Marcus Romer
Marcus is the Artistic Director of Pilot Theatre, based at York Theatre Royal.
He adapted and directed Looking for JJ, by Anne Cassidy,which won the TMA award for best production in 2008. It was also nominated for a Manchester Evening News Award. His production of Lord of the Flies for Pilot Theatre has had five national UK tours and received a TMA award nomination and won a Manchester Evening News award. His co-production of Jonathan Beautiful Thing with the Octagon Theatre, Bolton won two Manchester Evening News Awards in 2005. He has also directed Sing yer heart out for the lads by Roy Williams, Road The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Bloodtide, ASL, Look back in Anger, Abigail’s Party, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Mirad a boy from Bosnia, at York Theatre Royal, The Twits at Bolton Octagon and Artsdepot London, where he also created the premiere of Fungus the Bogeyman, which also toured nationally.
He is also a published playwright and he has adapted and directed the world premiere of Susan Hinton’s cult classic Rumble Fish which again toured nationally and opened in Oklahoma last year. He adapted Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess, Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy, and Fungus the Bogeyman, by Raymond Briggs. His plays Taken Without Consent, and Out of their Heads have been performed all over the UK and Europe. . He is currently working on the screenplay for ‘The Knife That Killed Me’ from the novel by Anthony McGowan. This will be a new feature film for GreenScreen Productions with Kit Monkman.
He created the opening event at the 2007 IIFA Bollywood Oscars at Sheffield Arena, for a live audience of 15,000 and a TV audience of 500 million. He was invited to attend the TED conference in California in 2007 where he furthered his interest in technology in the Arts. On returning he set up and led the Shift Happens Conferences for Pilot Theatre in partnership with Arts Council England. The third conference will be on July 5th and 6th 2010. He is a regular speaker and presenter on the digital technology in the Arts.
He continues to work as an actor and has appeared on The Cops, Prime Suspect, Hillsborough ’This is Personal, GBH, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Dalziel and Pascoe.
