emma bishop

founder/managing director

Emma is a well-known theatre and education practitioner in Aotearoa.

Growing up in theatre Emma spent her first act in Dunedin as an active member of both Opera Otago and Dunedin Operatic, with highlights being performing in the 1994 Consortium of Les Miserables and 1995 Merry Widow with Dame Malvina Major.
Here Emma attended Otago University as a voice student of Honor McKellar.
The second act saw her relocate to Nelson to attend performing arts school as it became apparent that musical theatre was her number one passion. Here highlights included gaining a Diploma in Performing Arts (Musical Theatre) and playing Columbia in The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the Nelson Arts Festival in 1998.
The third act saw Emma move to Auckland and train as a Primary kaiako specialising in Music Education followed by gaining a Masters in Dance Education at The University of Auckland. Emma spent 15 years as a full-time educator before leaving fulltime teaching in 2017 to set up her own performing arts company StageAntics which offers training in all areas of theatre in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Under this umbrella Emma also created corporate entertainment group Queen_St with a kaupapa of providing quality performance as well as giving back to the community with each event having a giveback portion.

Emma is also half of the team producing KickArts the weekly arts radio show on Planet FM 104.6
Emma’s vast experience, both on and off stage, has not only seen her nominated for and winning a number of theatre awards but also elected into a number of national positions including being: a Life Member and the President of Drama NZ, the National Subject Association for Drama in Education; Co-Chair of Whirimanga, the National Arts in Education Alliance; Vice-President of Musical Theatre NZ

Emma’s passion for youth performing arts saw her appointed in 2016 as the National Coordinator of Junior Theatre New Zealand . In this role she coordinated the annual Junior Theatre Festival New Zealand and associated Pilot Programme until 2021.
Most recently she has taken over the Junior Theatre mantle for Aotearoa and is now producing the year round events which include pilot programmes, workshops, celebration days and festivals.
Emma has also on numerous occassions travelled to the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, as teacher of acting and a facilitator for the all important festival group debrief sessions! 

mark bradley

co-producer productions

Mark has an Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the New Zealand Music Education Board and a Bachelor of Arts/Commerce from The University of Auckland. He currently plays for various musical theatre productions in Auckland, as an in-demand pianist for various events and performers, and as an instrumental music teacher throughout Auckland

Most recently, Mark was the Resident Music Director for the New Zealand tour of Madagascar (GMG Productions - New Zealand). Mark’s international production keyboard credits include The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Aladdin, West Side Story and Wicked. Other large local productions include Evita, Phantom Of The Opera, City Of 100 Lovers, Sister Act and Mamma Mia.

As a music theatre educator, Mark regularly tutors for school holiday programs, including StageAntics, the Junior Theatre Pilot Programmes and the Broadway Dreams NZ Summer Intensive. He is currently one of the Musical Directors for the Auckland Performing Arts Academy having been with them since their inception in 2019.

He also provides Musical Direction services for various schools in Auckland as well as audition/performance coaching for musical theatre performers at all levels.