Area 51 The Creative Team

Daniel Richard O'Brien

Daniel is 24 years old and a graduate of Glasgow University, where he holds a Joint Honours Masters Degree in English Literature and Film & Television. Last year Daniel was awarded an LLB from Strathclyde Law School, and he has recently been awarded the Postgraduate Legal Diploma at the Glasgow Graduate School of Law. In December 1999, Daniel Produced a Workshop Production of Area 51 at Glasgow University's New 5 million pound GilmorehillG12 Centre, becoming simultaneously the first musical and first new show written by a student ever to be staged there. For his writing on the Gilmorehill G12 version, Daniel was awarded a Selectors Commendation of Excellence for Promising New Musical from the National Student Drama Festival (ran by the Sunday Times and BBC) - the first time a production from the University had ever been recognised by the NSDF. Area 51 was also a finalist of the Vivian Ellis Prize, where Daniel was nominated for the Really Useful Group best new writer award. In 2002 a concept album of Area 51 was released starring Claudia Christian and Matt Rawle. The album was made possible by the investment of Cameron Mackintosh, who had listened to the show on the recommendation of George Stiles. The music was performed by the BT Scottish Ensemble and members of the band Aereogramme, favourites of the late John Peel, who have toured extensively throughout Europe and the USA, and whose album "A Story in White" was recently released worldwide by Chemical Underground Records. As a result, Area 51 was featured in full page or more articles in many publications such as SFX Magazine, Dreamwatch Magazine, The Herald, The Scotsman and many others, as well as being profiled in special TV features by BBC Scotland, Channel 4's The Big Breakfast and the US Sci-Fi Channel.
Daniel’s recent work includes an issue of "Buck Roachers in the Plenty Spliff Century" for Northern Lightz Press, illustrated by We3 and 2000AD artist Jamie Grant. 2002 saw Daniel being invited to be a judge for Scottish Screen's annual film festival. Daniel then collaborated with Frank Quitely (JLA: Earth 2, New X-Men, The Authority, Superman and voted the no.1 artist in the comic book industry 2001) and Ricardo Delgado (Storyboard artist for “The Matrix: Reloaded” and “The Matrix: Revolutions”, “Star Trek: First Contact” and head designer of Disney’s “Dinosaur”) on a new horror comedy project, which attracted the backing of Proxima Visual Effects, creators of Special Effects for such films as “Exorcist: The Beginning”, “Dune” and “Titus”. Last summer Daniel produced the short romantic comedy film "Improbable Connection" at Cinecitta Studios, Rome.
Nicky Hinkley Choreographer

Nicky has been choreographing in the entertainment industry for fourteen years during which she has worked on films, music videos, commercials, fashion shows and many television programmes. Nicky has been the choreographer for the television series Lily Savage, Hale & Pace, Smith & Jones, Shooting Stars, Lenny Henry, French & Saunders, Harry Enfield, Alistair McGowan, 2.4 Children and Harry Enfield. She has also choreographed music videos for The Beautiful South, Pet Shop Boys, Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue and Boy George.

Iain Cook Musical Arrangements

Iain has joined the Area 51 Production Team for the purposes of rewriting the score for the contemporary, MTV watching generation. A Lecturer in Music Composition at Strathclyde University, Iain is also a member of the band Aereogramme. Aereogramme have recently signed a four album deal to Chemical Underground Records, home of Mogwai and The Delgadoes. Already featured by The List Magazine as one of the most promising new bands in Scotland, the band are set to commence a six month tour of Europe later this year.

Claudia Christian Lead Actress

Claudia made her feature film debut in the cult classic, The Hidden. She then went on to the critically acclaimed Warner Bros. feature Clean and Sober and Columbia's comedy Hexed. She became an international TV star while starring as Commander Susan Ivanova in the Hugo award winning series Babylon 5, which is still airing in over 20 countries. Recently Claudia starred in the award winning independent film True Rights. She also has a role in Valerie Breiman's Love and Sex, which was featured at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, she is the lead female in Disney’s Atlantis. This highly anticipated animated feature starring Michael J. Fox is set to be released in the summer of 2001. She has starred in over thirty films and countless TV series with Faye Dunaway, Bob Hope, Sharon Stone, Michael Keaton, Morgan Freeman, Kyle Maclachlan and Treat Williams to name just a few. Shows she has guest starred in include Highlander, LA Law, Dallas, Murder She Wrote and Quantum Leap. Along with all of her acting work, she has written a series of children's books and starred in a live action CD ROM game. In her rare free time, she loves reading, playing piano and guitar, cooking and traveling.

