Amy and Becky are the cofounders of Cast Academy and have worked together for 15 years teaching and mentoring hundreds of students. Despite having entered the performing arts world through different routes, with a shared vision they have brought together their passion and experience in their respective fields to create an academy that provides outstanding training in all areas of the industry. Together they have over 30 years teaching experience and take great pride in providing a tailored and personalised learning experience for each individual student. Amy and Becky maintain a hands-on approach in teaching and work in collaboration with their carefully selected high caliber teaching team to ensure the Cast Academy vision is achieved.
Meet The Team
Amy Parker
Principal
Rebecca Elliott
Principal
Chris Birks
Drama Teacher & Technical Support Officer
BA (Hons) Drama
Chris is a former pupil of Cast Academy, being taught by Amy for 16 years before heading to university to further his career and skills. During his time at university, Chris performed in productions of Moliere’s Tartuffe, Mikhail Bulgakov’s Flight, and the Broadway musical Urinetown. Chris was also the Vice-President, and later President of the Musical Theatre Society at university where he successfully produced and directed two musical showcase productions as well as two full scale musicals, Rent and Spring Awakening. After completing his degree, BA (Hons) Drama at Edge Hill University, Chris joined the team at Cast Academy with an array of responsibilities, from teaching classes to editing music, graphics design, website maintenance and more!
Charlotte Collier
Singing Teacher
BMus (hons) Music Performance
Charlotte’s passion for music started at an early age when she was accepted into internationally acclaimed choir, Cantamus, where she has recently returned to teach. Charlotte spent ten years with Cantamus, performing in prestigious venues, including the Sydney Opera House and The Royal Albert Hall. Charlotte studied Music Performance at the University of Huddersfield where she received a first class. She directed and performed throughout her time at university, also featuring as a soloist in several performances including, Handel’s Messiah and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and Mass in D, and Mahler’s Rϋckert Lieder. Outside of studying, in 2018, Charlotte and three other performers from around the country were selected to be part of Waterperry Opera Festival’s Young Artist Scheme in their inaugural season where she performed in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Barber’s A Hand of Bridge. Charlotte’s wealth of performance and vocal training has allowed her to perform on stages around the world, which now drives Charlotte to provide the best training for her own pupils, hoping to pass on her passion for singing, to allow them to achieve their own dreams.
Elise Hill
Singing Teacher
BA (Hons) Musical Theatre MA Professional Voice Practice
Elise has always had a passion for singing and at a young age developed a love of Musical Theatre. Along side studying Performing Arts related subjects at college, Elise trained in classical singing up to a Grade 8 standard. Elise then studied undergraduate Music Theatre and achieved a first class degree. During this time she undertook various roles in a variety of shows and helped run the university’s Musical Theatre Society. Elise has also been a member of two award winning choirs, Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir and the UCLan Chamber Choir, appearing on TV shows such as Songs of Praise and the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year broadcast. Her degree in Music Theatre gave her a love of all things voice related and she went on to gain a Masters in Professional Voice Practice with Distinction from The Birmingham School of Acting. Whilst training Elise taught voice classes at the drama school The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA in Wigan) and taught singing privately. Elise also teaches other voice related private classes such such as Accent Reduction.
Nicole Garnett
Teacher
BA (Hons) Drama
Nicole has been performing since a young age and spent many years training with Cast Academy. Whilst studying a BA (Hons) in Drama at Huddersfield University, Nicole was part of a theatre ensemble group specialising in physical theatre. They performed multiple original devised works at the Buxton Fringe Festival, where they achieved the award for best dance piece. After university, Nicole successfully auditioned and became a member of the National Youth Theatre, where she had the opportunity to develop her knowledge alongside industry professionals in London. Nicole has a variety of performing experience in theatre, TV and film and is very excited to be able to pass on her knowledge to help students develop, achieve their goals and encourage the same passion she has for performing.
Sophie Walker
Singing Teacher
Before Sophie can even remember learning to talk, she remembers singing! Her devotion to performing started from a very young age, taking every opportunity she could to get on stage and achieving top marks in performing arts throughout further education. As a former pupil at Cast Academy, Sophie credits Cast Academy for nurturing her love of singing and instilling a passion to teach within her. Under the guidance of Cast, Sophie studied hard and achieved her Grade 8 in Music Theatre by the age of 16 and continued her training to become a teacher. Working at Cast Academy as a singing teacher is a role Sophie will never be able to get enough of; inspiring and encouraging talented young performers every day is what she lives for!