Ian Stephens
An experienced theatre director, venue manager, and event organiser, I have worked in the UK, Jersey, Africa and now France; I live in the small French town of Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, near the Spanish border in the Eastern Pyrénée mountains.
Nowadays
I arrived in France in 2018, and set up in the spa town of Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda. Since our arrival, I have been promoting music and theatre events, including the touring production of Sinatra & Friends, and creating the international arts festival Les Inédits d'Amélie. We've put on evenings of theatre for Ukraine in Amélie and Villefranche (translated and performed), and I appeared in our presentation of White Rabbit Red Rabbit. I'm working closely with the local town hall, not only to promote cultural events, but also to provide an administrative service for English-speakers.
International
Moving on from Jersey Opera House, we spent a year in France, and then returned to my home town of Bristol. There I worked with an international charity and delivered several community projects with schools and community groups. I was director of the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis - and directed the venue's first in-house show, Nickolai of the North before leaving the UK. I moved to Tanzania to work with an OGN in the public health sector, worked in several other African countries, and and spent time in Asia.
Venue Management
My early career was spent in marketing at the Birmingham Hippodrome, administration at D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, touring with Kaleidoscope Theatre, and then managing my first venue; the 300-seat Y Theatre in Leicester.
From the Y, I moved on to the 2000 seat De Montfort Hall, then Loughborough Town Hall (520 seats). I was involved in creating or supporting festivals in the area as advisor or board member - including Leicester Comedy Festival, Turning up the Beat (later summer Sundae), Leicesershire Literature Festival, Loughborough Carnival etc. before heading to Jersey as Director of the Jersey Opera House.
I arrived in Jersey a year before the end of the £4.5 million refurbishment and the re-opening (on its centenary) of this 625 seat Victorian Theatre. I was also director of the Jersey International Arts Festival, and created the Jersey Comedy Festival. I directed productions of Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, as well as youth theatre productions of Honk!, and Alice in Wonderland.
Starting Out
With a degree in Business Administration (Administration Economique et Sociale) and French from Aston University, Birmingham, and the Université de Poitiers, it maybe wasn't obvious that I was going to have a career in theatre. Indeed, many felt I was going to ruin the university's excellent record of full employment for graduates. However, having spent much of my youth in the theatre, I was drawn to the University Drama Society, which I ended up running (and was involved in my first production of Grease - more of that later!).