About us
The Cauldron is a performing arts foundation dedicated to bringing diverse and innovative, English speaking (musical) theater to Amsterdam for amateurs and semi-professionals
Our Principles
I. PROMOTE DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND EQUALITY
We commit to challenging traditional casting and giving equal opportunity to performers of all ethnicities, ages, sizes, and backgrounds regardless of how a role has traditionally been played in the past. We aspire to be the change that we want to see in the industry.
II. PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES
We commit to providing a space where new artists can hone their craft among professionals and semi-professionals.
We commit to paying teachers the standard industry wage for courses run through The Cauldron.
III. COMMUNITY OUTREACH
We commit to engaging with amateurs and hobbyists in the community and providing them with courses and performance opportunities to enrich their lives.
We commit to working with schools and education programs to bring the arts to students across the Netherlands.
IV. EASILY ACCESSIBLE MUSICAL THEATER
Amsterdam is home to between 80,000-110,000 expats who all speak English as a common language, and yet there are only a small handful of theater companies that put on shows in English. We commit to engage with the expat community, and contribute to the arts economy by targeting an audience that currently doesn't have many opportunities to enjoy musical theater here. Simultaneously, we aim to enrich the musical theater scene for the Dutch audiences as well.
V. BRING A NEW ENTERTAINMENT MEDIUM TO THE NETHERLANDS
We commit to challenging ourselves to find new and innovative ways to present the musical theater art form and engage audiences in an interesting and immersive way.
Anbi
The Cauldron Performing Arts is an ANBI as of June 17th 2023
VAT number: NL863310205B01
RSIN number: 863310205
KAT CARSOn (UK)
FOUNDER | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Specialised in Early Music, Kat’s training in Historical Acting and Classical Singing help her create interdisciplinary performances that bridge the past and present. She has founded two ensembles The Wandering Bard and Nymphes et Monstres, has sung with The Sixteen, performed on some of the largest stages in the UK and Netherlands, and sung on British and Dutch radio. As an educator, Kat has run several outreach projects in the UK with one fundraising for a UK Music charity. She now works with the DGAI Music School and is vocal coach for The Wazzup Singers, who recently performed on We Want More. As a teacher, Kat allows her students to explore multiple styles of singing, and encourages experimenting with styles from Musical Theatre, to Jazz, to Classical. See more about Kat on her website, katcarson.com
Photograph by: yaramiorastudio
the board
ANASTASIIA FILIMONOVA (UA)
CHAIRWOMAN
Originally from Ukraine, Stacy developed a deep love for theater and music from a young age. Growing up in Kyiv, she spent her evenings immersed in playing and creating music, starting from her time at a music school and later with a band. Alongside her musical pursuits, she found joy in participating in various amateur theater productions.Despite her passion for the arts, Stacy took a different career path, diving into research in particle physics and later transitioning to a fintech career. This shift led her to temporarily pause her creative endeavors, revealing how much she missed them. In 2020, Stacy moved to Amsterdam and rekindled her passion for performance by getting involved in improv, musicals, and plays. She joined The Cauldron to help create more opportunities for English-speaking artists in the Netherlands.
Sheila Bosco (US)
TREASURER
Sheila Bosco is a percussionist who comes from a long background of theater production and management. Going to school in New York City, she instantly fell in love with theater when she started working at the Guggenheim Museum as a technician and soon moved to be Theater Manager of the museum’s Peter B. Lewis Theater. After gaining experience as a freelancer on and off Broadway, she continued her career as Technical Director and Chief Engineer at the Brooklyn Campus LIU, House Recordist/Archivist for the Greenwich House of Music, Audio Engineer for the American Composers Alliance, Theater Manager for the Brava Theater where she did lighting and sound design, and Arts Facilities Director at University of San Francisco where she oversaw over 100 theater productions a year. She is thrilled to be a part of the Cauldron to help cultivate a space for creativity and community in Amsterdam's vibrant theater scene.
Izzy Sayers (UK)
SECRETARY
Izzy is originally from the UK where she grew up being involved in various musical and creative activities: from singing in an award-winning youth choir, to playing saxophone in a jazz band, and performing in dance competitions. In 2015, Izzy moved to Amsterdam and began her career as an events and program manager, organising and hosting hundreds of events for the startup community. As secretary of the board at The Cauldron, Izzy is excited to combine her professional skills and experience with her enthusiasm for (musical) theatre and performing arts, contributing to the positive impact of this community-driven organization.
volunteers
Alcina Summers (NL)
VOLUNTEER
Alcina Summers is a voice actor and front-end developer with a deep love for musical theatre. She started performing at a young age and has had the pleasure of working with Broadway professionals such as Kerry Butler and Natalie Weiss. With experience on stage and as a vocal coach, she loves enhancing her skills and surrounding herself with creativity.
