Welcome to our newest associate artists

We are very pleased to welcome our newest associate artists to the Zoo. Sophia Kelly and Danni Shepherd have joined us recently to be part of the cast for our Spring/Summer 2014 tour of Hard Times. As well as being weavers in the production, Danni will take over the role of Louisa Gradgrind, and Sophia is playing Mrs Pegler and Stephen Blackpool's wife. Both Danni and Sophia are currently studying Performing Arts at Bradford College, and have shown themselves to be very talented and reliable members of the course.

Sophia Kelly

Sophia is in the final year of her HND in Performing Arts, and has been at the College for almost five years. In that time she has taken part in numerous productions both on stage and on screen with the British Youth Film Academy. Her youthful appearance means that she has often been cast to play parts younger than her actual age, for instance, Sophia has appeared with The Touring Consortium's productions of 'Kes' in 2009, and 'To Sir, With Love' at The Alhambra Theatre as part of the national tours of those shows. Sophia has been involved in feature-length and short films with the BYFA, including 'Richard II', 'Faust's Growth', 'The Rochdale Pioneers', and 'Cache' (due to be premiered at The National Media Museum in April) Sophia has just completed her first directing project in which she staged an extract from Tennessee Williams' play 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. We are sure that she will continue to develop her artistic and theatrical vision, and we are delighted to be working with her on Hard Times.

Danni Shepherd

Danni is about to complete her Level 3 Extended Diploma in Performing Arts with the maximum marks of D*D*D* and has impressed everyone with her natural ability and dedication throughout the two years she has been at Bradford College. Danni is much in demand as an actress, and has gained a lot of experience over the last year or so, performing in numerous productions and short-films. Danni is in the process of auditioning for drama school and other training opportunities. She has an audition coming up with the excellent Fourth Monkey Theatre Company ensemble, and we wish her the best of luck with this. Hopefully, Sophia and Danni will enjoy working with us on Hard Times and we may even be able to encourage them to write a post or two about the production process.