Firehouse Creative Productions develops international performance work inspired by distinct communities, inviting voices from diverse cultural and historical backgrounds to share a creative space in our performance making process. We often incorporate true stories into the creative process. This approach is based on our belief that each individual’s story can give us insight into universal truths, offering unique and vibrant avenues into creating contemporary theatrical events.
Rachel Parish, Artistic Director
Rachel has been working professionally in live performance for over ten years, creating new performance for the stage and public installation through collaborative processes. She works regularly as a freelance theatre director, community organizer, academic author, conference contributor, and artist in residence. Recent theatre productions include Superjohn (UK tour), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Royal and Derngate), Arabian Nights (CityLit), Much Ado About Nothing (The Scoop), Elevator (New Diorama Theatre), Stella (Douglass Theatre, Southwark Playhouse), The Alchemist (Hoxton Hall), I Confess (international tour), and StoryStation (international exhibits). My work has been seen throughout the UK in London, Edinburgh, Norwich, Brighton, Exeter and Devon as well as in Ireland, Beijing, the USA and Gabon with support from organisations including Arts Council England, UNESCO, and the AHRC. Rachel trained at the National Theatre Studio and Central School of Speech and Drama. Recent academic posts include lecturing, workshops and performances at University of Georgia, Macon State University, and Georgia College and State University and at the Crossroads Writers Conference at Mercer University.
She has co-authored three interdisciplinary academic book chapters, (in press, forthcoming 2013). Make a Move, appears in Dancing at the Crossroads (American Bar Association publication), a book on the potential of movement and choreography on the practice of conflict resolution whilst Design Thinking in Negotiation and The Education of Nonstudents appear in volume four of Rethinking Negotiation Teaching (Hamline University Press). Each chapter is interdisciplinary, and draws directly from my professional arts practice to articulate performance practices and methodologies that can be of use to people in non-arts-based spheres of practice.
Producer: Tim Johanson
Theatre includes Port Authority (Southwark Playhouse), Floyd Collins (Southwark Playhouse), Lady of Substance/The Death of Norman Tortilla (Tristan Bates Theatre), Mirror Teeth (Finborough Theatre), The Tempest (ADC Theatre and USA East Coast Tour), Twelfth Night (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Cambridge Footlights), Into the Woods, and Hero (ADC Theatre, Cambridge, and C Venues, Edinburgh Festival). For the second year Tim is assisting Julian Bird on
the production of the Olivier Awards. He is Director of Tim Johanson Productions Ltd.
Cristina Catalina, Creative Associate
Cristina is Creative Associate at Firehouse and an Associate Artist of Tangled Feet. She performes in television (BBC, ITV, Ch4, Ch5), radio (BBC4), feature films (Frankenstein’s Army, Almost Adult, Eastern Promises, Treacle Junior) and theatre, with companies involved with new writing, devised and physical theatre, as well as classical, contemporary and young people’s theatre (Arcola, The Barbican, Dreamthinkspeak, Dukes Lancaster, Globe Theatre, EEA, Lyric Hammersmith, Nabokov, RSC, Sadler’s Wells, Soho Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, StoneCrabs, Theatre-Rites, Tinderbox, The Tobacco Factory, Transport Theatre and The West Yorkshire Playhouse). For Firehouse, Cristina produced Elevator and The Romanian Season (New Diorama Theatre, Critics’ Choice & ****, Time Out) as part of a long-term aim to connect Romanian and British creative communities. Of German-Romanian descent, she regularly collaborates with the Romanian Cultural Institute (on productions at Edinburgh Fringe, The Barbican, Theatre Royal Stratford East and part of LIFT) and translates plays, most notably for The Royal Court International Residency.
Elizabeth Boag, Creative Associate
After training at Mountview Academy, Elizabeth was later selected to perform in the inaugural Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour Plays working with Writer, Mike Bartlett and Director, James Grieve.
Recent career highlights include:
TV: Stephen Poliakoff’s, Joe's Palace, BBC 1; Stuart: A Life Backwards, Neal Street Productions, BBC 2.
