We’re delighted to have four multiple award-winning creatives as our Patrons: Sharon D Clarke, MBE leading theatre and musical performer; Sir Richard Eyre, CBE, director of theatre, opera, film and television; Laurie Sansom,  Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Northern Broadsides, and Broadway producer Barbara Whitman.

Sharon D Clarke, MBE is a three time Oliver Award winner – for Best Actress in a Play for Death of a Salesman, for Best Actress in a Musical for Caroline Or Change and for Best Supporting Actress for The Amen Corner at the National Theatre. Sharon appeared at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in Porgy and Bess, and on the West End, her appearances have included We Will Rock You, Ghost, Once on this Island, Guys and Dolls, Mama I want to Sing, Rent, The Lion King, Chicago, Hairspray, Soho Cinders, The Life and Blues in the Night. Sharon has achieved acclaimed chart success as a singer and has also worked as a Musical Director, Recording and Voice-Over Artist and Radio DJ. Sharon has worked extensively in television, including performances in Doctor Who, Waking The Dead, Soldier Soldier, Between The Lines and a long run as ‘Lola Griffin’ in Holby City.

Sir Richard Eyre CBE was Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse 1973 – 1978 and Director of the National Theatre 1987 – 1997. Musicals he has directed include the first musical at the National Theatre, Guys and Dolls in 1982, Mary Poppins in the West End and on Broadway, Betty Blue Eyes and Stephen Ward in the West End, The Pyjama Game in Chichester and the West End. He has directed opera at the Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera. He has been the recipient of numerous directing awards, including five Olivier Awards, and in 2013 he once again won the Evening Standard Award for Best Director for Ghosts. He was both a director and a producer of BBC‘s Play for Today 1978 – 1980, returning to the BBC in 1988 to direct the Falklands War story Tumbledown, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Director and the Prix Italia. His films include The Ploughman’s Lunch, winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Film, Iris and Notes on a Scandal. He has written adaptations of plays and several books.

Laurie Sansom is the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Northern Broadsides.  He was Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Theatre of Scotland from 2013 – 2016, where he directed The James Plays at the Edinburgh Festival and the National Theatre in London. He was Artistic Director of the Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton 2006 – 2012, where his productions included The Bacchae, Blood Wedding and Hedda Gabler, which were presented as The Festival of Chaos, as part of London2012 Festival; Spring Storm and Beyond the Horizon which transferred to the National Theatre, for which he received the 2010 TMA Award for Best Director; Frankenstein (with Frantic Assembly) and Follies. At the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, where he was Associate Director 2002 – 2006, he directed over twenty new plays and a season of three new musicals. He has directed for The Traverse, Birmingham Rep, Salisbury Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith, New Vic, Stoke, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the National Theatre.

Barbara Whitman made her Broadway debut in 2004 producing A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs. Her recent Broadway credits include Diana (due to open in 2021),  the Tony and Drama desk award winning transfer of Angels in America, 1984, War Paint and more. Other Broadway credits include Fun Home (winner of five Tony Awards in 2015) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Best Musical Revival), If/Then starring Idina Menzel, Of Mice and Men, starring James Franco and Chris O’Dowd, Red (Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Best Play), Next to Normal (Pulitzer Prize), Hamlet starring Jude Law, 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda, Mary Stuart, Legally Blonde – The Musical,The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In the West End, she produced Piaf, starring Elena Roger. In December 2014 she was honoured by Transport Group, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and OBIE Award-winning theatre company, when she received its Transporting American Theatre award for her outstanding contribution to the American theatre. In March 2021, Barbara established the Barbara Whitman Award at Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF in the US) which will award £10,000 annually to a female, trans or non-binary early career director.