We're delighted to announce that actor and Everyman youth theatre alumnus David Morrissey and Kate Willard, ‎Head of Corporate Affairs for Stobart Group, have joined the Board of the theatres.

David said: “I am delighted to be joining the board of a place that means so much to me and figured so large in my career.”

Kate said: “It was the Liverpool Playhouse that first brought me to Liverpool in the back end of the 80s as an Associate Director.  Being invited to join the Everyman and Playhouse Board now is a beautiful circle for me and I am made up to (re)join this brilliant and amazing family.”

Speaking about the two appointments, our Executive Director Deborah Aydon said: “They are absolutely at the top of their respective fields and, rightly, hugely respected, but the icing on the cake is that each also has a deep and long-standing personal relationship with the theatres and a real passion for Liverpool.”

David is a renowned actor of stage and screen who began his career in the Everyman Youth Theatre. Since then he has gone on to star in on screen in The Walking Dead (AMC), State of Play (BBC), The Driver (BBC), Blackpool (BBC), One Summer (Channel 4), The Deal (BBC) and Red Riding (Channel 4).

David played Macbeth at the Everyman in the final production in the old building before the redevelopment in 2011. His other theatre credits include Hangmen (Royal Court, London), In a Dark House (Almeida), Peer Gynt (National) and Much Ado About Nothing (West End).

Kate is Corporate Affairs Director for Stobart Group. With a background in culture and creativity, Kate has lived and worked in Europe as an independent regeneration expert with the European Commission on major transnational projects in employment, social cohesion and regional development and was also CEO of the UK’s first rural regeneration company (Rural Regeneration Cumbria). Originally trained as an actress, Kate studied at Theatre Royal Stratford East where she developed a keen interest in community theatre. She later became Associate Director at Liverpool Playhouse and then Founder Director of Brouhaha International Festival in the 1980s.

Kate is a Churchill Fellow, FRSA and is Chair of both the Atlantic Gateway and the Thames Gateway, South Essex Growth Partnership and is also on the Board of Liverpool Local Enterprise Partnership.