WHAT WE DO
Pinecone Performance Lab is a London-based theatre company searching for the unexpected connections between people, stories and cultures. From intimate headphone-verbatim experiences to epic new musicals, we transform personal narratives and collective myths into bold, original theatre.
We make theatre to understand how we relate to each other: audiences, artists, fellow humans, our culture, other cultures, the earth, the universe. We believe we can do more than simply reflect the world as it is; theatre has the power to show us worlds that could be.
We invite you to feel the pulse of history, the joy of community, and the possibility of change.
WHO WE ARE
AMY CLARE TASKER
co-director
Amy’s work with Pinecone Performance Lab includes directing & devising Home Is Where… and writing & performing HOT (Helen of Troy), as well as facilitating the London Devised Theatre Intensive – and of course running the company and having ukulele jams with Susie.
Her musical Ukulele Days was featured at the 2023 BEAM showcase and presented in a concert reading at Musical Bites (The Other Palace). The Queen Is Mad, co-written with Tom James McGrath, won a special commendation award from Musical Theatre Review at Edinburgh Fringe 2025. Tasker & McGrath are now writing their second musical together; RISING is slated for a concert reading in April 2026.
Amy began her career in San Francisco, where she was artistic director of Inkblot Ensemble, and an associate artist with Cutting Ball Theater and EXIT Theatre. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a degree in Drama, after a year at the University of Manchester as an international exchange student.
In London since 2013, Amy’s work has been seen at Rich Mix, Camden People’s Theatre, Theatre Delicatessen, LOST Theatre, Canal Cafe Theatre, Theatre Utopia, and the Southbank Centre’s Women of the World Festival.
She works with The Cockpit, London’s “theatre of ideas and disruptive panache” as creative producer for the Theatre Maker artist development programme. She programmed and produced the Voila! Theatre Festival from 2018 – 2024.
Amy is a member of the the Book, Music & Lyrics workshop for musical theatre writers, Mercury Musical Developments, and Musical Theatre Network.
SUSIE ITALIANO
co-director
Susie is codirector of Pinecone Performance Lab, and couldn’t be happier to have Amy as a partner in crime, managing the company’s accounts and administration, as well as working together on new artistic projects.
After a short career as a contemporary dancer, Susie realised that she was not meant to be on stage but rather belongs behind the scenes, where she can make things happen. After moving to London from Italy, she became Administrator at Improbable for three years, where she learned about creating breathtaking performances through the deeply democratic format of Open Space, and the values of compassionate disruption and inclusion. She then worked in the Finance department of the Park Theatre and the Yard Theatre before setting up her own business, Finance Fairy Godmother.
And yes, that’s her actual surname.
@SusieItaliano
TOM JAMES MCGRATH
associate artist
Tom is a composer-lyricist from Tipperary, Ireland. His background is in classical and Irish folk music. He has a master’s degree in contemporary composition from Trinity College, Dublin. His musicals have been performed in the Camden Fringe, London and Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin. Tom works part-time as an NHS doctor. He is a member of the Book, Music & Lyrics workshop.
@TomJamesMcGrath – www.tomjamesmcgrath.com
JULIAN LAVERTY
associate artist
Julian is an actor, presenter and total 90s kid who’s slowly losing his Irish accent. Julian hosts and co-produces Stitchin’ Fiction, London’s long- running new writing night with a twist – where actors, writers and directors are challenged with casting, rehearsing and performing new writing in the course of a single evening.
With his company Whiz Kid, he creates online content and social media to make you smile.
@Ohheylav
Pinecone Performance Lab 