Meet the Staff
All our staff have extensive experience both in the performing arts and in working with children. Most importantly, our staff firmly believe in the main principle of Stage It! - that taking part in performing arts should be fun above anything else.
Helen Pitts - Principal
Helen has been involved in the dramatic arts for over 16 years. She was a founder member of the Theatre of the Unemployed, performing in a wide range of critically-acclaimed productions, ranging from pantomime through to Shakespeare. She has recieved positive reviews in The Stage and has won awards for acting. She works with children on a daily basis, and firmly believes in all children being given opportunities to develop themselves. Helen is the organiser of the team, and producer of all our shows. She's the one who always knows what's going on, when and where, so if you've got any questions, you know who to ask!
Chris Pitts - Principal
Chris's performing background is mainly in music. He plays the piano, guitar, saxophone and clarinet. Throughout school and university he was responsible for setting up and running a wide variety of bands, orchestras and choirs. He has also composed and arranged music in a range of styles. He has sustained an active interest in drama since school, having written the Tamworth Pantomime in 2011 and 2012, and worked with another youth theatre group based in Tamworth before setting up Stage It!. Completely passionate about giving young people a fun and positive experience of performing arts, he tells anyone who will listen that "If the lessons are fun, then the students won't even realise they are learning". Chris trained as a doctor, and currently works for the Pharmaceutical Industry. He spends most of the week looking forward to Stage It! Saturdays!
Emma Smith - Teacher (Minis, Juniors, Inters)
Emma is a freelance dancer, teacher and choreographer who trained at Burton and South Derbyshire College (Performing Arts Specialist) and Staffordshire University where she gained a Foundation Degree in Dance and Theatre Arts. She is an Associate Teacher for the United Teachers of Dance association (known as UTD). Emma has taught cluster groups and Pre-school children through Staffordshire County Council. She has worked and performed extensively, including working as a dancer for an entertainments company in Greece, directing and producing numerous shows, dancing at Blackpool Winter Gardens, the Royal Albert Hall, Port Aventura Spain, Her Majesty’s Theatre London, and Birmingham NEC (The Clothes Show Live). She has been in the cast for various productions, including Summer Holiday, A Chorus Line, Cats, In Any Other World, Quadrophenia 2012 and 23.
Emma says “I love to share my knowledge of dance with others and I am still keen to learn new things myself."
Abbie Henderson - Teacher (Tweens, Seniors)
Abbie is a dance performer, teacher and choreographer from Birmingham. After graduating from the Midlands Academy of Musical Theatre in 2022, Abbie began teaching dance to young people aged 3-20. Her recent credits include working as a dancer for the Britney Spears tribute Absolute Britney tour, The Greatest Show: Songs for Hollywood UK tour and Kimichi Orchestra's FireBird and Petrushka ballets. Abbie led the cast of Little Women as Jo March and also featured in The Wicked Lady International Tour and the musical RENT, as well as various pantomimes. Not only is she experienced onstage but backstage too, as she was resident Stage Manager for the production of Rapunzel and the Rascal Prince in Sutton Coldfield.
Abbie loves to share her passion for the arts and wishes to help others to grow their skills and hone their talents.