Now joining The Cauldron as a Communications Officer, Alcina is excited to offer her creative vision in a new role. With a team that’s eager to enhance Amsterdam’s musical theatre experience, she is happy to lend a hand in future projects.
Chi Chan (NL)
FUNDING GURU
Chi has a degree in business administration and has specialised in the fund raising for social programmes in The Netherlands. Programmes which help disadvantaged groups in society to have better access to education and employment opportunities.
Chi has only recently become a fan of and performer on the stage. With performances in improv theatre, standup comedy, musical theatre and storytelling.
This new found love for the performance arts has led him to become a funding guru for cultural organisations with their fund raising. Recent funding successes have been the Impro Festival Amsterdam and The Cauldron.
Ellen BROOKER (CA)
PRODUCTION ADVISOR
Ellen is a Canadian production and stage manager living and working in Amsterdam. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries from Central St Martin’s (London, England) in 2018, and has since happily applied her imagination to exciting projects internationally. She loves being part of the devising process, and handling the unexpected.
Selected production credits include:
Stage Management for The Cauldron’s Spelling Bee, 2023 (Theaterzaal De Rietwijker, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Production Manager for Nightwood Theatre’s All the Little Animals I Have Eaten, 2020 (Toronto, Canada)
Stage Management for Morro & Jasp: Save the Date at Red Pearl Womxn international clown festival 2020 (Helsinki, Finland)
She’s excited to be volunteering as Production Advisor for a the Cauldron, and hopes she can help things run smoothly backstage. Find her next working as Stage Manager on QETC’s La Cage aux Folles, coming this winter to CC Amstel, Amsterdam Netherlands.
Janice Guerrero (US)
GRANT WRITING VOLUNTEER
Originally from the US, Janice has been living in Amsterdam with her family since 2021. In a previous life, she taught theatre to high school kids and occasionally worked backstage.
She works as a product manager, but is excited to have found her way back to theatre through the Cauldron where she currently helps out with grant writing.
Jonelle Marasigan (nl)
SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICER
Jonelle Marasigan is a medical student from Amsterdam with a passion for (musical) theatre. She slowly rolled into this crazy world, always grateful for the Cauldron providing a warm and fuzzy environment to grow. To help out, she creates content for social media. Her main goal is to encapsulate and share the feeling of the tight-knit family the Cauldron has become for her.
Macy Hohenleitner (us)
SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICER
Originally from the United States, Macy Hohenleitner is a Utrecht-based freelancer with a background in media and cultural studies. Having performed in regional productions in Boston, MA throughout her youth, Macy is thrilled to have found The Cauldron. During her teenage years, Macy developed a knack for social media, building a small but dedicated following on YouTube. Her academic journey led her to delve deeper, culminating in a thesis on community engagement on TikTok. Now, as The Cauldron’s Social Media Coordinator, Macy combines her theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience, weaving her passion for storytelling into online interaction, fostering connections within The Cauldron community.
Marie-Océane Vignaud (FR)
MARKETING LEAD
Marie-Océane (MO for short) was born and raised in France and has lived for a total of 7 years in Germany and China before moving to Utrecht in 2020, where she is an event coordinator. In her youth, she used to be involved in a children's choir as well as in an orchestra (playing the French horn) during 10 years. Living abroad, she got to discover the musical world and just fell in love with it. While looking for a like-minded community in the Netherlands, she first found HEA where she took part in the Six musical bootcamp and shortly after this new adventure, she found The Cauldron. She is very excited to be helping The Cauldron and hopes she will make many new friends along the way!
Miao He 何苗 (CN)
VOLUNTEER
Miao is a catalyst person who is always cheerful and happy. She is originally from China and lives in Amsterdam. She loves singing and dancing since she was little. She started performing with dancing group on stage when she was 6. Though she chose a completely different career as an IT professional, she is always passion about musical and theatre. She likes trying different things and learns what she doesn't know. She is authentic to her inner child - being simple and filled with curiosity.
esMa aydogdu (TR)
WEB WIZARD & CREATIVE VOLUNTEER
Esma moved to Amsterdam in 2021 from her hometown of Ankara, Turkey, where she studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Though her path has shifted from circuits to pixels, she now spends her days crafting websites and biking around the canals of Amsterdam. Outside of her tech career, she enjoys singing with her ukulele, writing, and exploring new creative pursuits. She recently came across The Cauldron, a place to reconnect with her early passion for theatre within an international community.
