Abigail Sewell

Abigail Sewell is a film and theatre director and the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Uproot, a socially driven, cross-arts production company with the mission of supporting Black artists.

Her work is motivated by the transformative power of storytelling, and engages with themes of race, gender, class and sexuality, championing untold narratives from underrepresented voices.

Abigail specialises in working with young people, be it in educational settings as a director, or with marginalised community groups as a drama facilitator. She is an Associate Artist at National Youth Theatre, an Associate Learning Practitioner at Royal Shakespeare Company and a Trustee at Young Vic and Represent Theatre.

Credits

Director: Crown by Thara Popoola (BBC Two, London Short Film Festival), This Is Black 2.0 the Online Experience (Uproot Productions), Put Me On by Lauren Marshall (music video), I AM [NOT] KANYE WEST by Natasha Brown (Bunker Theatre), PYNEAPPLE by Chantelle Alle and Melissa Saint (Bunker Theatre), The Lost Ones by Amina Koroma (Ovalhouse Theatre), Never Forget by Kaleya Baxe (Tristan Bates Theatre), Heard by Winnie Imara and Tamsin Newlands (Camden People’s Theatre).

Associate Director: J'Ouvert, BBC Four and Harold Pinter Theatre, dir. Rebekah Murrell.

Assistant Director: Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Company, dir. Robin Belfield; Pah-La, Royal Court Theatre, dir. Debbie Hannan; Rosenbaum’s Rescue, Park Theatre, dir. Kate Fahy; Things of Dry Hours, Young Vic, dir. Debbie Hannan; Random Selfies, Ovalhouse, dir. Owen Calvert-Lyons and Timbuktu, Theatre Royal Stratford East, dir. Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu.

Director of Readings and Scratch Nights: Hometime & Saturn Return, Tamasha Playwrights Festival; Better in Person, Burn Bright; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Royal Shakespeare Company; The Preacher's Wife, Roundhouse; Fly Home Butterfly, Talawa Firsts Festival; The After Glow, Shaw Theatre; Taker, Intermission Theatre; Her Daughter’s Doll, Nouveau Riche; Burned, Theatre 503 and Yemi, Omnibus Theatre.