Edward McMillan, Artistic Director
Edward is the founding visionary for this project. He is a trained actor and singer and worked in UK theatre between 2009 and 2013, performing in UK tours, regional theatres and on cruise ships. Whilst in London, he produced and directed productions Crazy For You at the Bloomsbury Theatre and Spring Awakening at the Garage Theatre. He has maintained close links with UK creatives in the theatre industry. In addition to his professional experiences in theatre, Edward has prior experience as a business owner; for five years, he ran McMillan Music, a boutique tuition agency for music lessons based in London.
A native Brit, Edward has also lived in Germany and Russia. Edward moved to Brussels five years ago to work with the European Commission. He left Brussels in 2017 to work as a diplomat in Jerusalem. The idea for The Bridge came to him while on this posting and he was excited to return to Brussels in September 2020 to put his ideas into action.
On top of his literature-focused BA in German and Russian, Edward has an MA in Musical Theatre and an MSc in International Relations. He is currently pursuing an EMBA from Quantic School of Business.
Photo credit: Kerrana McAvoy
Éva Kamarás, Strategic Director
Éva is a theatre and arts enthusiast with a creative personality and practical mindset.
Raised and educated in Hungary, she has lived in Belgium since 2007. Following a secondment at the European Commission, she has spent almost a decade in Big4 strategy consulting, leading advisory work for the EU institutions regarding their policy actions, communication strategies and campaigns.
Éva was drawn to volunteer her professional skills for The Bridge in order to contribute to her values of social responsibility and engagement, diversity and gender equality.
She has an LLM from the University of Pécs and completed Erasmus studies in Tilburg, the Netherlands, as well as post-graduate studies on international politics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
In order to help bring English-language professional theatre to Brussels, she plays to her strengths of connecting ideas and people across different disciplines, innovation, business development, and networking.
Mathieu Dedoncker, Partnerships and Communications Officer (internship)
Mathieu is in his last year of a Master's degree at the Institut des Hautes Etudes des Communications Sociales, Brussels.
Being a native of the capital, he chose to do his internship at The Bridge Theatre in order to support the communication branch but also to be able to give a strategic opinion on the development of a theatre in this city.
In 2019 he went on Erasmus at the University of Bucharest during which he studied and developed different forms of communications such as marketing strategies, market research and awareness raising.
His latest project, on accessibility to culture in rural French-speaking Belgium, called La Musette-Ravitailment Culturel, won second place of the Sophie Soudant Media Grant, obtained the support of the Loterie Nationale and benefited from the budgets of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
Therese van Elst, Production Assistant
Therese is a multifaceted artist, who has contributed to the performing arts scene in the Chicagoland area since 2015 and now in Belgium since 2021.
She holds a degree in Theatre and Performance from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Lou Conte Dance Studio. She enjoys writing and her experiences include playwriting during a 24-Hour Theatre Project at the Laugh Out Loud Theatre,, and a poetry chapbook that she has copyrighted in the Library of Congress of the United States.
A few notable performance credits are Corin/Hymen in Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Athenaeum Theatre Chicago, narrating and voicing various characters for a radio-serial-turned-podcast titled The Shade (formerly broadcast on WCGO AM/Twitch Channel), and bringing to life a "fairy god-bee" in the original character of Buzz the Bee where voice-over, green screen, and humour was turned into a "how-to" film.
Therese is an experienced stage/production manager, who enjoys managing and assisting in the management of productions in the United States and Belgium.
Photo credit: Joshua Albanese Photography
Steve Kunnath, Administrative Assistant
Steve Kunnath is a theatre enthusiast and a recent MA Graduate in International Relations from the Brussels School of International Studies. Steve is passionate about the role of performing arts and cultural relations in international diplomacy. He is also an Actor, Vocalist and Director who loves musical theatre.
Steve started his theatre journey at a very young age, playing Judas in his school's adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar and went on to become an integral part of The Shakespeare Society of St Stephen's College in New Delhi, serving as the External Head of the society and acting in several notable Shakespeare productions. Steve was also a member of 'Sound Machine', the a cappella group of his college from 2017 to 2019.
He worked with contemporary Spanish playwright Paloma Pedrero and directed an adaptation of her play titled 'Una Guarida Con Luz' at Instituto Cervantes in Delhi. Steve is also a tenor vocalist in The Gabriel's Band, a Christian choir based out of The Chapel for Europe in Brussels. He also holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Political Science. He hails from Kerala, a coastal state in south-western India.
Volunteer with us
Building a theatre is more than a two person job. Behind the scenes we have a growing list of volunteers helping us to create The Bridge. Sounds like fun? Get in touch!
A Night at the Musicals: One night event
A Night at the Musicals is a journey into the world of musical theatre and features five talented international Brussels-based musical theatre performers who are giving their time to perform in this wonderful revue show.
Tuesday 21 June at the Théâtre Molière in Ixelles (Matonge).
Tickets: €19 - €29