WELCOME TO BEN NAYLOR, DEAN OF BADA!

We are excited to welcome Ben Naylor to BADA as he steps into the role of Dean! After a long and comprehensive search process, Ben was appointed in April to succeed Eunice Roberts; he has spent the past several months getting to know BADA, our programs, and our partners in advance of his official start today.

Ben joins BADA from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, where he worked from 2006 until earlier this year, and where he was Course Leader for the MA Classical Acting, a one-year advanced actor training programme he designed, and Senior Lecturer in Acting.

He brings to BADA a wide and diverse range of experiences as a director, actor, researcher, and as an educator. In addition to his work at Central, Ben has worked extensively with American students while teaching at Florida State University’s Theatre Academy London, Shakespeare’s Globe, and the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon. He also works across the UK and internationally as a director, with projects in Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, Israel, Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand.

“We’re thrilled to have Ben take up the mantle of Dean of BADA,” says Richard Johnson, Chair of the Trustees of BADA. “Ben’s experience, particularly in actor training and UK/US partnerships, makes him the ideal person to take the helm and to build on BADA’s long history of successes, and innovate and expand on the work of his predecessors.”

Ben joins the BADA Team as we get ready for the arrival of the Fall 2023 London Theatre Program students in just over a week’s time and as we prepare to open applications for the 2024 sessions of our two newest summer intensives, Greek Theatre and Black British Theatre, later this fall.