Paul Miller

transition executive director

Paul Miller has been working as a theatre director since 1988. In that time he has directed productions at the National Theatre, the Royal Court, the Bush, Hampstead, ETT, the Arcola, the Gate, the Chocolate Factory, Southwark Playhouse, in the West End and on tour. He was Resident Director of the Loft Theatre and Head of Studio at the NT in 2002-2004. He was an Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres from 2009 to 2014, where productions included Hamlet, Democracy, The Daughter-in-Law and The Winter’s Tale. From 2014 to 2022 he was Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre, where he directed plays by Terrence Rattigan, Lot Vekemans, Jo Clifford, Somerset Maugham, Doris Lessing, Bernard Shaw, Charlotte Jones, DH Lawrence and Pierre Marivaux.

 

CONTACT PAUL for: Strategic planning, organisational events activity/development, sustainability, advocacy, serious member concerns and complaints, overall financial/budgetary management, social media, SDUK representation, fundraising.

Tanja Raaste 

general manager

Tanja tried out various jobs in market research and business events before realising that she needed more performing arts in her life.  She retrained as a theatre producer, and finally felt she had come home. Where else can you discuss Daisy’s fees with her agent in the morning (the fees were high, as Daisy was, after all, the lead in the Dairylea advert) and source a Russian samovar tea service for ‘Three Sisters’ in the afternoon?   

 

Originally from Finland, growing up in Spain, then studying and working in the UK and later in California and Europe, she is multi-lingual, and has an innate understanding of cultural differences. 

Tanja has been producing theatre, dance, festivals and other events for over 20 years.  Productions include ‘Quality’ set in a working shoe boutique; ‘Tango Walk’ at SIRF the National’s ‘Inside Out’ festival; site specific dance with Collage Dance Theatre in Los Angeles, and a 30-cast site-specific ‘King Lear’ in Dijon.  She has specialised in site-specific, outdoor and interactive theatre as she is passionate about new audiences. 

In addition, she has worked as a general manager at organisations such as The Movement Factory, KMACS and ZU-UK, helping them achieve their visions.  She also founded Nordic Nomad Training to deliver business skills workshops to help performers make a living doing what they love. 

 

CONTACT TANJA for: Membership events and content (including workshops, blogs, podcasts, benefits), members’ contractual queries and concerns, best practice, conferences and SDUK representation, fundraising assistance.

Fergus Morgan

SDUK’s resident blogger

Fergus Morgan is a freelance arts journalist and critic, specialising in theatre. As well as writing a monthly interview series for Stage Directors UK, he regularly contributes to The Stage, and publishes his own weekly newsletter on theatre, The Crush Bar, via Substack.

 

His work has previously appeared in Exeunt, WhatsOnStage, TimeOut, Vice, Elephant Magazine and elsewhere. He was shortlisted for the Allen Wright Award for journalism at the Edinburgh Fringe, and is a member of the UK Critics Circle. He lives in Edinburgh with his Cavalier King Charles spaniel.