A week in the life of an Executive Director

This week has been one of those weeks that reminds you exactly why you do the job. A week where everything happens at once - spreadsheets, community, fundraising, new writing, board papers, rebranding - and somewhere in the middle of all the chaos, you fall in love with the work all over again.

The week began in classic Joint CEO/Executive Director style: signing off the annual accounts with our finance team. Not glamorous, but absolutely essential. Getting those documents approved means we can unlock our Theatre Tax Relief, vital fuel for the work ahead. Alongside this came the less visible but equally vital work of writing board papers: the governance engine that keeps everything aligned, accountable and future-focused, supported by our trustees and the time they so generously give.

And it wasn’t just finances and strategy. I spent time deep in conversation with my fellow Joint CEO and Artistic Director, Elle While with a promising conversation with a potential co-producer for another commission (seeds planted, plans brewing); and worked with our brilliant marketing team of two - Angel and Frankie - and design partners Out of Place, exploring ideas for our evolving marketing and rebranding. Thinking about how we present Pentabus to the world, how we honour our roots while reaching new audiences, was energising and inspiring.

Meanwhile, more magical things were happening in London. Our attentive Producer Amber with Elle travelled down to oversee the R&D for Children of Lightning, the new play from former Writer in Residence and current Associate Artist, the award-winning Tom Powell. With Stef O’Driscoll directing and actors Annie Taylor and William Robinson bringing the script to life, supported by Cardboard Citizens, who supplied a space, the room buzzed with bold ideas and new creative pathways. Supporting emerging writers and witnessing a play take its first breath never loses its excitement.

William Robinson and Annie Taylor. Photo: Michael van der Put.

Back home, the heart of the week belonged to Home is Here: Songs and Stories from Shropshire. Our Head of Engagement, Joanna, has spent months co-ordinating schools and older people’s homes across the county to build this cross-generational project with facilitators Henry Maddicott (a former Writer in Residence) and Rhian Jackson. This was also the week our Jerwood Writer in Residence, Sid Sagar, joined us on the ground. Not only a brilliant writer but also an exceptional actor, Sid spent time giving the children acting tips, encouraging them, and helping them step onto the stage with confidence and joy. One teacher summed it up perfectly: “It’s been remarkable to watch their confidence grow, and so moving to see them perform with such pizazz!” The delivery itself was a true all-hands-on-deck experience: the get-in, the get-out, the craft-making, the shepherding of excited children, the welcoming of audiences, from Joint CEO to administrator, everyone is part of it.

Home Is Here participants at St Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury. Photo: Andrew Billington.

Alongside all the live work, our digital projects have been making their own impact. Our National Young Writers’ digital shorts, a collaboration with Rural Media’s Artflicks channel, have been shining on TikTok and Instagram, with their powerful storytelling - earning a spot in The Guardian’s Best Theatre to Stream This Month.

And, as with all companies, we’d be lost without our wonderful administrator, Nicky, who also worked tirelessly to bring together our festive fundraiser, also announced this week, a raffle filled with generous donations that keeps Pentabus thriving.

And then, in perfect Pentabus fashion, we ended the week decorating a Christmas tree at Ludlow Castle to celebrate our brilliant Youth Theatre. There was something beautifully symbolic about that moment, young voices, creativity and community spirit glowing in the heart of our home in Shropshire.

The Pentabus Youth Theatre Christmas Tree at Ludlow Castle. Photo: Verity Overs-Morrell.

Being Joint CEOs means being custodians of Pentabus together, holding its past, present and future with care. Sharing that responsibility with Elle is a genuine joy: her artistic vision and my strategic focus meet in the middle, guiding the company forward with clarity and trust.

This role is always a balance of contrasts, creativity and pressure, juggling and joy. But above all, it’s a job of purpose. And this week, this busy and beautiful rural week, reminded me exactly why I love it.

And, as ever, none of it happens without our small but mighty team. They’re the beating engine behind everything Pentabus does.

Verity Overs-Morrell

The Pentabus Team. Front row, left to right: Joanna Freeman, Head of Engagement, Verity Overs-Morrell, Executive Director and Joint CEO, Elle While, Artistic Director and Joint CEO, Amber Jones, Producer. Back row, left to right: Angel Reid, Creative Marketing Co-ordinator, Nicola Simcock, Administrator.

In Case You Missed It - Pentabus in The StageVerity and Elle were in The Stage last month, advocating for sustained investment in rural youth theatre. Here’s their letter to the editor:

Amanda Parker’s excellent article on youth engagement in London theatres highlights the urgency and the innovation in this vital area of our sector. But, as she rightly notes, these challenges are felt “as urgently and acutely in the UK’s coastal towns, rural communities and remote regions”. For those of us working beyond the urban walls, the barriers to access can be even greater.

At Pentabus, the nation’s rural theatre, we see first-hand how geography, transport and funding inequity combine to limit opportunities for young people. Rural areas receive the lowest per-head spending on culture – yet the need and talent are every bit as abundant. When public services are cut, rural young people often find themselves with nothing nearby: no buses, high train fares, no theatres, no youth centres.

That’s why we’re so proud of our free Pentabus Young Writers programme, now in its 11th year. Recently, it has helped launch the careers of Jade Franks (Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x), Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Rhys Warrington (Monument, London’s Royal Court, forthcoming; commissioned at Welsh National Theatre), Chloë Lawrence-Taylor (Personal Values, Hampstead) and Kit Withington (Heart Wall, Bush Theatre, forthcoming). Older graduates include Liv Hennessey, Olivier-nominated for Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial, and Tom Wentworth, commissioned by Pentabus and now writing for BBC One and Channel 4. Their success stories show that world-class voices can, and do, emerge from rural places – when given the chance.

This year, we’ve also launched the first youth theatre in our 50-year history. Our BAFTA-winning artistic director, Elle While, credited youth theatre as the foundation of her career: “Youth theatre is the reason that I have a career in theatre, and I couldn’t be more passionate about the potential that high-quality youth theatre provision can have on the prospects for young people and the broader community.”

Rural theatres such as ours are finding creative ways – from digital showcases you can see right now on our Instagram and TikTok to innovative collaborations – to keep youth engagement alive despite the odds. But without sustained investment, we risk creating a cultural postcode lottery, where opportunity depends not on talent, but on where a young person happens to live.

Elle While and Verity Overs-Morrell
Joint chief executives, Pentabus.

You can join the conversation here:
www.thestage.co.uk/your-views/youth-theatre-must-not-become-a-postcode-lottery-this-week-in-your-views

Pentabus’s National Young Writers group make every minute count with this series of mini digital dramas, told in 90-second bursts on TikTok. The playwrights hail from around the UK and the first in the series, written by Eilidh Nurse, stars Outlander and Billy Elliot’s Gary Lewis. A collaboration with Rural Media.

You can also read a little more about our Young Writers, and their process, in these features in The Quinntessential Review, or One Show At A Time.

And Finally…

We’re opening recruitment for our Local Young Writers course, our free six-month scriptwriting course for young writers aged 18 - 30 who are based in Shropshire, Wales, and the West Midlands.

The course culimnates in a professional production of the writers’ work at our annual Young Writers Festival in July.

The deadline is 9am Monday 5th January 2026, and all the information you need to apply is here:

https://pentabus.co.uk/local-young-writers