Alice has always been a passionate performer and followed her passion to London where she gained a place at the prestigious "Italia Conti Academy of Performing arts" where she trained for 3 years. Whilst there she was lucky enough to appear as a backing dancer on "Let's Dance" for Sports Relief, School for Stars series 1 and 2 and was lucky enough to be selected as a backing singer for one of her idols Tracie Bennet at the academy's centenary gala. Her other credits include the "Miranda Christmas Special" and "Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes 2".
After persuing life as a performer Alice decided to come back to Wales where she opened up her own dance school and was thrilled when Jay asked her direct for the Newport Academy and work alongside one of her closest friends, Victoria Bryant.
As well as directing and teaching dance and drama, Alice is also lead singer in the function band "Function 24" and is a competitive dance and cheerleading athlete.

Victoria has been a Musical Director in and around the South Wales area for the last 16 years, taking a break only to study for a Masters in Music at Oxford University. When she returned from university, she spent a year teaching woodwind as a peripatetic tutor before undertaking a PGCE in Primary Studies. She has been a primary teacher for the last 10 years, fitting musical theatre around a demanding schedule.
Victoria began acting as Musical Director for WAWWA Musical theatre company in 1996 and since that time, she has musically directed shows including 'Les Miserables', 'Fame', 'A Chorus Line' and award-winning 'Footloose' and 'The Music Man'. Since that time, Victoria has acted as Musical Director for numerous groups, including WAWWA the Musical Youth, MYUK/NAPA, Centre Stage Cymru and Bristol Musical Youth Productions, to name but a few. She has musically directed over one hundred shows, including pantomimes, concerts, revues and full-scale musicals.
During her time at NAPA, Victoria has had the privilege of performing at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in front of a large audience and is looking forward to appearing at the Phoenix Theatre in February.
Musical highlights include performing with the a cappella groups 'Noteworthy' and 'Oxford Alternotives'. With the 'Alternotives', Victoria musically directed a three week tour of the east coast of America, performing in locations as diverse as Harvard University, the Empire State Building and most notably, singing the American national anthem before a baseball game at Shea Stadium. As a member of a chamber choir, Victoria has sung at a national competition for a live audience of over 10,000; this resulted in the choir begin awarded a bronze medal. Victoria also enjoys playing piano in and running a swing/soul band, 'Function 24', which performs regularly at weddings and other special occasions.
Victoria has worked with NAPA for the past two years and hopes to continue to do so for many years to come.
 

Victoria@nationalacademypa.co.uk

Connor was born of the 25th June 1994, and began music lessons at age 3 after he was bought a toy keyboard by his grandfather.

In 2010 he set up a community choir, for which he received several awards including RCT Volunteer of the year, High Sheriff of Mid Glamorgan award, and in 2012 The Princess Diana Memorial award.

In 2012 Connor's first musical 'Triptych' was performed and subsequently produced in a one off concert at the Wales Millennium Centre. Since then Connor has participated in various shows, including musically directing Les Miserables and Footloose, and playing Judas in The national academy of performing art's production of Jesus Christ Superstar.  

Connor has conducted at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on the west end in 2013, becoming one of the youngest people to ever conduct on London's West End. 

As a pianist, Connor won the prestigious Eric Hodges Memorial Prize for his performance of Beethoven's 23rd Piano sonata, has accompanied the world famous Treorchy Male Voice Choir, and played the harpsichord for the 2014 ITV1 drama 'The Lost Honour', providing soundtrack and appearing on screen. 

As well as a passion for music Connor has also won several Play-write awards and Art awards, and continues to write, as well as perform. 

Emily started off as one of the first cast members in to join NAPA at the very beginning. Starting out in Newport and then joining Bristol, she has performed in all of their shows since and is now delighted to be choreographing for Bristol and Birmingham. As well as these, she performs and choreographs for NAPA's sister group WAWWA and couldn't ask for a better job. Studying in Bristol for her Musical Theatre Degree she is enjoying gaining all of the experience she can get.

Will is currently studying Voice and Piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama whilst taking A Levels in French, Maths and Music. He has performed twice on the West End: once at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and in Howard Goodall’s ‘The Hired Man’ with the National Youth Music Theatre 2014 at the St James’ Theatre. Taking a wide interest in all forms of Music, Will has also performed two Operas: Clem/Alfred in ‘The Little Sweep’ as part of the Britten Centenary Festival and the role of Aeneas in ‘Dido and Aeneas’ with the Cheltenham Youth Opera Company.

Sam has started his theatre experience on stage from the age of 9, at the age of 14 he helped out on one show backstage  and became hooked, he has since gone on to work on shows  all over the country as part of our national tech support.

He is part of the team that brings WAWWA to the stage twice a year and fully stage managed RENT earlier this year which resulted in him getting a named mention in its review.

Sam is also very closely linked with the running of NAPA and has recently set up a production company, Penny Productions, with one of NAPA's founders ,to enable his experience to be pushed forward in all aspects of his chosen industry.

He is part of the production team that will be bringing NAPA to the West End next year and has been a key player in bringing this to stage.

Sam has also worked on West End shows Spamalot, Phantom of the Opera and Bodyguard and more recently Urinetown and Memphis, he is proud to be a part of NAPA since it's first show and has been a fundamental part of it's growth.

Joe was born and raised in the theatre and has, in turn, been involved in musicals since the age of six. He has taken an active role both on and off stage but developed a passion for sound, in his first technical role in Oklahoma, at the age of 15! He is a live events technician and has worked alongside the likes of Alfie boe john owen jones  and Rhydian. His work has taken him around the UK working on productions as large as Glastonbury and those in Wembley Arena to community performances in local village halls. Joe has enjoyed his time with NAPA and continues to look forward to upcoming performances.

Ollie is seventeen years old and has been involved in theatre for the past seven years, both on and off stage. He has been working with NAPA for the past two years and thoroughly enjoys working behind the scenes with such a great group. Ollie has many roles at NAPA, including producing videos for NAPAs website and the running of the YouTube channel advertising each of the hubs and their latest shows.

Although having performed on stage many times, Ollie’s passion lies in technical theatre and has been lucky enough to have experience in lighting, sound and projection, most recently designing the projection for Newport’s production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. He looks forwards to continuing his role with the tech team, working on more productions with NAPA and expanding his knowledge and experience in lighting, sound and projection.

Vicky is the Assistant Stage Manager for National Academy of Performing Arts. Her initial job is to help build the sets for each show then, during the run of the show, she communicates with the stage crew and lighting operators. As ASM, she will either call all the lighting cues throughout the show or give clearance to the various technical teams during scene changes, technical effects and for lighting states. Vicky will talk to all stage crew instructing them on every scene change, when to do it and what needs to be done. This may include delegating jobs to some cast member if there is a big scene change which requires a lot to do in a very short space of time.