our staff

Emma Jane Taylor - Principal and Director of Stageworks Ltd - Dance Coach

Emma Jane has trained in the Performing Arts since she was 3 years old and she opened StageWorks in 2000 at The Green Room in Henley. She has developed the school with her team of instructors to become one of the most recognised Performing Arts schools in the home counties. Emma Jane has been in the Performing Arts industry all her life and has been fortunate enough to perform in the West End, television and various other professional performances as a dancer - Wembley Arena for World Dance, fashion shows, cabaret in and around the UK.

Emma Jane has choreographed, directed and produced many shows - musicals, pantomimes, dinner dances, fashion shows, showcases, variety shows as well as choreographing the leading Thames Valley Chorus Barbershoppers to their silver trophy win in Harrogate, she has also been on BBC Radio 'Under the Spotlight' and has worked at The Mill in Sonning for the actors’ retirement charity. She is currently working with Capital Chorus in Ruislip.

Emma Jane enjoys her work at StageWorks very much 'The children give you so much satisfaction - they work so hard and we have SO much fun with them. I have watched them develop over the years and I am very proud of each and every one of my students. I am also very lucky to be able to work with such a dedicated, positive and happy team!

It is also rewarding when some of our students are chosen to be in professional shows, TV and Film. Not all the students desire to be on the Big Screen or Treading the Boards but those that do have ample opportunities with us.

If you would like further information on my private work please visit my website  www.emmajanetaylor.co.uk or call 07956 176166

Mark Williams - Vocal Coach and Principal (Bristol)

Mark has taught with StageWorks since its beginnings. Having graduated from Reading University in 1999 with a Masters Degree in Music, Mark has gone on to become a well respected Musical Director, whose credits include The Man of La Mancha, Crazy For You, Wind In The Willows, Calamity Jane, Cabaret, Little Shop Of Horrors and Oklahoma. As a performer Mark has also taken lead roles in Orpheus In The Underworld, The Magic Flute, A Slice Of Saturday Night, Cabaret, The Merry Widow, Trial By Jury and Holst's Savitri.
Mark's skill as a composer has also earned him several professional commissions including full orchestral scores for Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III and has also composed songs for countless pantomimes as well as an open air production of Wind In The Willows.
Mark studied singing with Kenneth Woollam, Professor of Voice at the Royal Academy of Music and piano with the world renowned Maria Garzon. Mark has worked extensively with The Archway Group, providing vocal and performance coaching. Mark has also taught for Bristol City Council. Recently Mark has founded and musically directs 'The East Bristol Chorus', 'The Tor Voices' and 'The Henley Show Chorus'. Having managed StageWorks Bristol since its beginnings in 2004, Mark took over as Principal in January 2008.  He has since opened a school in Somerset and is enjoying working with the students in the west of the country.

Lloyd White - Drama Coach

Lloyd has been acting and directing in one form or another for most of his life and brings a vast amount of experience to his teaching role with Stageworks. Lloyd has worked with several different companies both locally and further afield and has experience in many different aspects of theatre work both on stage and off. The course Lloyd teaches includes working in different acting styles and techniques as well as learning about the technical side of theatre work, auditions, diction, character building, working with scripts and direction. The aim is to build not only the skills of the students but their confidence in performing.

Chris Wilkins - Drama Coach & Cookham Manager

Chris has been performing from a young age and has taken on lead roles in a variety of shows including Blood Brothers, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Jesus Christ Superstar and Oliver. Chris trained professionally in Performing Arts and subsequently underwent teacher training and a play work qualification. Chris has worked for StageWorks since it started in 2000. As well as teaching at StageWorks, Chris continues to work with children and young people from all backgrounds as a Play Therapist and Social Worker. Chris strives to build students' self-esteem via the discipline of Performing Arts and believes that a positive experience within Drama can enhance other areas of children's lives. 

