which earned recognition in the prestigious Soho Rising Season and secured a place in the top 50 plays in the 2016 Verity Bargate Award.
Amber Jones (she/her) - Producer
Amber is a Producer with a background in theatre and cross artform, site responsive projects. She has worked extensively across the UK with artists and organisations, including Storyhouse, National Theatre Wales, Meadow Arts, Oriel Davies Gallery, FACT, Liverpool Biennial and Aberystwyth Arts Centre. As well as being commissioned by Luton Borough Council and Cheshire East Council to produce large scale community participation projects. Productions for Pentabus include, Here I Belong, The Tale of Little Bevan and One Side Lies the Sea, Idyll, Jacaranda, Little Bits of Ruined Beauty, One Of Them Ones, Driftwood.
Amber has spent the last 20 years living on the Wales / England border.
Joanna Freeman (she/her) - Head of Engagement
Jo has worked in community engagement and arts education for over 15 years and is now based in Shropshire with her family. In a career spanning the arts, cultural and education sectors, Jo has programmed and managed a wide range of creative opportunities for young people, schools and communities nationwide. This includes work delivered for, or in partnership with, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Manchester Camerata, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Ovalhouse Theatre, Southbank Centre, Tate Modern, Severn Arts and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
Nicola Simcock (she/her) - Administrator
Nicola has a background in marketing and communications. She began her career in higher education marketing, working for two large universities, before moving into government communications where she worked on a wide range of publications and information campaigns for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Nicola is a Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and has an MA in English Literature. She is an experienced book editor and has worked both with writers and independent publishers. Nicola has been an enthusiastic theatre-goer all her life and is actively involved in the arts in her local community. She lives in South Shropshire.
Mike Price - Volunteer
Mike has lived in South Shropshire since 2012, moving here from London, on his retirement. He worked for many years for Southwark Council, supporting people with learning disabilities and then monitoring social care.
Mike saw his first Pentabus show (‘For Once’) in 2013, and began volunteering later that year, leading small groups on a walk in the Stiperstones while listening to ‘In This Place’, an audio play about women and landscape. He then worked on a project creating a Pentabus archive, both digital and on paper (the latter is housed in Shropshire Archives, Shrewsbury). He has continued to give one day a week to Pentabus, doing a variety of administrative jobs.