Gateshead girl Annie Rigby, 28, is resident director at Northern Stage. After A-levels, she studied English at Cambridge University and her first paid job was stuffing envelopes for an arts magazine. After an unpaid work placement at Northern Stage, Newcastle, Annie freelanced as a drama worker for three years, before being made resident director at Northern Stage, Newcastle. Her favourite thing about working as a director is the variety and she dreams of running her own theatre company one day.