"Pizzazz"
aka Phylly Jones MA (Co-Founder)
Phylly is a children’s drama facilitator, trainer and educator with over 12 years experience. She holds an MA in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and is a freelance Applied Theatre in education practitioner designing creative arts-based ESL programmes. After running her own drama and creative play franchise for five years in
the UK, Phylly also spent two years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, helping to set up the
same programme in education settings and training local teachers. She has used drama to teach curriculum subjects and with
SLCN children in East London primary schools, as well as with adults in recovery from substance misuse and living with HIV.
Whilst working as an ESL teacher in Barcelona in 2019, she also designed and managed a
themed international school summer camp. Phylly now combines her international research,
creativity and practical experience in both drama facilitation and second language teaching to challenge the misconception that drama is only about "performing".
"Echo"
aka Elana Shyong MA (Co-Founder)
Elana is a teacher trainer and drama workshop facilitator with over 6 years of experience workshopping on an international level. She holds an MA in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, sits on the board of the British charity ISTA as the Alumni Chair, and is an Erasmus+ programme teacher trainer. Prior to Barcelona, she taught musical theatre and Trinity College London exam preparations at a performing arts centre in Shanghai and facilitated different workshops for young people, the elderly and the neurodiverse in London.
Elana specializes in curriculum invigoration and applying drama to the everyday classroom. For her, theatre is less about performing on stage and more
about the transformation it can make within people and within spaces. The core of her practice
centers on combining her participants' individual passions and learning points with the
dynamic and playful nature of theatre; the result being a creative a and safe space where students
are invited to learn by doing.