Who are we?
Under the Rug Theatre is a new company dedicated to social change and global justice. We are innovative, creative, and bold.
Our vision
We make theatre for the here and now. Our audience is at the forefront of our practice and we want to uncover the swept away stories & experiences of our neighbours, ourselves, and each other to create a better society and a better world.
Theatre has no limits and offers us a unique peek into the lives of others which often sparks conversations in the space, in the foyer and at home. These conversations are powerful tools for social & global change towards a more understanding, empathic, kind, and fair way of life.
Our mission
We make theatre that gives a platform to the voices that are often ignored, overlooked, and swept under the rug but are ready to be heard. Our work stretches from plays, to devised pieces, to spoken word text etc. All of which is designed to invite you to take a peek under the rug and discover something new, something that makes you howl with laughter, cry with a stranger, sit in the absence of entertainment, learn something new, or even identify yourself in the stories we share - sparks the conversation of change.
We are based in the Central Belt of Scotland, but the stories we share can cross all borders and our hope is that one day they will. We're active in the present, but time is the greatest of storytellers so often we look beyond the here and now for the here and now.
We are driven by our hearts, our big ideas and our humour.
Our team
Our team have a combined experience of 25+ years in the theatre industry. We each have expertise in very different areas, but come together through our love for creating, nurturing and developing.
Mikael Philippos (he/they)
Creative Director
Mikael is a theatre maker from the East End of Glasgow who has a love for community theatre and theatre which puts the audience at the front of the conversation.
Allie WIllison (she/her)
Associate Director
Allie is a theatre maker from New York who loves re-telling history from a new perspective while exploring feminist and queer themes.
Bethan Murray
(she/her)
Associate Director
Bethan is a Glasgow based theatre artist from South West Scotland. Her practice takes focus in cultivating environments where audiences can interact with and engage in conversations surrounding the complexities of living with mental illness.
Liv Pedersen (they/them)
Operations & Literary Manager
Liv is a theatre maker from Minnesota, USA, who loves theatre which celebrates the beautiful things about the crazy world we live in.
Ryan Lithgow (he/him)
Audience Development Manager/Dramaturg
Ryan is a dramaturg, writer and aspiring academic based in Glasgow who is interested in how stories, old & new, can be told within different genres and forms in the 21st century.
Anna Perry (she/her)
Movement Director
Anna is a writer and choreographer from Brighton who gets particularly excited about theatre that fuses social and environmental justice by complicating the human and reminding audiences of their place in wider ecology.
Jamie Cowan (he/they)
Creative Contributor
Jamie is a Scottish performer and playwright currently based in Glasgow.
Having previously performed with the Scottish Youth Theatre National Ensemble, he has worked across both stage and screen as an actor and writer.
Abigail Jensen (she/her)
Creative Contributor
Abigail is an American theatre artist pursuing her master's degree in Playwriting & Dramaturgy at the University of Glasgow.Her original poetry and essays have been published in LOGOS: A Journal of Undergraduate Research, Red Coyote, and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and two of her plays have been produced in her home state of Missouri.