Who We Are
The White City Theatre Project team is run by co-founders Lucy Foxell and Melanie Thaw .
Melanie Thaw
Melanie is co founder of WCTP and ReAct Drama Therapy. She was born and bred in west London and is dedicated to making the theatre available and open to all. Trained at RADA she worked as an actress for many years. She hails from a theatrical family and lives with her theatre producer partner and 3 children in Hammersmith.
Melanie has worked alongside Lucy for 20 years now, developing ways of reaching young people and luring them into the the creative arts.
Lucy Foxell - CEO
Lucy is co-founder of White City Theatre Project and ReAct Drama Therapy. She trained as an actress and worked in the profession for many years before training as a Drama Therapist. She has a wealth of experience working with young people in the community and schools working closely with industry partners delivering drama projects and Drama Therapy interventions. Lucy is passionate about the theatre arts and the transformative power of drama.
Lucy is a long term resident of Shepherd’s Bush and mother of four children.
Karen Lintern - Chair
Karen has been involved with White City Theatre Project for more than 7 years, and a trustee since 2019.
She is a solicitor and Partner in a London law firm specialising in corporate law, acting as general counsel to a portfolio of companies. Before the law she worked for Methuen Books and Virgin Vision. Karen is a lifelong theatre enthusiast. She produced plays in her student days at Durham University and worked as a freelance theatre writer contributing to a number of publications. Karen is an advocate of how drama can enrich the lives of young people. She has three children and lives in Shepherd’s Bush.
Alexander Schmidt
Alexander Schmidt is the Corporate Finance and Projects Director for Trafalgar Entertainment, a fast-growing premium live entertainment company. Trafalgar Entertainment owns theatrical venues in the United Kingdom and Australia and is a prolific and internationally-recognised producer of award-winning theatrical and musical shows. Alexander acts on all of Trafalgar Entertainment’s investments and acquisitions across digital distribution, production entities, ticketing and performing arts education. He is also the Operating Partner for Barings LLC, Trafalgar Entertainment’s majority shareholder, and sits on the boards of various Trafalgar Entertainment operating subsidiaries.
A local of Shepherd’s Bush, Alexander is passionate about performing arts education and the unique opportunities that the White City Theatre Project provides to its members
Nathan Bryon
He is a British actor and author best known for playing Jamie Bennett in Some Girls and Joey Ellis in the ITV sitcom Benidorm from 2016 to 2018.
In June 2019, Puffin published Bryon's first book, Look Up!, conceived jointly with illustrator Dapo Adeola. It won both the overall award and the illustrated book award at the 2020 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.
Bryon published a play in July 2019 called Dexter and Winter's Detective Agency and another book in July 2020 called Clean Up.
In March 2021, Puffin announced Nathan as the first Puffin World of Stories ambassador.
Bryon was a former member of the White City Youth Theatre in its infancy and was born in Shepherd’s Bush, London.
Janet Ellis
Janet trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama . Her first appearance on TV was in a Jackanory Playhouse, opposite Frank Thornton. She has appeared in theatres up and down the country and on TV in everything from Dr Who and The Sweeney to Jigsaw. She presented Blue Peter for four years in the Eighties where, amongst many other exploits, she remade the iconic parachuting films that John Noakes had done before and held the Civilian Freefall (Female) record for some time. Since leaving, she has worked as an actress, presenter, broadcaster and writer. Her first novel, The Butcher's Hook, was published by Two Roads in 2016. Her second, How It Was, also published by Two Roads came out in August 2019. She is currently writing a third novel and presenting a podcast about children’s literature called Twice Upon A Time.
She is a Trustee of the National Youth Theatre.
She has three children, including the singer Sophie Ellis -Bextor and five grandchildren . And an Italian Spinone dog called Angela.