About Us
About Us
Rooted in Birmingham, Untamed champions regional talent and believes meaningful creative work should not require relocation, unpaid labour, or personal sacrifice to be recognised.
Founded in response to our own experiences as working artists, Untamed creates practical, accessible opportunities for creatives at all stages of their careers. What began as an online platform has grown into a multi-disciplinary company producing theatre, film and live events that support new work and emerging talent.
We deliver scratch nights, workshops and community-led initiatives that give artists space to test ideas, build confidence and develop their practice. Alongside this, we have produced original work across stage and screen, including an RTS award-winning short film.
We also run the Untamed Actor Directory – a region-focused platform designed to increase visibility for West Midlands performers and make casting more accessible for independent and regional productions.
Through all of our work, we aim to build a creative landscape where artists are supported, fairly valued and able to sustain their careers within the region.
Meet the team
Untamed is run as a not-for-profit, led by working artists.
Poppy Abbott
Poppy is a producer, actor and writer based in Birmingham. She also works as an acting coach.
She produced and performed in the short film No Worries If Not!, which won an RTS Midlands Award alongside further festival awards and Best Female Lead nominations.
Poppy’s screen work includes playing Detective Lowe in the indie series Belief, Maisie in the independent pilot Kitty Clap Klub (which she also co-produced), and Mia in short film Meet-Cute – all productions shot and produced in the West Midlands.
As a writer, Poppy’s debut play Blackout was performed at The Old Joint Stock, The Old Rep and Theatre503 before being adapted into a short film. Her short screenplay Walkby won Best Screenplay at Bournemouth Film Festival and is currently in development for production in 2026.
Poppy co-founded Untamed to support emerging and undiscovered talent, and continues to champion regional artists by creating sustainable, meaningful opportunities within the West Midlands.
Lauren Alexandra
Lauren Alexandra is an Actor with a background in theatre, film, and television. Her work spans stage and screen, including appearances in major productions such as The Lion King (Nala) and Warner Bros, Matilda the Musical film (The Acrobat).
She can most recently been seen making guest appearances in NCIS: Tony & Ziva and Little Disasters on Paramount.
Lauren plays Cate in Untamed Productions award-winning short film No Worries If Not, which won an RTS Award for Best Short Film.
And whilst not performing, Lauren works closely with Disney facilitating creative workshops across the country. She co-founded Untamed to help underrepresented Artists navigate an ever changing, fluid industry so they might have the necessary support.
Darren Knapton
Darren has worked in the theatre industry for over a decade, taking on roles in backstage, production, front house and management. As well as being the Theatre Manager at the Regent Theatre & Victoria Hall, he works independently with local professionals in the West Midlands and is passionate about helping new work make it on the stage, which he has done as a Producer and the co-founder at Other Theatre Company since 2025.