Artistic Advisory Committee
The Artistic Advisory Committee works closely with the Artistic Director in an advisory capacity. The Committee is made up of practitioners from the following areas that best represent the IOSP:
Stage Combat/Fight Direction for Live Performance
Jacques Cappelle (Belgium)
Jacques began fencing at 11 years old and has been working in professional theatre for 43 years, teaching theatrical combat since 1979 at IAD ( Institut des Arts et de la Diffusion ) at the University of Louvain La Neuve; since 1993 at INSAS ( Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle ), the main dramatic art school in Brussels/Belgium, and since 2002 at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles.
Jacques has now retired from official teaching in these drama schools but is still very active in the industry. He has worked as a fight director for the Royal Opera House La Monnaie in Brussels, the National Theatre of Belgium, the ‘Théâtre Royal du Parc in Brussels, Antwerps Opera House, National Theater Manheim, RO-Theater Rotterdam, Shauspiel Haus Bochum (Germany), Théâtre d’Avignon Festival (France), Adelaide Festival (Australia), etc. He has taught in workshops in Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, Great-Britain, Estonia, Norway, Finland, and more in hist years as a fight master.
He is a Certified Maître d’Armes and a member of the Board of the ARAB (Académie Royale d’Armes de Belgique), and also its reprentation for the AAI (Académie d’Armes Internationale). He is also a Certified Fight Master Fight Director Canada and member of their board.
Since May 2018, is a member of the IOSP (International Order of the Sword and the Pen) – AAC (Artistic Advisory Committee) a branch of the IOSP (International Order of the Sword and the Pen) in Stage Combat/Fight Direction for Live Performance.
Oula Kitti (Finland)
Oula Kitti is Finnish Actor, Stunt, Fight Director, and NSFS Stage Combat Instructor with a wide history in physical theatre. He graduated as a Master of Arts in acting from Tampere University at 2004 and has since worked both as an actor and fight director in theaters all around Finland. He has taught stage combat and directed fights on stage since 2003. As a NSFS instructor, he graduated from the NSFS mentor program at 2011 with Peppe Östensson as his mentor. As a stunt performer and fight coordinator he works for the main Finnish stunt company Stunt and FX Artists Finland.
Oula is a founding member of Finnish Stage Combat Society and an Honorary Fight Director at the Fight directors Canada . He was also a member of NSFS´s Research and Education board for years and NSFS representative at the Worlds comitee. Currently Oula works as an freelance stunt performer and fight director and as a resident stage combat instructor for the Helsinki Theater Academy.
Recent professional fight credits:
Theatrical: Lord of the Rings, Asst. Director/Movement and Fight Director; Shakespeare in Love, Fight Director; The Heart of the Robin Hood, Fight Director/Guy Gisbourne; Three musketeers, Fight Director; Ouch!, Director; Tarzan The Musical, Fight Director/Choreographer; Jesus Christ Superstar, Fight Director/Stunt Consultant.
Film/TV: The Unknown Soldier, Fight Coordinator/Stunt; Karppi, Fight Coordinator (credited as cast trainer); Dionysos;
Stunts/Combat Action/Fights for Recorded Performance (incl. Motion Capture)
Michelle Ladd Williams (US)
Michelle Ladd has been working as a professional action director, choreographer, and performer of stunts, staged combat, dance, and acting for over 20 years. Although a native of the Southeast, she honed her stage fight skills in Britain at the Royal Academy of
Dramatic art and built her career in Los Angeles. She is a recognized Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors and the International Order of the Sword and the Pen. She has worked throughout North America, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and Asia. Her credits span theater, film, and motion capture and include Motion Capture Stunt Coordinator for Thor; Motion Capture Fight Director for Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End; Motion Capture Combat Choreographer for The Lord of the Rings – Return of the King and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; performer with Barneville/Carteret Viking Fest – Freiki Klan Denmark; fight instruction and demonstration of Parnü Vöitlus Estonia; and featured guest for Korea’s Theatre Magazine. Michelle has staged fights at such venues as Drury Lane and North Park Opera. She made her debut with the Atlanta Opera as the Stunt Coordinator for The Flying Dutchman. She and her husband own RE:Action Stunts and Broad-Motion Entertainment while raising their three young stunt boys.
