Sam McLeod

Sam is a professional choreographer, artist and Pokémon enthusiast.
While at High School in Whakatane Sam discovered a love for theatre and racked up an impressive number of show credits with Theatre Whakatane. On graduating high school Sam headed off to Wellington Performing Arts Centre (now known as Whitireia) where he gained a Diploma in Dance and Performing Arts and a Bachelor's Degree in Musical Theatre.

Sam returned home to Whakatane in 2017 where he now works as a pilates instructor, choreographer and theatre director, as well as running his own adult body conditioning dance classes. 

As a choreographer, Sam has a dozen shows under his belt in Wellington, Dunedin and Whakatane. Most recently he choreographed Theatre Whakatane’s hugely successful production of School of Rock and Thornton School’s production of Spongebob Squrepants the Musical.

Sam’s Direction credits include: High School Musical (Whakatāne High School); The Last Five Years (Theatre Whakatane); and as co director of Goodbye 20/20 (Theatre Whakatane).

Sam has a long standing history of working together with Stage Door and we were thrilled to have officially welcomed him to the Stage Door team in 2024 to teach our Musical Theatre Dance class (find out more about this fun new class here).