Matt Rawle Lead Actor

Matt was born in Birmingham and studied at Mountview Theatre School in a 3 year Musical Theatre course. He gained Mountview's Singing Scholarship and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship. Prior to Mountview he had already performed in shows such as The Sound of Music and Oliver! at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Matt made his West End debut in Miss Saigon, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London where he was ensemble and also understudied and played the lead role of Chris. Following Miss Saigon Matt performed the title role in another Cameron Mackintosh production of a Boublil & Schonberg musical, Martin Guerre at the Prince Edward, London. Matt has since joined a small group of performers to have appeared in all three Boulil & Schonberg musical with his time in 1999 as Marius in the UK touring production of Les Miserables. In Spring 2000 Matt co-starred with Roy Hudd and Brian Blessed in Christopher Tookey's Hard Times at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London 2001 saw Matt play the part of The Soldier in Hello Again at the Bridewell Theatre. Other roles include Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods at the Donmar Warehouse and male lead in in Almost Like Being In Love at the Terrace Cafe, National Theatre, London.

Cameron Mackintosh

The Producers would like to thank Cameron Mackintosh for his Support. Cameron has presented hundreds of productions all over the world. Currently he has over 50 musicals in production, including Les Misérables, Cats, The Phantom of The Opera, Miss Saigon, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!. He has also produced Oliver!, Martin Guerre, The Witches of Eastwick, and Putting it Together. In 1995 his company received The Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, and he was knighted in the 1996 New Year’s Honours for his services to British theatre.

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Area 51 is a School Musical Available from Next Gen Publications