Theatre: Stella for Firehouse Creative Productions, US and UK; I Confess for Tangled Feet/ Firehouse; Present: Tense for Nabokov, Trafalgar Studios; The Apathists, Theatre 503; Shortcuts, The Arcola; 20th Century Which Art In Heaven, Soho Theatre; Las Meninas, The National Gallery; Kiddy-Fiddler on the Roof, Edinburgh Fringe.
Film: Mission London, Dimitar Mitovski; The Jam, Angelo Abela; Cross-Eyed Waltz, Peter Hearn; Jack Malchance, Dean Loxton.
Peter Stickney, Creative Associate
Peter graduated from the Oxford School of Drama in 2004. Since then, he has worked extensively with venues and theatre companies throughout the UK including: Theatre Royal Bath, Young Vic, Arcola, Clod Ensemble, Southwark Playhouse, BAC, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Rough Fiction, Tangram, Theatre 503, Eastern Angles and the Hampstead Theatre. Peter has been short-listed for this year’s James Menzies-Kitchin Young Director Award, celebrating outstanding young theatre directors.
Firehouse Creative Productions UK
Company registration: 07030671
Charity Number: 1134751
Firehouse Arts Collective, USA is a community building arts consultancy that is a sister company of Firehouse UK. A registered 501c3 organisation, FAC is dedicated to building healthy and diverse communities and to fostering greater cross cultural understanding through delivering tailor-made arts projects. We believe that by finding joyful and creative ways of working together, communities can build bridges across otherwise divisive lines. We work in partnership with other nonprofits, community services groups, civic organizations, and churches, as well as with professional artists to deliver a unique set of creative activities that bring people together.
Grounded in the lives and experiences of everyday people, our projects always begin by listening. We find creative ways of gathering and listening to stories from people in the community, and, reflecting upon these stories with community partners, we design arts-based projects that address the issues that have been voiced.
Working at various times as community animators, advocates, problem solvers and bridge builders, our commitment is to fully exploit the power of art to gather people together, to open space for connection and collaboration, and to help create positive social change.
Firehouse Creative Productions USA
registered 501(c)3 public charity
EIN # 27-0864209
Rachel Parish, Artistic Director
Rachel has been working professionally in live performance for over ten years, creating new performance for the stage and public installation through collaborative processes. She works regularly as a freelance theatre director, community organizer, academic author, conference contributor, and artist in residence. Recent theatre productions include Superjohn (UK tour), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Royal and Derngate), Arabian Nights (CityLit), Much Ado About Nothing (The Scoop), Elevator (New Diorama Theatre), Stella (Douglass Theatre, Southwark Playhouse), The Alchemist (Hoxton Hall), I Confess (international tour), and StoryStation (international exhibits). My work has been seen throughout the UK in London, Edinburgh, Norwich, Brighton, Exeter and Devon as well as in Ireland, Beijing, the USA and Gabon with support from organisations including Arts Council England, UNESCO, and the AHRC. Rachel trained at the National Theatre Studio and Central School of Speech and Drama. Recent academic posts include lecturing, workshops and performances at University of Georgia, Macon State University, and Georgia College and State University and at the Crossroads Writers Conference at Mercer University.
She has co-authored three interdisciplinary academic book chapters, (in press, forthcoming 2013). Make a Move, appears in Dancing at the Crossroads (American Bar Association publication), a book on the potential of movement and choreography on the practice of conflict resolution whilst Design Thinking in Negotiation and The Education of Nonstudents appear in volume four of Rethinking Negotiation Teaching (Hamline University Press). Each chapter is interdisciplinary, and draws directly from my professional arts practice to articulate performance practices and methodologies that can be of use to people in non-arts-based spheres of practice.
