Chumisa Dornford-May

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Chumisa started her performing journey in classical singing competitions in Cape Town, South Africa, at 9 years old. She declined a scholarship to study Voice at St Mary’s music school in Scotland to attend Christleton High School sixth form. It was here, under the guidance of Simon Phillips that Chumisa’s passion for musical theatre began.

After playing Mimi Marquez in Christleton’s production of the musical ‘RENT’, Chumisa joined OTMYT. As well as introducing her to life long friends, On The Mark Youth Theatre provided a safe and extremely enjoyable environment for Chumisa to challenge herself and develop as a performer. She also furthered her performance development in theChester Operatic Society’s production of Into the Woods, in which she played Cinderella.

In October of 2020, Chumisa began the first year of her degree in Musical Theatre at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Being accepted to begin her degree at seventeen would not have been possible without the mentorship of Simon Phillips. Attending drama school a year early was a big challenge on top of the already intense training at Mountview, however Chumisa has already massively grown as a performer nearing the end of her first year. She was also lucky enough to be selected for the Elaine Paige Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre which funds her fees for her entire three years of training.

Chumisa cannot wait to be back at OTMYT to help other young people fall in love with Musical Theatre in the same place that she did!