We Rise
What are the realities for a person of colour working in theatre? How do you pitch yourself? And what can theatre-makers of colour do to nurture the next generation of creatives?
Featuring voices from Nouveau Riche, We Rise is a new series of short films, shining a light on how to manoeuvre, cope and self-care against racism in the sector.
They will share their experiences of how people of colour can succeed in the industry, tips and tricks on the pathways available to you, pitching new work, touring your work, and what hopes we have for the future.
Each episode will be released every Wednesday on this page, as well as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Follow Nouveau Riche on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Featuring:
Ryan Calais Cameron, Artistic Director of Nouveau Riche
Ewa Dina, Actor and Director
Cal-I Jonel, Actor and Director
Sarah Jordan Verghese, Producer for Nouveau Riche
Directed/Edited by Nick Virk
DOP: Marcus Ebanks
Sound Recordist: Adina Istrate
Ryan Calais Cameron
Ryan Calais Cameron is an award winning Writer, Actor and Theatre Maker. For Nouveau Riche Ryan has written Queens of Sheba (co-written with Jessica Hagan) and Typical (starring Richard Blackwood) sell-out hits at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 and 2019 respectively, winning The Stage Edinburgh Fringe Award. He is an alumnus of the Royal Court writer’s Supergroup and the Soho writers’ group. Currently Ryan is under commission to the Royal Court Theatre and has a number of projects in development with theatre and television companies.
Ewa Dina
Ewa is a performer, director, facilitator and poet. She is particularly interested in work that amplifies the voices of traditionally marginalised and stigmatised communities and individuals, as well as work that helps us to understand our humanity.
Music and movement are key storytelling devices in Ewa’s work.
She is currently directing The Kola Nut does not Speak English at The Bush Theatre, opening 30th Nov – 17th Dec.
Recent credits as an actor include Abidemi in Silkworm by Vlad Butucea (Fringe First Award Winner 2022).
Visit Ewa’s Spotlight page.
Cal-I Jonel
Cal-I Jonel is a creative artist from East London.
He followed his appetite for performing arts right through to further education before pursuing a career as a qualified teacher and middle manager.
Whilst working as a secondary school teacher and Head of Department, Cal-I continued to develop his creative passion through writing, directing plays and digital video productions for youth groups in his local community and independently releasing his own music.
After a 10-year career in education, he left the profession in 2018 to train at the Identity School of Acting and Maktub Theatre group. He went on to make his West End debut two years later.
Cal-I Jonel is also an emerging writer and recently performed a sold-out 5-day run of his work-in-progress one-man play, No More Mr Nice Guy, at the Camden People’s Theatre. His play is currently under development with award winning arts organisation, Nouveau Riche.
TV credits include: Midwich Cuckoos (Sky), You (Netflix) and Jungle (Amazon).
Follow Cal-I on Twitter and Instagram.
Sarah Jordan Verghese
Sarah Jordan Verghese is a South Asian Producer creating community-focused productions which aims to effect positive change to our society. She is excited by work that is culturally and politically relevant, engages new audiences and is widely accessible. She is currently the Creative Producer at GymJam Theatre and Assistant Producer at Zoo Co. Her projects include How to Build a Wax Figure, Pleasance 2022, I’m just a little bit OCD London Tour 2022, Fester Camden Fringe Festival 2021, and Every Sinner has a Future Kensington and Chelsea Festival & Golden Goose 2021.
