Who We Are

Emily Jones - Original Concept & Co-Producer

Emily’s journey to becoming a single mother with a donor was five years. 5 IUI’s, 3 IVF’s, 3 FET’s, 5 miscarriages and numerous other procedures later, her daughter was born in April 2020. Emily is a casting director and producer. After training as an actor, she co-founded an all-female theatre company that produced new writing, co-producing & developing 6 full productions between 2005-2014. The productions took place at The Old Red Lion, Underbelly @ Edinburgh Festival, Park Theatre and a tour of the South West of England. Emily then moved into casting in 2012. She worked for Ginny Schiller before she moved to the BBC, after which Emily set up on her own in 2016 and now casts predominantly in theatre, casting at venues such as Birmingham Rep and The Royal & Derngate. Her story of solo-motherhood by choice, her family life with her best friend and her current fertility journey were the starting point for this piece.

Hannah Calascione - Director & Co-Producer

Hannah is a director, dramaturg and theatremaker. She makes theatre that's curious about the world’s systems, with a focus on interdisciplinary design and process. She studied Anthropology and Politics at Cambridge, and completed an MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck, with secondments at Guildhall School of Music And Drama, Bolton Octagon and HOME. She is a reader for the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize and Women's Prize for Playwriting, previously for Potboiler Productions. In 2019 her production of All the Little Lights by Jane Upton won an OffWestEnd award, she worked with YESYESNONO to devise the accident did not take place which was nominated for a Total Theatre Award, and she co-created Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with Manchester Camerata Orchestra for HOME’s Viva Festival. Currently, alongside making Next of Kin she is resident artist at Camden People’s Theatre as part of their Starting Blocks programme, and producing a new music theatre work for Rough for Opera alongside composer Calla Esperanza. She has worked in the violence against women and girls sector as a support worker for 5 years, and is always looking to expand our stories of queerness, motherhood and care.

Anna Himali Howard - Dramaturg

Anna Himali Howard is a director, theatremaker and dramaturg. Her work has been staged at theatres including the Bush Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Orange Tree and Birmingham REP. She trained on the Birmingham REP Foundry, as the Paines Plough Trainee Director, on the NT Studio Directors’ Programme and the Royal Opera House Directors’ Course. She was a Creative Associate at the Gate Theatre and is currently an Associate Artist at Brixton House. Her work with international companies includes directing for BE Festival, New Nordics, and the Royal Court International Playwrights Residency. She is interested in new writing, co-creation and working across genres to uproot classic texts.

Dr. Vasanti Jadva - Consultant

Dr Vasanti Jadva is a Lecturer in Reproductive Science at the Institute for Women's Health, UCL, a Principal Research Associate at the Centre for Family Research in Cambridge and an Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of Psychology. Her research examines the psychological well-being of parents and children in families created by IVF, egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy. She has also studied the experiences of surrogates and gamete donors. Dr Jadva is currently working with colleagues on a number of different studies which aim to increase understanding of new family arrangements involving non-cohabiting co-parents, transgender parents, elective single fathers and identifiable egg donors.

Caitlin Duncan - Illustrator/Graphic Designer

Caitlin Duncan is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, and a recent graduate from Kingston School of Art.

She is the designer of edition 1 of The Road To Nowhere, social media designer for MiSFIT, and has worked with several publications and businesses within Fashion, TV production & the Music industry, including Last Bus Magazine, Mxogyny, Lime Garden Band, Lowie, Miss PomPom, Palladio Associates, Siren media LTD.

As well as charity organisations such as Change for Change & Mary’s Living and Giving Shop for Save the Children.