Cheryl Rowlands School Of Drama

CHERYL ROWLANDS LLB (Hons) (DipAppSocSc), LAMDA (Gold) PRINCPAL

Principal and actress, Cheryl began the Drama School in Portishead back in 1998 whilst living in Long Ashton, building the School up from one pupil to almost 100 and then weathering the storm of the recent, long recession and now slowly rebuilding once more. As a trained actress, she has appeared in many professional productions such as The Sarah Jane Adventures, Casualty, Dalziel and Pascoe, Being Human, Doctor Who, The Mimic and Torchwood, and has also been involved with productions such as Broadchurch among others. She was Casting Director as well as appearing herself in Runland, an award-winning Sci-Fi film and played the lead in local film “Stigma”. She has also written a sequel to the 1960’s detective show Randall & Hopkirk which is due to go into Production this year with veteran actor Kenneth Cope due to reprise his role of Marty Hopkirk. In addition, Cheryl has also undertaken several photo-shoots for Take a Break magazine and features in the Doctor Who Magazine Special of The Sarah Jane Adventures and appears in the paperback book of the same name. She also played a young HM The Queen Mother in a historical docu-drama on the 1952 Royal Coronation for Channel Four. As a teenager, she regularly featured on BBC Radio Bristol's children's magazine show called “Calico Pie Rules OK!” and as one of the older, trusted participants, co-hosted the Show whilst the regular, adult hosts were on holiday. She is an Associate Teacher with LAMDA, and writes regular theatre reviews in the region for Remotegoat. She was Chair of the Bristol & West General Branch of the Actors' Union EQUITY from 2014 - 2016 and is a regular guest signer at Sci Fi and Fan Conventions. In addition to all her drama activities, Cheryl has a 2:1 degree in Law and is due to be Called to the Bar in July 2019 as a result of Barrister Training.  In addition, she is starting a BA (Hons) in Criminology & Law. Until recently, she was also the Parliamentary Liaison Officer and Chair of a new Legal Forum working with former MP Lembit Opik for the Motorcycle Action Group.  

MELISSA ROWLANDS   MUSIC TECHNICIAN AND SPECIAL EFFECTS CO-ORDINATOR             

Melissa started acting in our Drama Shows from the age of 18 months, having appeared in our adaptation of The Jungle Book as a Baby Bear and is now our resident “Techie”. She is in charge of all our music editing and soundtracks for our Shows, as well as the Lighting and Sound. She has written original songs and music, some of which can be heard on our CD Soundtrack for "POSSET", our 15th Anniversary Annual Summer Show. She is also the creator of our Official Website and has auditioned for and appeared in many professional productions including, Being Human, Broadchurch, The Bristol Job, Mistresses, Skins and various Professional stage productions at The Bristol Hippodrome. She recently played the lead role of Drew Taylor in “Drew Taylor’s Story” – an information film for schools about a young girl living with autism. Excitingly, the BBC showed great interest in this film, with regard to supplying it to schools throughout the UK. In addition to graduating to "en pointe" in Ballet and performing on stage both in Ballet and Drama shows, Melissa also plays the piano, violin, trumpet, cornet and drums and has played concerts to audiences across the South West of England and Wales as part of her music activities. She also stage managed Shows and Concerts at Bristol Cathedral Choir School before leaving to attend Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, Lamcashire to study for a Degree in Computer Games Design.  In 2015 she had her own blog on the Bristol Tourist website, "Destination Bristol" where her recent ICT work comprising of a video advertising Bristol as a great place to visit and this was picked up by former Bristol Mayor, George Ferguson and was used on the Destination Bristol website. Melissa is also part of the Production & Stage Management Team for Anime League who host Conventions around the UK.  It is Melissa’s intention to have a career in ICT, specialising in designing computer games as well as theatre management on completion of her degree.