Meet the team
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Raquel Bellastella
Founder & Artistic Director
Raquel Bellastella is an experienced theatre director and art educator. She graduated in Art Education (UNESP, Brazil) and post-graduated in Devising Theatre (LISPA, London). She’s honoured to have been mentored by the late actor/storyteller Sotigui Kouyaté, awarded Silver Bear for Best Actor, and to follow his teaching practice closely. She devised and performed theatre shows in Brazil, Spain and the UK; and has more than 10 years of experience in facilitating creative drama workshops for children and adults.
She also hosts the Art Impact Podcast, sharing tools for thriving as a socially engaged artist today. She dreams of a world where everyone can access the tools to unleash their full creative potential.
joni-rae caRRACK
Associate Artist
Joni-Rae Carrack is a theatre-maker who specialises in puppetry whose work explores mental health, disability and working with biography. Joni has worked as a puppeteer and facilitator to create beautiful puppetry performances for children that explore tricky subjects and experiences. These include If Not Here… Where? With the Little Angel Theatre, which toured children’s hospitals and hospices in February 2020 and Bobble Hat Theatre's Not Today, Celeste!. She currently works as the Resident Puppeteer for CW+’s Arts For All Program at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
nix wood
Associate Artist
Nix Woods is an accomplished puppeteer and performer on stage and screen. Trained at the Curious School of Puppetry, Nix has experience performing rod, glove, large-scale walkabout, tabletop/bunraku-style puppetry and mask. She’s also an experienced lead workshop facilitator for children and adults. Recent theatre credits include Storm Whale (Little Angel/ York Theatre Royal/ Engine House); The Dong with a Luminous Nose (Cubic Feet/ Monstro); The Adventures of Curious Ganz (Silent Tide/Little Angel); Prince Charming (Perth Theatre/Little Angel); Angelo, The Pixie and the Pudding and Wow Said The Owl (Little Angel Theatre); and Red Riding Hood (Horse+Bamboo).
Lowri James
Associate Artist
​Lowri James is an actor, puppeteer and director. She trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has performed with some of the UK's most inspiring theatre companies such as Punchdrunk and Kneehigh Theatre. Performance credits include Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Alexandra Palace) and Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (original cast). Lowri is co-artistic director of Shadowboxer Theatre and has devised new work for the National Theatre Studio, Young Vic and Soho theatre. She most recently directed "I Was A German' which was nominated for the LET Award and an Off West End Award.
tANIA SUTHERLAND
Associate Dramatherapist
Tania has worked with children across many settings, including Children’s Services - complex trauma and attachment disorders, Looked After, Fostered and Adopted Children, Primary and Secondary Schools, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and privately. She is a HCPC registered Dramatherapist and a full member of the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth) with qualifications in MA Dramatherapy (Distinction) and BA Drama (Hons). She’s passionate about supporting children and working with families and is the Whale Therapy Project founder.