Dan Styles (UK)
Dan has been playfighting for as long as he can remember. He choreographed and performed his first fight scene at the age of 15 for a school play and has since worked on hundreds of productions in film, theatre, live events and motion capture.
Dan is now an accredited stage combat teacher for the British Academy of Dramatic Combat, co-director of Independent Drama - Dramatic Action Specialists, Stunt/Fight coordinator, Armourer and Performer.
Coordinating credits include 'Marine: Close Quarters', for WWE studios, 'Accident Man', starring Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White and Ray Park, and 'Rise of the Footsoldier 3: The Pat Tate Story'.
Dan is also on the stunt team for 'Vikings' and has performed fights in 'Kingsman', 'Thor: The Dark World', 'Snow White and the Hunstman' and many more.
HEMA & Western Martial Arts
Roberto Martinez-Loyo (Mexico)
Roberto Martinez-Loyo has studied Western Martial Arts since 2003. As a youngster, he studied Tae Kwon Do for many years, both in Mexico and in Upstate NY, USA. In 2001 he trained as a professional stunt performer with the United Stuntmen’s Association, and has worked professionally since then. He has acquired further training with several other instructors, becoming both a stunt performer and a stunt coordinator.
A member of the IOSP (International Order of the Sword and Pen), Art of Combat (Lansing Chapter), Western Martial Arts Coalition, and the HEMA Alliance,he was the co-founder and head instructor of the Brotherhood of Warriors (Hermandad de Guerreros) and is co-founder and one of two head instructors for EFC-Mexico (Elite Fencing Club). He has taught at several workshops and seminars both in Mexico and abroad, such as the National Western Martial Arts Seminar (SAMO) and the Underground Fencing, amongst others, as well as giving private instruction and offering workshops as invited instructor in different events. Internationally, he has been asked to teach at prestigious events such as the Fechtschule America 2012, the COMBATCON, the Sentiment du Fer, the Pacific North West HEMA Alliance Gathering ,the HEFFAC Event 2013, SoCal and Dijon 2014. He has also been asked as invited instructor at AMEK and Arts of Mars.
Roberto continues his instruction and training in HEMA by participating regularly in different venues and tournaments such as the International Sword and Martial Arts Convention (ISMAC), the First Open International Gathering, the Fechtshule America, the Combat Con (where he came in third at the 2011 and first in the 2012 longsword tournament) and the Paddy Crean Workshop, amongst many others.
He is currently developing a fighting system with the Chimalli and Maquahuitl (Aztec Shield and Sword), developing it based on interpretation of available codex and images, as well as practical understanding of the weapon system, working alongside different people to develop training wasters for these weapons.
Nic James Cabrera (US)
Nicolas has been studying HEMA and WMA for close to four years under the tutilage of John O'meara, Greg Mele, Jesse Kulla, Rob Rutherford, and Treyson Ptak at Chicago Swordplay Guild learning on Italian sytles of fencing, focusing on the Itlaian rapier systems of Salvatore Fabris and Ridolfo Capoferro. He has studied stage combat and Theatre at Columbia Colloge Chicago with David Wooley and John McFarland and graduated with a BA in Theatre. In additon, he has taken lessons in parkour at Actors Gymnasium, stunts with Asylum Stunts, and is curerently interning at R&D Choreography under Richard Gilbert and Victor Bayona in Chicago who's focus is to bring more realistic and historical violence to the stage. He has attened many martial arts workshops under many prominant HEMA instructors such as Marco Quarta, Devon Boorman, Roberto Gotti, and many others. He is also currently part of a CSG study group focusing on Historical African Martial Arts, over seen by Da'mon Stif. His day job is apprentince carpentry at Means of Produciton in Chicago and is working on his welding qualification at Richard Daley College Chicago.