Producer: Tim Johanson
Theatre includes Port Authority (Southwark Playhouse), Floyd Collins (Southwark Playhouse), Lady of Substance/The Death of Norman Tortilla (Tristan Bates Theatre), Mirror Teeth (Finborough Theatre), The Tempest (ADC Theatre and USA East Coast Tour), Twelfth Night (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Cambridge Footlights), Into the Woods, and Hero (ADC Theatre, Cambridge, and C Venues, Edinburgh Festival). For the second year Tim is assisting Julian Bird on
the production of the Olivier Awards. He is Director of Tim Johanson Productions Ltd.
Cristina Catalina, Creative Associate
Cristina is Creative Associate at Firehouse and an Associate Artist of Tangled Feet. She performes in television (BBC, ITV, Ch4, Ch5), radio (BBC4), feature films (Frankenstein’s Army, Almost Adult, Eastern Promises, Treacle Junior) and theatre, with companies involved with new writing, devised and physical theatre, as well as classical, contemporary and young people’s theatre (Arcola, The Barbican, Dreamthinkspeak, Dukes Lancaster, Globe Theatre, EEA, Lyric Hammersmith, Nabokov, RSC, Sadler’s Wells, Soho Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, StoneCrabs, Theatre-Rites, Tinderbox, The Tobacco Factory, Transport Theatre and The West Yorkshire Playhouse). For Firehouse, Cristina produced Elevator and The Romanian Season (New Diorama Theatre, Critics’ Choice & ****, Time Out) as part of a long-term aim to connect Romanian and British creative communities. Of German-Romanian descent, she regularly collaborates with the Romanian Cultural Institute (on productions at Edinburgh Fringe, The Barbican, Theatre Royal Stratford East and part of LIFT) and translates plays, most notably for The Royal Court International Residency.
Elizabeth Boag, Creative Associate
After training at Mountview Academy, Elizabeth was later selected to perform in the inaugural Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour Plays working with Writer, Mike Bartlett and Director, James Grieve.
Recent career highlights include:
TV: Stephen Poliakoff’s, Joe's Palace, BBC 1; Stuart: A Life Backwards, Neal Street Productions, BBC 2.
Theatre: Stella for Firehouse Creative Productions, US and UK; I Confess for Tangled Feet/ Firehouse; Present: Tense for Nabokov, Trafalgar Studios; The Apathists, Theatre 503; Shortcuts, The Arcola; 20th Century Which Art In Heaven, Soho Theatre; Las Meninas, The National Gallery; Kiddy-Fiddler on the Roof, Edinburgh Fringe.
Film: Mission London, Dimitar Mitovski; The Jam, Angelo Abela; Cross-Eyed Waltz, Peter Hearn; Jack Malchance, Dean Loxton.
Peter Stickney, Creative Associate
Peter graduated from the Oxford School of Drama in 2004. Since then, he has worked extensively with venues and theatre companies throughout the UK including: Theatre Royal Bath, Young Vic, Arcola, Clod Ensemble, Southwark Playhouse, BAC, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Rough Fiction, Tangram, Theatre 503, Eastern Angles and the Hampstead Theatre. Peter has been short-listed for this year’s James Menzies-Kitchin Young Director Award, celebrating outstanding young theatre directors.
Firehouse Creative Productions UK
Company registration: 07030671
Charity Number: 1134751
Firehouse Arts Collective, USA is a community building arts consultancy that is a sister company of Firehouse UK. A registered 501c3 organisation, FAC is dedicated to building healthy and diverse communities and to fostering greater cross cultural understanding through delivering tailor-made arts projects. We believe that by finding joyful and creative ways of working together, communities can build bridges across otherwise divisive lines. We work in partnership with other nonprofits, community services groups, civic organizations, and churches, as well as with professional artists to deliver a unique set of creative activities that bring people together.
Grounded in the lives and experiences of everyday people, our projects always begin by listening. We find creative ways of gathering and listening to stories from people in the community, and, reflecting upon these stories with community partners, we design arts-based projects that address the issues that have been voiced.
Working at various times as community animators, advocates, problem solvers and bridge builders, our commitment is to fully exploit the power of art to gather people together, to open space for connection and collaboration, and to help create positive social change.
Firehouse Creative Productions USA
registered 501(c)3 public charity
EIN # 27-0864209
