Karen, a founder of Upstage, has had a keen interest in writing from the age of 11 when she wrote, produced, directed and played the ugly sister in a musical extravaganza of Cinderella.
 
Since then she has focused on writing for pleasure and on connecting with other local theatrical people.

Tess has always loved writing for theatre, and co-wrote Henry, A Tudor Musical with her late husband (Alan) and composer (Tony Carson) which has been performed on stage several times.

During the pandemic Tess co-wrote six Zoom, Plays for Lockdown - a series of hilarious comedies about the TWATS theatre club and their desperate attempts to keep their club alive. Over 190 groups, including clubs from Peru, America and Israel picked up the scripts, which were offered free of charge and many shared their efforts on the work's Facebook page.

Tess led the writing team for Risky Business and also wrote The Theatre Ghost, which started life as a radio play and evolved into a live production in Esher Theatre.

Dave has dabbled in acting, both on screen and in live theatre.  He was cast as John Carstairs in the Marple production of Why didn't they ask Evans? and proudly says that he did the stunt himself (being pushed off a cliff).

His other claim to fame used to be that he'd given the gun to Phil Mitchell in Eastenders, but this was surpassed by his experience in Graham Norton's red chair. 

Dave has written and performed in radio plays for Upstage, leads its set building team and is Chair of the club.

Graham Norton Red Chair

Dave on IMDB

Celia developed a love of theatre from a young age, and her BA (Hons) in Drama lead her to work with a troop of professional actors bringing Shakespeare to Life for secondary schools around the UK.

Celia also enjoys putting pen to paper, alongside raising a family, entering several writing competitions. Upstage have performed several of her fabulous plays, including The Christmas Party and Snippets.

David Henderson discovered a talent for mimicry and voices early on, finding it easy to create sound bites that would catch on at school.

David became an RAF pilot, learning technical writing through work, and legal drafting through necessity. He studied Psychology and Philosophy before joining Monarch Airlines and Thomas Cook, eventually retiring in 2018.

He has since discovered a love of writing and an Upstage reading of his new play, The Virtual Wife, took place in November 2024. The play continues to be workshopped elsewhere.

Matt Lewis is a screenwriter.

Matt has an MA in screenwriting from the London College of Communication. 

and writes scripts in various genres and formats. 

Currently, Matt is a developing an action / comedy feature set in the UK and a TV sitcom based around his own experiences working in education. 

Sometime, Somewhere in America is the first of his works to be performed by Upstage.



Jamie is an emerging playwright who began his writing career creating comedy sketches for BBC local radio. Since then, he has written a short, award-winning online sitcom as well as several plays that have featured in his native North East, as well as around the UK, Ireland and the US. 



Jamie enjoys writing comedy with heart and currently has his fingers crossed as one of the shortlisted writers of the prestigious Richard Jenkinson commission. He has also written several full-length plays and his dream is to have these produced in the near future. He is thrilled Upstage have produced some of his shorter pieces for their radio play series.

Lisa has been actively involved with drama since the late seventies. A keen director, her past productions include The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Arsenic and Old Lace, Amadeus, and The Dresser.

She enjoys writing plays, short stories and comic verse and has written and produced three successful pantomimes.

“The great thing about pantomime is that it can introduce the whole family to love of the stage and theatre. At least two of the children whose first acting role was in one of my pantomimes have gone on to enjoy successful careers as actors and I find that very rewarding.”

Upstage were delighted when Lisa agreed to direct her own play Digging the Dirt as part of our double-bill at Esher Theatre in September 2024.

Claire left Cornwall in her early 20’s to seek her fortune in London, and went on to graduate from the Royal Academy of Music.

She has been working professionally for over 25 years migrating back and forth from theatre to film and TV. 



Now living in Surrey she is delighted to be working with Upstage, directing her own comedy “Dirty Cash” which appears on stage in October 2025.

Darren is a veterinary surgeon by trade but has variously disguised himself as a pilot, motor racer, mountaineer, fitness instructor, martial artist, palaeontologist, arachnologist, shark researcher, fishmonger and double-glazing salesman as a result of watching ‘Mr. Bean’ too often as a child.

He writes short stories and novellas and his favourite form, radio plays, the latter mainly for Upstage.