	Daniel Richard O'Brien Daniel is 24 years old and a graduate of Glasgow University, where he holds a Joint Honours Masters Degree in English Literature and Film & Television. Last year Daniel was awarded an LLB from Strathclyde Law School, and he has recently been awarded the Postgraduate Legal Diploma at the Glasgow Graduate School of Law. In December 1999, Daniel Produced a Workshop Production of Area 51 at Glasgow University's New 5 million pound GilmorehillG12 Centre, becoming simultaneously the first musical and first new show written by a student ever to be staged there. For his writing on the Gilmorehill G12 version, Daniel was awarded a Selectors Commendation of Excellence for Promising New Musical from the National Student Drama Festival (ran by the Sunday Times and BBC) - the first time a production from the University had ever been recognised by the NSDF. Area 51 was also a finalist of the Vivian Ellis Prize, where Daniel was nominated for the Really Useful Group best new writer award. In 2002 a concept album of Area 51 was released starring Claudia Christian and Matt Rawle. The album was made possible by the investment of Cameron Mackintosh, who had listened to the show on the recommendation of George Stiles. The music was performed by the BT Scottish Ensemble and members of the band Aereogramme, favourites of the late John Peel, who have toured extensively throughout Europe and the USA, and whose album "A Story in White" was recently released worldwide by Chemical Underground Records. As a result, Area 51 was featured in full page or more articles in many publications such as SFX Magazine, Dreamwatch Magazine, The Herald, The Scotsman and many others, as well as being profiled in special TV features by BBC Scotland, Channel 4's The Big Breakfast and the US Sci-Fi Channel. Daniel’s recent work includes an issue of "Buck Roachers in the Plenty Spliff Century" for Northern Lightz Press, illustrated by We3 and 2000AD artist Jamie Grant. 2002 saw Daniel being invited to be a judge for Scottish Screen's annual film festival. Daniel then collaborated with Frank Quitely (JLA: Earth 2, New X-Men, The Authority, Superman and voted the no.1 artist in the comic book industry 2001) and Ricardo Delgado (Storyboard artist for “The Matrix: Reloaded” and “The Matrix: Revolutions”, “Star Trek: First Contact” and head designer of Disney’s “Dinosaur”) on a new horror comedy project, which attracted the backing of Proxima Visual Effects, creators of Special Effects for such films as “Exorcist: The Beginning”, “Dune” and “Titus”. Last summer Daniel produced the short romantic comedy film "Improbable Connection" at Cinecitta Studios, Rome. Nicky Hinkley Choreographer Nicky has been choreographing in the entertainment industry for fourteen years during which she has worked on films, music videos, commercials, fashion shows and many television programmes. Nicky has been the choreographer for the television series Lily Savage, Hale & Pace, Smith & Jones, Shooting Stars, Lenny Henry, French & Saunders, Harry Enfield, Alistair McGowan, 2.4 Children and Harry Enfield. She has also choreographed music videos for The Beautiful South, Pet Shop Boys, Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue and Boy George. Iain Cook Musical Arrangements Iain has joined the Area 51 Production Team for the purposes of rewriting the score for the contemporary, MTV watching generation. A Lecturer in Music Composition at Strathclyde University, Iain is also a member of the band Aereogramme. Aereogramme have recently signed a four album deal to Chemical Underground Records, home of Mogwai and The Delgadoes. Already featured by The List Magazine as one of the most promising new bands in Scotland, the band are set to commence a six month tour of Europe later this year. Claudia Christian Lead Actress Claudia made her feature film debut in the cult classic, The Hidden. She then went on to the critically acclaimed Warner Bros. feature Clean and Sober and Columbia's comedy Hexed. She became an international TV star while starring as Commander Susan Ivanova in the Hugo award winning series Babylon 5, which is still airing in over 20 countries. Recently Claudia starred in the award winning independent film True Rights. She also has a role in Valerie Breiman's Love and Sex, which was featured at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, she is the lead female in Disney’s Atlantis. This highly anticipated animated feature starring Michael J. Fox is set to be released in the summer of 2001. She has starred in over thirty films and countless TV series with Faye Dunaway, Bob Hope, Sharon Stone, Michael Keaton, Morgan Freeman, Kyle Maclachlan and Treat Williams to name just a few. Shows she has guest starred in include Highlander, LA Law, Dallas, Murder She Wrote and Quantum Leap. Along with all of her acting work, she has written a series of children's books and starred in a live action CD ROM game. In her rare free time, she loves reading, playing piano and guitar, cooking and traveling. Matt Rawle Lead Actor Matt was born in Birmingham and studied at Mountview Theatre School in a 3 year Musical Theatre course. He gained Mountview's Singing Scholarship and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship. Prior to Mountview he had already performed in shows such as The Sound of Music and Oliver! at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Matt made his West End debut in Miss Saigon, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London where he was ensemble and also understudied and played the lead role of Chris. Following Miss Saigon Matt performed the title role in another Cameron Mackintosh production of a Boublil & Schonberg musical, Martin Guerre at the Prince Edward, London. Matt has since joined a small group of performers to have appeared in all three Boulil & Schonberg musical with his time in 1999 as Marius in the UK touring production of Les Miserables. In Spring 2000 Matt co-starred with Roy Hudd and Brian Blessed in Christopher Tookey's Hard Times at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London 2001 saw Matt play the part of The Soldier in Hello Again at the Bridewell Theatre. Other roles include Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods at the Donmar Warehouse and male lead in in Almost Like Being In Love at the Terrace Cafe, National Theatre, London. Cameron Mackintosh The Producers would like to thank Cameron Mackintosh for his Support. Cameron has presented hundreds of productions all over the world. Currently he has over 50 musicals in production, including Les Misérables, Cats, The Phantom of The Opera, Miss Saigon, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!. He has also produced Oliver!, Martin Guerre, The Witches of Eastwick, and Putting it Together. In 1995 his company received The Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, and he was knighted in the 1996 New Year’s Honours for his services to British theatre.