Sally-Anne Coleman - Drama Coach

A keen lover of the arts took the stage at the tender age of five.  Training in all areas of dance she was a student at the Caversham Dance Centre and has awards in tap, ballroom, latin american and disco.  Also awards in drama and theatre/performing arts. She had the opportunity to not only perform in many musicals and straight plays but also direct, choreograph, and stage manage many shows. To her list of credits-Performed at either the Kenton Theatre Henley or the Hexagon Theatre Reading. Dance/cameo parts in; The Wizard of OZ, Fame, Once Upon a Time, Singing in the Rain, Charlie Chaplain, The Wiz, Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, Little Shop of Horrors, Peter Pan, Alice in "Alice in Wonderland", Penny/Shirl in "Slice of Saturday Night", Lena in "Bugsy Malone", Miss Hannigan in "Annie". Directing/stage managing - Daisy Pulls it Off, Bugsy Malone, Vacuees, Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Previously working as assistant entertainment manager for Warner Leisure Breaks. Prior to this she performed with Fossets Circus in Dublin, toured the South of England performing as part of ‘Cameo’ Cabaret Troop.  Choreographed and appeared in many high street fashion shows.  Supplied the voice for ‘Story Time’, mobile phone advert, night club radio promotions and voice link in many production shows. A keen writer often writing scripts and children’s stories.  Would love to collaborate and write a hit show of her own one day and of course keep the lead role for herself!

Ioan Havard - Drama Coach

Ioan has been involved in theatre from a very early age.  He has a wealth of knowledge both on stage & off, being an experienced crew member on many shows; set designer & builder; Stage Manager; follow spot & lighting operator; pyrotechnics and properties, as well as being an accomplished and award winning actor.  He is involved in many local companies and has performed at various venues, including The Wycombe Swan, Norden Farm, The Kenton Theatre, The Hexagon, The Kings Head, Islington and the fantastic Minack Open Air Theatre, Cornwall. A variety of acting roles include Yvan in Art, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing, Sir Andrew Augecheek in Twelfth Night, Felix in Humble Boy, as well as appearances in Cabaret, Pippin, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Beauty & The Beast. Ioan is also a regular Police Constable on ITV’s Midsomer Murders, has appeared in a Pepsi commercial and as an extra in numerous films.  As an accomplished photographer, he is official photographer for the Henley Fringe Festival

Tom Yeates - Vocal coach

Tom graduated from the Guildford School of Acting with first class honours in July 2008. He has also trained at Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
He has appeared in numerous stage productions such as Sam, The Highest Jumper of Them All, The Finborough Theatre (for which he was also Musical Director), Oliver!, The Richmond Theatre, Anything Goes, The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, The Kitchen, The Mill Studio, A Night Out, The Electric Theatre, Hair, The Paul Macartney Auditorium and Suburbia, Fuente Ovejuna and Little Women all at The Bellairs Playhouse to name a few. His most recent work was alongside ‘King of the Jungle’ Joe Swash in Cinderella at The Central Theatre. Tom is both an actor and musician. He has been the lead singer and trombonist with the band ‘Flipsidejack’ for some years.
He has worked as a model, recently appearing in a worldwide Giorgio Armani commercial featuring Beyoncé. He also appeared in the ITV production of L’Enfance du Christ and The Richard and Judy Show. He has worked regularly as a voice over artist.

Kelly Lambert - Street Dance Coach, Vocal Coach

Kelly Joanne Lambert has a lot of experience in the performing arts having been on stage since the tender age of 10! After her training at a Local Theatre school she went on to train at The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Her training culminated with a BA (Hons) degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from the University of London.
Kelly has experience in a wide range of performance areas including theatre, radio, television, voice over work, cabaret, dinner theatre, and corporate theatre workshops. She has also dabbled in direction and is accomplished at choreography. Kelly's credits range from romantic leads in Shakespeare comedies to leads in musicals, from the Edinburgh Festival to school halls and libraries. She is also widely experienced at working with children and young people having spent several years teaching for a local theatre school, working with teenagers as a youth worker, working in secondary schools with young people on the edge of exclusion, and also being mother to her own two children! She is very happy indeed to be joining the Stage works team.

