Leading national and international disabled-led theatre company Vital Xposure today announce the appointment of award-winning neurodivergent director and producer, Stephen Bailey as its new Artistic Lead.
Stephen has longstanding experience in creating new accessible work. Winner of the 2022 Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award, he was resident assistant director at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2020 and has previously worked with theatres including the National Theatre, Graeae, Hampstead and the Kiln.
Stephen runs ASYLUM Arts whose credits include FlawBored’s multi-award winning It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure and this year are touring Papatango Prize Winner Tom Powell’s Surfacing and Covered in Jam’s That’s Not My Name. Most recently Stephen directed The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man by Tom Wright for Nottingham Playhouse. He is a Barbican Open Lab Artist and Oxford Playhouse EVOLVE Artist.
Stephen said: “I am thrilled to join Vital Xposure as Artistic Lead. Working with the board and current team, I’m excited that we’re embarking on an ambitious new chapter which considers disability as a lens rather than a subject.
Following VX’s mission to share vital stories and expose hidden truths, we will pursue an artistic policy of disabled artists collaborating with other marginalised groups. In the coming year, we’ll forge new partnerships with organisations within and beyond the theatre sector to access untold narratives of celebration and persistence. I am eager to employ the skills and expertise of the disabled arts community to uplift essential, untold stories from other communities.
It’s an honour to build on Julie McNamara’s artistic legacy, which elevated VX to international acclaim and paved the way for myself and fellow disabled peers to work in this industry. In these challenging times for the sector, I believe a nimble company like Vital Xposure can play a key role in developing under-served audiences.”
Vital Xposure was founded in 2011 with access and social justice at its heart. The company produces and tours innovative, accessible new work, profiling hidden voices with extraordinary stories to tell, bringing new and diverse audiences to venues. Their vision is for marginalised artists to become creative leaders, with their work celebrated in the heart of our culture.
Stephen joins the company as the team prepares for the next stage of the VX Labs, a three-year development programme which aims to extend disabled-led practices to bring together artists and regional partners to co-design an infrastructure for inclusive models of performance, creating new work and bringing new stories to the stage. 2024 will also see the completion of the second year of Wellspring, a writers development programme for disabled, d/Deaf and Neurodivergent playwrights and script writers which seeks to showcase fresh, determined voices in theatre through disabled-led storytelling.
Sue Williams, Chair, Vital Xposure said: “We are excited to welcome Stephen to Vital Xposure. His commitment to uncovering new stories and ways of making theatre chimes with VX’s pledge to bring sector change through disabled-led work and beyond. Stephen’s appointment marks our direction of travel for more bold ideas, and strategic partnerships across our work.
Theresa Veith, Executive Director, Vital Xposure added: “I am delighted that Stephen will be joining the Vital Xposure team. He brings a wealth of directing credits, including most recently The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man at Nottingham Playhouse, and I look forward to working with him.”
