Judy Owen

Applied Theatre Lecturer

Email:: judy.owen@bcu.ac.uk

Judy is a Lecturer for BA Applied Theatre (Community & Education) at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She is module leader for Professional Practice and Personal Project and teaches on the Applied Theatre Festival module. She supports students to deepen their understanding of the sector through the programme of industry placements. She also teaches Production Administration for the Stage Management BA course.

Judy is an independent theatre producer with a special interest in international collaborations, bringing artists of different cultures together to make and tour original work that crosses boundaries of language and genre. She is excited to help artists develop imaginative ways to tell stories that are relevant to our fast-changing world. Diversity and risk taking have been at the heart of her theatre projects, many of which have been for young audiences. A special passion is developing artistic processes which involve communities from the outset, enabling the participation and creativity of people who are often under-represented in our industry.

Her work includes 16 years as producer for Teatro Kismet in Bari, Southern Italy where she lived for 2 years. The company is acclaimed for their physical, theatrically inventive and visually striking shows for audiences of all ages. Judy has produced multilingual productions with Hanyong Theatre, combining the skills of creatives from Korea, the UK and Japan; and set up collaborations with numerous international partners including Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo; National Theater Company of Korea; Athens Festival and La Comédie de Valence.

In Birmingham, Judy has produced for writer and actor Tyrone Huggins, including his play The Honey Man, and an international project Platform Tales involving artists and communities from Birmingham, Nairobi and Johannesburg. She produced several shows with the Rep, including Philip Pullman’s I Was Rat! to mark the theatre’s centenary, and for International Dance Festival Birmingham she produced Cosmic Birds, an exhibition of moving sculptures by Japanese kinetic artist Shun Ito in the atmospheric Municipal Bank. More recently she produced a play inspired by the experiences of separated Korean family members, What Remains of Us by Sita Calvert-Ennals and David Lane, which premiered at Bristol Old Vic. She is as excited to bring shows to nurseries, bread factories, churches and aircraft museums as she is making work for international stages. Judy is currently a proud trustee for Stans Cafe theatre company.

Image credit: @kategreenphotog

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Teaching

Research

Work With Industry

As independent producer Judy Owen Ltd:

What Remains of Us by Sita Calvert-Ennals and David Lane (with Bristol Old Vic, Bath Spa Productions, Korean National University of Arts)
Platform Tales and Roundi Mwemba by Tyrone Huggins/Luyanda Sidiya/Jared Onyango, Neema Bagamahunda (with Dance Into Space, Kenya; National Theatre of Kenya; Luthando Arts, South Africa) and artists and communities from all 3 countries, funded by the British Council as part of the Cultural Programme for the Commonwealth Games.
New Nigerians by Oladipo Agboluaje (UK tour consultant)
Echo Eternal (producer for the development, launch and first artistic programme in schools, with Core Education Trust and support from the Holocaust Foundation)
Cosmic Birds by Shun Ito (with IDFB/DanceXchange, and in partnership with Ikon, the Rep, Writing West Midlands, and support from Anglo-Daiwa Foundation and British Sasakawa Foundation)
In A Landscape – choreography by Kei Miyata and original live music by Ex Easter Island Head (with IDFB/DanceXchange)
Cubes directed by Tamsin Fitzgerald (with DanceXchange/Birmingham Weekender)
The Honey Man by Tyrone Huggins (with the REP)
BE Festival – producer 2014-15
I Was A Rat! by Philip Pullman, adapted & directed by Teresa Ludovico (commissioned to mark the centenary of the Rep in co-production with Teatro Kismet, Nottingham Playhouse, New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich)
The Swineherd Prince opera by Nino Rota (Teatro Kismet, Conservatorio Niccolo Piccinni, Bari, the REP, CBSO, RBC)
Through the Woods by Sarah Woods and devised by the company (with Teatro Kismet, the REP, Comedie de Valence)

Many of the above productions have been made possible thanks to support from Arts Council England through National Lottery Project Grants.

For Hanyong Theatre:

Orange Polar Bear by Ko Sun-Duck and Evan Placey (with the Rep and National Theater Company of Korea)
Looking For Yoghurt (with the REP; Joyful Theatre, Korea; Kijimuna Festa, Japan)

For DanceXchange:

Project and Tour Manager for Bare Bones Dance Company
Bare Bones 3; Bare Bones 5; Children’s Bare Bones (The Firebird choreographed by Will Tuckett)

For Za Koenji Public Theatre, Tokyo:

The Travelling Companion, adapted & directed by Teresa Ludovico

For Setagaya Public Theater, Tokyo:

The Little Mermaid – adapted & directed by Teresa Ludovico
The Snow Queen – adapted & directed by Teresa Ludovico
And the presentation of The Adventures of Pinocchio by Teatro Kismet and Nottingham Playhouse to open the theatre in 1997.

Producing and international touring for Teatro Kismet, Italy:

La Principessa Sirena
Gilgamesh
La Regina delle Nevi
Bella e Bestia
Piccoli Misteri
Le Avventure di Pinocchio (a co-production with Nottingham Playhouse)
Cappucetto Rosso

Co-productions set up for Teatro Kismet to support touring include partners: Athens Festival; Lyric Hammersmith; Chateau Rouge; Le TNG, Lyon; Comedie de Valence, Warwick Arts Centre, Liverpool Playhouse, Setagaya Public Theatre, AWESOME Festival, Perth, Australia.

Prior to becoming a producer Judy was Marketing Manager for Nottingham Playhouse for 5 years. There she developed a taste for international theatre whilst supporting tours by Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg, Robert Lepage, Peter Brook, Nederlands Dance Theater (NDT3), Silviu Purcarete, &Teatro Kismet.

Judy was a trustee for New Perspectives Theatre Company for 7 years. She is currently a trustee for Stans Café.