Sue Wood - Owner and Business Manager
Sue has a wealth of senior corporate management and people development experience, and amongst her many business qualifications she holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration. She has coached gymnastics, and was the u-16 and U-18 coach for Derbyshire County Netball, as well as being a county player and umpire herself. She was also selected for the very first Derbyshire Volleyball team. Sue has taught business studies to HND students in evening classes at Stockport College and has been a NVQ assessor.
Sue took early retirement in 2014 and established the Academy with Sam in 2015. She manages the operational, marketing and strategic aspects of the business.
Samantha Wood - Owner and Academy Principal
Samantha is the Principal and co-owner of the Academy and she has a wealth of teaching experience, passion and energy. Her classes are great for building technique, strength, performance skills and confidence – and most of all, they are fun!
Having successfully won a full scholarship to train at Performers College in Essex, she graduated with a National Diploma in Musical Theatre and completed her teacher training.
Sam has performed in many cabaret events at the Mayfair and Grosvenor Hotels in London as well as performing on ‘Top of the Pops’. She has travelled the world as principal singer for the ‘Headliners Theatre Company’ working for P&O Cruises. She also enjoyed 3 years as Mezzo Soprano Swing for the amazing ‘Thursford Christmas Spectacular’ in Norfolk; the biggest Christmas show in Europe. Here, she had the honour of performing for Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge at a Royal Gala Performance.
LAURA SLACK - DANCE TEACHER
Laura graduated from Centre Pointe vocational college in 2015 where she completed 3 years of professional dance training in performance and teaching and became a fully qualified ISTD dance teacher, with diplomas in dance education in Ballet, Modern and Tap. During this time she successfully auditioned for ‘The Company’ and appeared at The Lowry, Manchester in ‘How to succeed in business without really trying’, and ‘The Wedding Singer’.
Laura has worked as a professional dancer for CMV and Costa Cruises, travelling the world and performing in diverse shows that encompassed multiple dance genres. Other professional dance work includes ITV – Cold Feet, a Bollywood Film, a Breast Cancer charity event ‘Lois Dynamic Dancers’, and she was Dance Captain in CATS at the Altrincham Garrick.
Laura has gained her teaching experience working for local schools and prides herself in helping each student to develop as a dancer. She enjoys using her creative choreography skills for shows and competition work and is passionate about her ongoing professional development. Through ongoing studies she has continued to gain additional professional qualifications, enabling her to provide an advanced foundation in AcroDance education to Pre-Professional level 3 standard in Acrobatic Arts, as well as Alixa Flexibility training, and Radar Technique training.
In 2025, Laura co-choreographed and trained the routine that our students performed as members of Team England in the Dance World Cup. This was our first Dance World Cup venture and the team placed 14th in the world.
Merryn Parkin - Dance Teacher
Merryn joined the Academy in 2015 as a student and she progressed through her classes until she left to pursue a career in the performing arts. She graduated from Centre Pointe Vocational College in 2021 where she completed her professional dance and teacher training. Since then she has gone on to work professionally as a dancer at numerous venues, including dancing at Emmerdale’s 50th birthday party celebration and dancing at the AO Arena in London for the Tommy Fury vs KSI fight.
Merryn is a fully qualified ISTD Modern teacher and a qualified Acrobatic Arts teacher. She has gained her teaching experience at multiple dance schools and primary schools. Merryn loves working creatively on dances as well as building technique and strength. She is passionate about her ongoing development and passing on what she has learnt in her classes.
In 2025, Merryn co-choreographed the routine that our students performed as members of Team England in the Dance World Cup. This was our first Dance World Cup venture and the team placed 14th in the world.
JADE LEE - Dance Teacher
Jade is a professional dancer with a first class dance degree from De Montfort University. Her career has taken her all over the globe, from competing in Dance World Cup to performing in film and television in India, touring with travelling circuses across Europe, working in the production shows in a 5* resort in Greece, and many more countless locations and jobs in between. She is currently travelling the UK in the cast of the touring theatre production of Fireman Sam Live.
Jade has experience of teaching many styles of dance for local schools, as well as workshops for schools in Ireland and abroad during covid. She hopes that her love of dance can be experienced by and passed on to the next generation of budding young performers.
Evie Peyton - Teaching Assistant
Evie has been performing musical theatre since the age of 4 and she has played in a number of theatres, including Buxton Opera House, Manchester Palace Theatre, New Mills Art Theatre and Chapel Players. She has been a member of Chapel Players since 2015 and has choreographed and taught singing for Chapel pantomime.
Evie is also a member of Bowden Theatre Works and has performed in many of their showcases as well as completing group and solo LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art) exams; she has achieved a distinction in her LAMDA Grade 5 exam.
In September 2024 Evie will be commencing a BTEC level 3 extended diploma at The Manchester College and her goal is to become a professional musical theatre performer and a musical theatre teacher.
Evie says she feels very privileged to get to work alongside Sam and our students at the Academy, sharing what she already knows and learning more along the way.
Liz Richardson - Professional Theatre Maker & Actor
Liz is a renowned professional theatre maker and actor who writes and tours her own productions. She trained as an actor and has a BA Honours in Acting from East 15 Acting School, London. Whilst in London she was a founding member of actor-led, improvisational theatre company The Factory, creating and performing at theatres including The Globe, Southwark Playhouse, Soho Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and on BBC radio.
Liz has also enjoyed success in stand-up comedy, being a semi-finalist in the Soho Theatre’s Comedy Competition from which she was invited to appear with Amused Moose (BBC), and appearing for Funny Women and The Hackney Empire alongside Jenny Eclair.
Liz was a supported artist at HOME Manchester, where she also opened and ran the regular engagement strand Mothers Who Make, a national initiative offering peer to peer support for artist-mothers of any discipline and she established LR Productions Ltd in early 2020 to create and work with creatives whose passions lie with community and new writing.
Liz now lives in Chinley, High Peak and when she is not on the road with her own productions and projects, she works freelance in primary schools teaching drama. She is now working in collaboration with Samantha Wood Theatre Academy on a project to bring the world of drama to our young people.
Liz is looking forward to giving children the opportunity to express themselves and explore their personality as a way to entertain others, or to simply communicate how they feel. They will have the opportunity to meet others, test their skills at making people laugh and try their hand at creating scenes and improvising scenarios with characters that they create themselves. They will play and have fun whilst learning some of the disciplines of the acting world, and if students wish to take their acting skills to another level, or even to career level, Liz will guide them to a certification route.