Meet the Team
Rebecca Cundall – Director
Rebecca Cundall worked in television and consumer goods as a communications professional for 14 years in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. After working in Parliament for the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rebecca joined Television New Zealand in Auckland in 1990 as Corporate Affairs Executive. She then moved to Hong Kong with Star TV, a new pan-Asian satellite TV company, handling corporate presentations.
In 1994 she joined Coca-Cola China, based in Hong Kong, as the ‘number 2’ in external affairs, responsible for protecting and promoting the reputation of the company and its brands through media relations, crisis management, consumer promotions, community programmes and corporate hospitality. She also produced the company’s quarterly Asia-Pacific magazine.
In 1999 Rebecca moved to Sydney with Coca-Cola where she was responsible for consumer marketing communications and media relations across eight beverage brands in Australia and New Zealand. During her seven years with Coca-Cola, Rebecca managed the company’s hospitality programmes at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 1998 Soccer World Cup in Paris, the annual Rugby Sevens Tournament in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Handover, the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
In 2001 Rebecca joined the Australian Olympic Committee as Sponsorship Manager, working to secure new sponsors and build relationships with existing sponsors, including hosting key executives at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
She then joined International Concert Attractions (ICA) in 2003 as General Manager, responsible for establishing their Sydney office and managing marketing/PR for a number of theatrical productions.
Rebecca returned to the UK in 2004 and is now a freelance consultant in PR and marketing, based in Yorkshire, and is a Director of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions.
Alex Halpern - General Manager
Alex Halpern is a veteran of the theatrical industry with over 50 productions and 27 years of experience behind him.
Alex spent 12 years working in stage management in the UK, starting with community theatre productions before working his way up to large scale plays and musicals in the West End of London and throughout the UK including productions starring Derek Jacobi and Alan Bates.
After a brief sojourn from theatre in 1993 to work as General Manager for a computer software company, Alex returned to theatre, to work as Company Manager on productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sir Peter Hall and seven productions for Bill Kenwright including Blood Brothers starring David Cassidy. He also worked with Stephen Sondheim on his production of Passion starring Michael Ball.
Alex embarked on his first international tour in 1995 when as Production Manager & Company Manager he took Les Liaisons Dangereuses to America, Canada, Hong Kong, Tokyo and to cities all over Europe.
In 1997 Alex was Company Manager on Riverdance, the Irish dance phenomenon, during its arena tours of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Afterwards he returned to the UK as Production Manager for Bill Kenwright Ltd., working on at least ten projects at any one time!
In 2000 Alex went to work for the producers of the James Bond franchise, the Broccoli family, as Associate General Manager and Company Manager on the lavish musical production of La Cava in the West End. The following year, Alex became General Manager on the hugely successful Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a production which over six years, ran in London’s West End, toured the UK, and went to Singapore.
Alex joined Lunchbox Theatrical Productions in April 2008 as General Manager of both Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and The Imperial Ice Stars.
Maria Farrugia – Executive Producer
Maria Farrugia moved to Yorkshire in 2003, having lived in London for nearly 9 years, pursuing a career in event management.
In 1995, Maria joined the Department of Health in Whitehall. Here, Maria worked as Diary Manager for 3 Ministers, including Tessa Jowell, where she was responsible for coordinating the Ministers’ diaries, meetings, invitations, correspondence, visits and travel, as well as liaising at the most senior level with key advisors to the Prime Minister and offices to the Secretaries of State.
In 1998, she joined Punch Taverns, the largest independent pub company in the UK at the time. As PA to the Property Director, Maria established a ‘mystery customer’ scheme within the company, and project managed the refurbishment of the pubs and their accommodation.
In 1999, Maria joined Invensys plc, a FTSE 100 company, within the Marketing and Communications department. Starting as PA to the Senior Vice President, Maria quickly established herself as a key events co-ordinator, which later became her main role. As organiser of all events worldwide, Maria has successfully hosted the PGA Championship in Las Vegas for 700 customers; Internal conferences in Miami, Washington, Boston and Orlando; financial presentations to the City, including the AGM for 3 years; corporate hospitality at both Sunningdale and Wentworth golf courses and a tall buildings conference with guest speakers HRH the Prince of Wales and Ken Livingstone.
Maria Farrugia joined Lunchbox Theatrical Productions in September 2004 as Associate Producer.
Eileen Lim – Consultant – Executive Producer
Eileen began her career in arts and entertainment when she joined IMG Singapore where she spent over 10 years.
Her varied experiences included the management and implementation of many events in sports, exhibitions and arts & entertainment. From 1993, she was involved in sports events for IMG including golf, badminton and others in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries in South-East Asia. During this time, she also handled various classical acts including Kiri Te Kanawa, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Anne-Sophie Mutter, The Vienna Boys Choir, The Labeque Sisters and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Her interest in theatre and entertainment led to Eileen working exclusively in the area of arts and entertainment for IMG from 1998-2003, where she was responsible for the successful staging of some of the highest quality international shows produced in Singapore during that time. Her credits include Stomp, Tap Dogs, Chicago-The Musical, Riverdance, Buddy-The Musical, Slava’s Snowshow, Carmen, Miss Saigon, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Fame-The Musical, Singin’ In The Rain and José Carreras.
Post-IMG, Eileen continued her passionate involvement in the arts and entertainment industry, lending her extensive experience to ICA Australia on a project basis when she managed the initial groundwork for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (“The Trocks”) for 3 months in 2004. She recently undertook the role of ICA’s local project manager, overseeing the complete on-the-ground implementation of the Singapore tour of The Sleeping Beauty On Ice, staged at the Esplanade Theatre.
Eileen is thrilled to be working with Lunchbox Theatrical Productions as consultant Executive Producer.
Peter Taylor – Group Accountant
Peter Taylor has over 20 years’ experience in accountancy, from the preparation of management accounts to budgets, forecasts, IT management, payroll, cashbook, nominal, sales and purchase ledger accounting.
Peter started his working life as a nurse, but changed course in 1986 to pursue a career in accountancy. He studied towards the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants examinations for 10 years up to the final stage.
Peter has worked in a variety of organisations, both commercial and not-for-profit, including North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors, Barratt Homes (York), a computer services company, a steel construction company and two charities.
Peter joined Lunchbox Theatrical Productions in December 2005 and manages the company’s accounts across a broad portfolio of productions in four continents. He is also the resident IT expert. Peter lives in York with his wife and two sons.
Emily Titley – Accounts Assistant/Administrator
Emily Titley joined Lunchbox Theatrical Productions in March 2007, having graduated in Maths from the University of York.
Having processed the accounts of the family business during her summer holidays, Emily’s role at Lunchbox Theatrical Productions has ensured that all her skills are being put to the test.
A keen squash player and climber, Emily also enjoys solving logic puzzles and is now enjoying her new found passion for theatre!
Overseas
Lunchbox Theatrical Productions uses subcontracted staff overseas with whom we have worked for 12 years and who all have intimate local knowledge.