Blanche McIntyre is an exceptionally talented new director who has already earned considerable plaudits. Her presence as a director to watch was firmly established when she won the 2011 Critics’ Circle Most Promising Newcomer award for her work at the Finborough Theatre. Following on from her critically acclaimed productions of ACCOLADE (Time Out's fringe show of the year) and FOXFINDER at the Finborough, Blanche McIntyre was named the “One To Watch in Theatre” in Time Out’s 2012 Preview. McIntyre describes her career directing as 'an addiction not a decision'. She will next be directing a new play by E V Crowe for the Unicorn, and THE SEAGULL for Headlong in 2013.

Nominated for giving a fresh take on what the word "theatre" can mean by constantly innovating and creating challenging experiences. Felix Barrett has a fair claim to the title of the hottest theatre director in Britain in the past decade. With his company Punchdrunk, he brought large-scale "immersive" theatre into the mainstream with a series of hit performance-installations ' including London show 'MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH and SLEEP NO MORE, an award-winning promenade of MACBETH, which has been running for over a year in a warehouse in New York. Commercial success hasn't dimmed his restless experimentalism, says Barrett: "If someone else has done it," he says flatly, "I'm not really interested in doing it myself."

Jenny Sealey is the inspirational artistic powerhouse of Graeae – one of the UK's most innovative theatre companies - and was also the Co-Director of the sensational London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony.  Graeae provides a platform for new generations of Deaf and disabled talent through the creation of trail-blazing theatre. Sealey's shows for Graeae this year include Reasons to be Cheerful and The Garden.  The Opening Ceremony has been one of the talking points of the summer and informed coverage of the Paralympics across the media. Sealey has an MBE for services to disability arts.

Nominated for his spectacular and wide ranging 2012 festival programme that included the marathon performances of GATZ. The 2012 festival was the second under Mark Ball's artistic direction, promising to be bigger, bolder, braver and with more surprises than ever before. A host of new commissions and partnerships made it a year of firsts: LIFT 2012 ventured into the West End for the first time with Elevator Repair Service's extraordinary GATZ, billed as the theatrical event of the decade; established a major partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company's World Shakespeare Festival, and were part of the London 2012 Festival. Lift's spirit of independence continues to shine brightly, with Ball's new commissions and presentations from some of the worlds most edgy, provocative and political theatre makers.

Nominated for an even more audacious and successful programme than ever in 2012, Neil McPherson West London's tiny, unsubsidised Finborough Theatre is one of the best in the entire world. Its programme of new writing and obscure rediscoveries remains "jaw-droppingly good". McPherson has twice won the Best Artistic Director award at the 2011 and 2012 Off West End Awards.

Richard is a playwright, lyricist and poet. His plays include SKITTLES - a story about love (and sweets, which are more reliable); NICKED, a musical about Nick Clegg (co-written with the composer Natalia Sheppard) and DIRTY GREAT LOVE STORY (co-written with Katie Bonna) which won a Fringe First this summer.
He was one of the inaugural 503/5 writers-in-residence at Theatre503. As a poet, Richard has toured internationally as far away as Scotland.

Sheridan Smith is a critically acclaimed West End theatre actress, having won two Laurence Olivier Awards in two consecutive years. In 2011, she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for playing Elle Woods in LEGALLY BLONDE and a year later received Best Performance in a Supporting Role for her performance as Doris in the revival of FLARE PATH. The latest step in her remarkable career, Smith has been playing the title role in HEDDA GABLER at the Old Vic since September. A role often cited as one of the greatest female dramatic roles in theatre and dubbed 'the female Hamlet', was once described as a hoop through which every aspiring female actor must jump. So far it seems Smith is performing the feat with commendable ease and agility.

TIME OUT WILD CARD Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has appeared on television in Australia, Britain and the United States and is the co-writer of the Olivier Award winning hit musical MALTILDA THE MUSICAL, based on the Roald Dahl book MALTILDA. Minchin played Judas in the Summer 2012 UK tour of the musical JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.

Trevor most recently appeared in the West End's Apollo Theatre, playing the role of James Tyrone Jr. in the critically acclaimed Eugene O'Neill drama, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. He was also part of the original cast of ENRON, that debuted in Chichester, before its sold-out run at both the Royal Court, and the Noel Coward Theatre.
Recent stage work also includes AUNT DAN AND LEMON and RED BUD (Royal Court), MACBETH (Regent's Park), ON THE RECORD (Arcola), TWISTED TALES (Lyric Hammersmith) and CORIOLANUS (RSC). In Film, he recently featured in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, Michael Winterbottom's GENOVA, THE WHISTLEBLOWER and the upcoming Brad Pitt film, WORLD WAR Z. Recent TV includes recurring roles on BBC's HUNTED, and EPISODES, as well as guest appearances on DOWNTON ABBEY (where he played Season 2's mysterious Canadian Major Patrick Gordon), as well as FOYLE'S WAR, MOONSHOT, BONEKICKERS, HOUSE OF SADDAM, the BAFTA Nominated 9/11: THE TWIN TOWERS and THE LINE OF BEAUTY. For BBC Radio, he has read THE GREAT GATSBY, MOBY DICK, THE 33, and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, among many others.

Vicky Featherstone has been the inaugural Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Theatre of Scotland since its inception in 2004 and has steered the Company to enormous artistic, critical and audience acclaim. She passes on to her successor a company in excellent creative and financial shape. Featherstone has recently accepted the post of Artistic Director with the Royal Court Theatre in London and will take up her new position in Spring 2013 as the first ever female artistic director the Royal Court in its 56 year history.