James Gwynne - Vocal Coach

James has been playing music from a very young age, first sitting down at the piano before he could walk!  An accomplished musician, playing piano, guitar, clarinet and saxophone, James is no stranger to performing.  After studying Performing Arts at DeMontfort University, James came to Henley and has established himself as a versatile and award-winning actor, with leads in such shows as Singin' In The Rain, Oklahoma!, Amadeus and Calamity Jane, to name but a few.  He has also had a couple of blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearances in Midsomer Murders.  James is delighted to be a part of the Stageworks team, and glad he can share his wealth of musical knowledge with the students

Louise Welsh - Dance Coach

Louise has been teaching dance to children and adults for 7 years since leaving Bath University in 2001 where she also trained to be a physical education coach and aerobics instructor. She currently teaches many different styles of dance including jazz, tap, street dance & cheerleading and joined the Stageworks team in September 2007. As well as teaching the pupils at Stageworks in Bristol, she also works in schools, dance schools and in the community with people of all ages. Her love for dancing and teaching dance to others has taken her to perform at Bristol Hippodrome, The NEC in Birmingham and on television on several occasions. She not only wants to teach people how to dance but how to enjoy dancing, use it as a fun form of exercise and show them how to express themselves through movement to music.

Olivia Shanahan - Junior Teaching Assistant

Olivia has been a student with StageWorks since she was 8 years old, she has moved into a Junior Teaching Assistant since she was 16 years and has developed her skills working with the tutors at StageWorks. She is currently at college working towards a Business, Drama and English qualification. Olivia has performed in Summer Holiday, Oklahoma, Calamity Jane. Her professional credits include working with the BBC for a pilot show for children and as an extra in the St Trinians movie. She recently took the role of the Dame, Sarah the Cook in the Christmas 07 production of Dick Wittington. She has gone on to become one of our longer serving students and after her travels around South America we look forward to her safe return!

Molly Abbott - Junior Teaching Assistant

Molly has been at StageWorks since she was 6 years old and she joined not long after the school opened. Molly has been in many productions with StageWorks including The Wiz and Dick Whittington. She has performed at the Henley Youth Festval Gala night every year since she moved up to the Saturday group, and has also performed as part of a choir at the Henley Festival when she was 11. Molly is taking Music as a GCSE for which she has been chosen to sing for her performance pieces, and she is taking A level dance next year as she goes on to college. Molly became a Junior Teaching Assistant with StageWorks when she was 15.

Lauren Jones - Junior Teaching Assistant

Lauren has been performing at the Kenton Theatre in Henley since she was 4 years old and she joined StageWorks when it opened in 2000, she was 6 years old. She is currently in her last year at school studying her GCSE'S,  one of which is dance and she is then going on to study Drama A level. Lauren has been in many of the StageWorks shows and has enjoyed being part of the annual Christmas Shows at The Kenton Theatre, Henley. Lauren moved onto being a Junior Teaching Assistant when she was 15 years old. She has also been part of the Henley Youth Festivals,School Performances and has been involved in many auditions for shows and competitions. Most recently she played Glinda, the Good Witch in The Wiz which was the start of StageWorks 10 Year Anniversary. Lauren hopes to persue her passion for the performing arts and hopes her time with StageWorks will continue to assist her in her career.

Lois Bowles - Junior Teaching Assistant

Joely Clinkard - Junior Teaching Assistant

Jane Taylor - Accounts & Administration

Jane has worked at StageWorks since the very beginning. She does the administration and accounts for Henley. Jane is a keen performer and has performed over the years in various shows:- Cabaret, Hello Dolly, Half a Sixpence, Oklahoma to name but a few. She recently sang with the Henley Show Chorus.

If you would like to call Jane for any Henley enquiries please call 01628 898038 or email jane_taylor@talktalk.net.

Ann Burley - Administrator

Ann joined the StageWorks team in 2006 and does the administration for Cookham.  She has been dancing since she was 7 and has appeared in a number of shows in recent years including Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma, Oliver, Singin in the Rain, La Cage Aux Folles, Crazy for You, Hello Dolly and all of the Step On shows.