Recent work: Port Washington Pirate Festival (performer); Neverwhere– Lifeline Theatre: Intern Assistant Choreographer; Bad Girls: The Stylists– Akvavit Theatre: Intern Assistant Choreographer; Hamlet – Purdue University Northwest: Choreographer; Cambaby– Chimera Ensemble: Intern Assistant Choreographer
Modern Martial Arts (e.g.: Tactical Combat & Eastern Martial Arts)
Emilie Guillaume (Belgium)
Emilie has been doing theatre and sports since she was a kid. She found the best union of it with stage combat and stunts. She has a theatre degree from the Belgium professional theatre school (IAD) where she met Jacques Cappelle and discovered stage fencing. That discovery pushed her to learn about stunts, which melded well with the Tricking and French Boxing she’d been doing for years. She studied in China for 2 years at the Beijing Circus School, learning acrobatics, Chinese pole and martial arts wushu (sword, sticks, nunchakus, spear...).
Emilie is currently works as a stage combat teacher at two professional drama schools in Belgium, (IAD and Conservatoire), choreographs for many theatre production (while ofter performing in them), does stunt work for some French or Belgium, Canadian movie productions (La Petite Reine, Lucas), as well as performing in circus acts in the UK (Nofit State Circus)
She plans to continue her training, going back to China for some work and training. She has studied Wing Chun, Silat, and Lucha wrestling. She attended her first Paddy in 2008, and loved it! She is honored to be a part of the IOSP - AAC.
Christina Gulick (UK)
Momma (aka Linda) said​ ​whilst she was in labour I was kicking to get out​ ​and once out I've been performing ever since.​ ​Matriculating​ ​from the University of Iowa (Theatre Arts Entrepreneurship) and currently based in SE London ​I consider myself an anthropological storyteller & explorer. Inspired and intrigued by the way we communicate through movement, my work focuses on social​ ​& community engagement and at its core is "Create Laughter Not War." I continue studies in disciplines such as historical martial arts, the fine arts, athletics, bodywork, movement and new technologies as they develop.
A member​ ​of the I.S.O.P.​ ​since 2017, winning 'Paddy's Got Talent' with the group 'PC Fresh​', i​t is a thrill and an honour to be your Secretary-elect for the Artistic Advisory Committee. I am wholeheartedly looking forward to creating the 'Road Ahead' and enriching a fantastic 2018/19 Paddy along with co-Modern Martial Arts Rep Emilie Guillaum. Other movement highlights include being a former Jr. Olympian​ ​of Iowa in Track & Field, a practising Martial Artist of 8 years, a 2-time semi knock-down champion in full contact​ ​Kyokushin Karate, a member of Seido Karate​ ​London, a member of the ​​Wu Shii Taiji Quan & Qi Gong Association​ ​located in Finsbury Park, London, as well as being an Advanced Actor Combatant with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat.
Ongoing projects include: CLAWGB (Founder & Producing Artistic Director), “GoodBlood/BadBlood” (Researcher, Writer & Performer), Compère of Live Band Karaoke Peckham, Host of 'QuizTina' at the historic Ivy House Pub Community Pub, performances at the legendary Pull the Other One Comedy Club as well as currently developing​ K(NO)W - a Mindful Preventative Self-Defence Workshop.
Voice & Movement Specialists in the broader context for performance (e.g.: Laban & Biomechanics)
Kevin Inouye (US)
Kevin Inouye is an Assistant Professor of Movement, Stage Combat, & Acting at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, USA. An active IOSP participant since 1998/99, he's also a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors and with the National Michael Chekhov Association, a SAG-AFTRA performer, and published author.
D'Arcy Smith (US)
D’Arcy Smith is an Associate Professor of Voice, Speech and Dialects at The University of Cincinnati. He was a resident voice, text and dialect coach at the Guthrie Theater and has worked as a teacher and voice/dialect coach in the United States, U.K., Canada and New Zealand. He has also worked as a voice and dialect coach with numerous professional theaters, including: Actors Theatre Lousiville, American Players Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The Know Theater, The Jungle, Theater Latte Da, Park Square, Penumbra, Children's Theater Company, Illusion Theater, Circa Theater, Auckland Theater, Taki Rua and others.