The Teaching Faculty

Director of Dance: Helen Read

Director of Theatre: Jamie Read

Helen Read
Sammy Fonfé
Michelle Legg
Nicola Jenkins

Theatre Faculty

Jamie Read
Stefan Bednarczyk
Sean McNamara

We are also joined regularly
by other guest teachers.

Jamie Read

Jamie Read is the Director of Theatre at Read Dance & Theatre College and was trained by the head of singing at RADA. He has worked for over 15 years in many areas of the theatre industry including extensively as a performer, choreographer, producer, writer & teacher. London credits include Entertaining Strangers (National Theatre); Marvin's Room (Hampstead Theatre & Comedy Theatre); Hard Times (Theatre Royal Haymarket); and Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (New London Theatre).

He has taught all over the UK, including at Reading Theatre College, The Henley College, ATD and LTSC. Recent choreography includes Salad Days (London & Tour); The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Warehouse Theatre); Miss Sign-on (Edinburgh) and Dick Barton: The Devil Wears Tweed (Warehouse Theatre).

Stefan Bednarczyk

Stefan's West End acting credits include Noel Coward's Semi-Monde and Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, with Gene Wilder. He also had featured roles in Sheridan Morley's Jermyn Street Revue at Jermyn Street Theatre and Five O'Clock Angel at the King's Head Theatre. Musical direction has included shows at Chichester, Cardiff, Swansea, Leeds, Sheffield, Oxford, and Regents Park Open Air Theatre, Holders Opera Festival (Barbados), and Warehouse Theatre Croydon. He has been involved as Production Musical Supervisor in the Dick Barton trilogy at The Warehouse Theatre and on national tour. On film he appeared in Topsy-Turvy.

Stefan is also a regular guest teacher at RADA.

Sean McNamara

Sean gained a BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre from The Guildford of School of Acting and trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama on the MA in Actor Training and Coaching.

Performance credits include; 20th Anniversary Production of Evita, Anyone Can Whistle (Savoy Theatre), Sondheim Tonight (Barbican and Chichester Festival Theatre), King Charming (Players Theatre), Mother Goose (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Robinson Crusoe (Sadler's Wells), Christmas TV Special for Disney (Canal +), Pipedreams (Film4), Bent, West End Story, Art, Journey's End, and Oh! What a Lovely War (Electric Theatre).

As a producer he has presented Bent, West End Story, Hear My Song, Nightingale, Art, Journey's End, and Oh! What A Lovely War, all at the Electric Theatre, Guildford.

Sean has taught at The Guildford School of Acting, The Central School of Speech and Drama, Arts Educational School, Chiswick, the University of the West of Scotland and The National Youth Theatre.

Nicola Jenkins

Nicola Jenkins qualified in 1986 and is the principal of her own school. Before teaching, she toured for eight years with the Belinda King Dancers in Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal and Korea.

Prior to opening her school in 2004, Nicola taught for County School of Performing Arts and Reading Theatre College.

Helen Read

Helen Read is the Director of Dance at Read Dance & Theatre College. She trained initially at the English National Ballet School, and then went on to London Studio Centre & Millennium Dance 2000. Her performing work includes Oklahoma! (National Theatre & Lyceum Theatre); Cinderella (Los Angeles) & Swan Lake (Dominion Theatre), both for Matthew Bourne's Adventures in Motion Pictures.

Helen is the co-director of the Read Dance & Theatre Company, and she has taught and choreographed for many colleges, schools and companies including Reading Theatre College, The Henley College, D&B Theatre College, Magpie Dance Company, The National Youth Ballet of Great Britain and Anjali Dance Company.

Sammy Fonfé

Sammy trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. She made her West End debut at the age of thirteen in Bernadette the Musical and went on to perform as Pepper in Annie and in various Royal Variety Performances. Other credits include the European tour of the Rocky Horror Show, Lola in Clandestine (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith) and Chloe in Sitting in Silence (Riverside Studios).

Sammy toured the UK in the pop group Word on the Street, making numerous TV appearances and supporting Bewitched and 911 on their Arena Tours. She appears in videos for Moloko, Back to my Roots, Rachel Stevens and Ash and danced live on Top of the Pops and at the Docklands Arena. Sammy recently choreographed the UK & Asian tour for Lisa Scott Lee, and for the last five years she has choreographed the UK tour of A Night of the Musicals. This year she has choreographed Somewhere over the Westway (Edinburgh festival) and she is Assistant choreographer at the Theatre Royal Windsor for their Christmas season.

Sammy has co-written the sitcom Deja Vu which was made into a pilot starring Paul Nicolas and Sue Holdernes.

Michelle Legg

Michelle trained at Bird College of Performing Arts. On leaving college, Michelle performed on a World Cruise Tour and dances regularly with a professional dance troupe.

Michelle gained a Distinction in her ISTD Associates, and is the head of dance at Bradfield College and at the School of The Arts. Choreography has included working with HotChixx, and most recently Michelle produced and choreographed The Red Carpet Event starring Simon Webbe from the band 'Blue'.

Michelle also works with Diverzion, a community initiative working to educate teenagers through the arts.

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