Our People

Banner Theatre is currently managed by Dave Rogers, as Artistic Director, Stuart Brown as Administrator, and Sashwati Mira Sengupta as Producer and Bookings Manager. Stuart is a freelancer and has been involved with Banner since the early 1990s.

They are supported by a Tour Organiser and Helena France (Voluntary Bookkeeper/Admin Support).

Don Bouzek, the Artistic Director of Ground Zero Productions in Canada and a long-time creative collaborator, continues to support Banner as artist, planner and mentor.

Other long-standing associates include Jacqueline Contré and Ian Gasse, who assist in various fundraising and developmental activities.

Mukhtar Dar, Helena France, Tim Hollins (Chair), Raj Pal, and Maureen Russell serve on Banner’s Management Committee as company directors.

Profiles

1. Direction and Administration

Dave Rogers

Artistic Director / Musician / Performer / Script and Songwriter

Dave is a founder member of the company and works as a singer, performer, scriptwriter, songwriter and researcher. Over the last 40 years he has created, or has helped to create, well over 50 Banner productions and 400 songs. Dave is also a long-time political activist and campaigner.

Stuart Brown

Administrator / Project Coordinator / Writer

Based in Nottingham, Stuart has worked with Banner off and on in various capacities since the early 1990s, and has over 40 years’ experience of working in the arts and theatre sector as an administrator, fundraiser, director and writer. Stuart is a former Producer with Nottingham Playhouse and has also worked extensively with refugees and asylum seekers across the East Midlands.

Sashwati Mira Sengupta

Company Producer and Bookings

Sashwati is a creative producer, musician and activist based in the North of England. She has produced music projects, festival programmes and developed work with Global Majority and sanctuary seeker artists, including Refugee Week in London. Her Masters Ethnomusicology studies research explored rap cultures and refugee rights activism in Britain. Sashwati plays synths and the theremin amongst other instruments, and sometimes composes for theatre.

Don Bouzek

Video Director / Popular Education Workshop Facilitator

Don is Artistic Director of Ground Zero Productions, a community theatre company in Edmonton, Canada. Don has collaborated with Banner for 15 years, since the two companies featured in Workers’ Playtime (2001), a study of theatre and the labour movement by Alan Filewod and David Watt (ISBN 0868196312). Don produces videos for broadcast and educational use; he has won awards from the Canadian Association of Labour Media.

Helena France

Administrator / Bookkeeper (Volunteer)

A former primary school teacher of 30 years, Helena has volunteered to work with Banner for the past two years, in support of the company’s aims and values.

Jacqueline Contré

Fundraiser / Development Consultant / Project and Education Facilitator / Current Productions Director

Jacqueline has been working off and on for Banner since the 1980s. She is an experienced arts manager and management consultant, having worked with New Perspectives in the East Midlands and Play-Train, Sampad, ArtSites and The Drum in Birmingham. Jacqueline plans to complete a PhD at the University of Warwick on Banner Theatre and the effectiveness of its cultural interventions.

Ian Gasse

Development Coordinator / Fundraiser

Ian has worked in local government, in arts administration and management and as a researcher and editor in the arts sector for more than 40 years. He had spells with Yorkshire Arts (1989-91) and North West Arts Board (1994-2000) prior to the re-organisation of the national arts funding system. He was tour organiser and administrator for Red Ladder Theatre in the early 1980s and has worked as fundraiser, tour organiser and development coordinator for Banner since 2001. He has a Master’s Degree in Cultural Studies (1998).

The company is very fortunate to enjoy widespread support amongst community activists and trade unionists locally and nationally, and have an extensive network of former company members to call on for practical support. Without this broader ‘Banner Family’, the company would not have survived for as long as we have done.

2. Touring Company

Dean Whiskens

Sound, Visual and Technical Director

Dean has been working with Banner on and off since the early 1990s. He was Deputy Head of Sound for the Birmingham Rep for 8 years before becoming a freelance community artist and founder member of Infamous Community Arts CIC.

Mike Bethel

Musician / Performer

Mike joined the company in 2019, mainly playing guitars and other fretted stringed instruments. He has released three solo records and contributed to many more, regularly performing solo and with other groups. He teaches classical guitar from his home in Smethwick.

Kaytee DeWolfe