Luke Thornalley

Hi, I'm Luke and I'm primarily a theatre director, although have produced work in the past also. I originate from Boston, Lincolnshire and go by the pronouns he/him. In the summer of 2020 I graduated with a first class degree in Film and Theatre from the University of Reading and also won the 2018-19 University of Reading Chancellor's Award for my academic achievements during my 2nd year as a whole.

My work tends to concentrate on new works by emerging writers and reimagined classics that critique global, national and local socio-political landscapes. Within this I am particularly interested in how new works can be influenced by both 16th and 19th century work and question the contemporary relevance of doing so. In this new online era, I'm also interested in how film framing techniques can be integrated into live zoom performance create a blended medium and audience experience. Furthermore, elements of dance/movement are frequently combined with popular/well known music to add to the narrative dimensions of the either the character or event to which it is dramatising.

At the moment I'm the Director of International Relations at Digital Dramatists, a Chicago based digital theatre company and am responsible for creating and developing our international database of writers, directors, actors and dramaturges. I also oversee a number of international projects/showcases. So far this has seen me produce our Exposure showcase which saw the bringing together of six UK based artists and six US based artists to collaboratively create six new 15 zoom plays which responded to the pandemic and 2020 as a whole. This work was showcased over the weekend beginning 10th October 2020. At the moment I'm in the early stages of setting up a new writing experiment group which will work as one group to write a one act play exploring nation and identity within 21st Britain, before each writer is encouraged to write their own 10 minute play that responds in some way to the one act which they helped craft.

I am always interested in hearing of new ideas and work opportunities, especially those with a focus on artists and communities outside of London.

Credits

Director, Seconds (10 minute zoom play), Digital Dramatists, 3 nights, 2021. Written by Ken Preuss.
Director, Algorithm (15 minute zoom play), Digital Dramatists, 2 nights, 2020. Written by Shelby Deal.
Director, The Seagull, The Studio Space Reading, 3 experiments, 2020
Director, Broken, Cave Theatre Muncie, 1 evening, 2018
Lighting Technician, the Disappearance of Miss Beeb, Bob Kayley Theatre Reading, 2 nights, 2019

Training

Education and Training:

University of Reading, UK - BA Film and Theatre, First Class Honours, 2017- 2020.
Ball State University, Muncie, USA - BA Theatre Directing, 4 A’s (GPA = 4.0) 2018.

Additional Workshops and Training:

Generating and Structuring Text for Performance, Young Vic, November 2020, facilitated by Leo Skilbeck.
An Introduction to Shakespeare’s Language for Directors, Young Vic, November 2020, facilitated by Ben Prusiner.
Director/ Designer Workshop, Young Vic, September 2020, facilitated by Jennifer Tang and Moi Tran.
Embracing Liveness Through Interactivity in Remote Digital Platforms, Young Vic, September 2020, facilitated by Janet Howe.