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 Theatre Ghost, a recent Upstage radio play.

Peter began writing in his spare time following early retirement from the Civil Service a few years ago. Despite an unproductive beginning, his stubborn commitment to attaining a glimmer of recognition means he's had four plays performed and sold quite a few scripts.

Peter has now written around thirty-five one-acts and full-length plays. Unlike fine wine, he admits to deteriorating with age but still lives for those precious moments when his work is enacted.

Peter is grateful to Upstage for bringing unpublished work into the limelight.

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.

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, and her recent play The Christmas Party was her Upstage writing and directing debut. She looks forward to creating more plays for 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.

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.



Since returning to the stage in 2018, Dave has played varied roles in different genres, ranging from King Henry 8th in Henry – A Tudor Musical to a lecherous neighbour in Jimmy Chinn’s Close Encounters.

During lockdown Dave has been busy recording radio plays but misses his regular open mike performances. He also has many writing projects in the pipeline which we would happily help him to bring to fruition.

Game Over is Dave’s first radio play for Upstage.

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.

Peter has a Masters degree in Playwriting from Goldsmiths College, University of London and has written consistently - from his first full-length play, Love at First, which toured local theatre in Surrey before a two-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe, to the present day.

His work includes theatre, radio plays and film scripts and he is also the author of three drama script books for children and youth groups.

Peter has forged a career as a copywriter and editor for an international development charity, interviewing and filming across the globe from Syrian refugees in Lebanon to conflict survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, still finding time to write reviews and interviews for Folk Radio and articles, news and reviews for The Doctor Who Companion.

Upstage has featured Peter’s excellent plays Get Santa and Seven Hills Road as part of their series for radio broadcast.

Evon Wheeler enjoys writing plays, scripts and poetry.

She is a regular participant and contributor to the Waltham Forest Theatre and Arts Festival and Operation Theatre.

Upstage love featuring Evon's work and have performed The Cleaner, Best Served Cold and The Phonecall on stage as well as The Drive and The Body for radio.