Serge Rangoni

Serge Rangoni is the artistic director & general manager of Théâtre de Liège/Belgium and has been President of the ETC Board of Directors since 2017. He studied at the Conservatoire of Brussels. After working in various theatre institutions and at the Ministry of Culture, he was designated in 2004 as General Manager of Théâtre de Liège. Under his leadership, the theatre received the titles of “European center of theatrical creation and choreography” and “Centres for Drama” in the French-speaking area of Belgium, affirming its role in theatrical and dance productions and their dissemination to local and international audiences.

Since his arrival at its head, the institution has developed considerably, with now an audience of 65,000 and more than 180 performances a season. Théâtre de Liège is today the leading stage in Wallonia.

Heidi Wiley

Heidi Wiley is Executive Director of the European Theatre Convention (ETC). Since 2009 she has established ETC as a European network with an international programme of artistic collaboration, professional development and advocacy for Europe’s public theatres spanning more than 25 countries.Under her leadership, ETC became a strategic partner of the European Commission and was awarded European prizes for youth theatre and digital theatre productions in the fields of audience development and cultural heritage as organisation for its outstanding achievement.

She was invited to the European Expert Network on Culture and Audiovisual (EENCA) as expert author and co-initiated the European Theatre Forum with the European Commission and German EU Council Presidency.

Heidi started her career as international producer and touring manager for artists Victoria Chaplin and the Tiger Lillies, touring around Europe and Asia at major festivals and theatre venues. A studied cultural manager with degrees from La Sorbonne and Leuphana University, she lived and worked over the last 20 years in the UK, US, France and Germany.

Evein Obulor

Evein's roots lie in community organizing. She is founder of the Migration Hub Heidelberg, Co-Founder of the Youth Think Tank & editor of Schwarz wird großgeschrieben. As ECCAR coordinator she works on racial injustice at city level. She facilitates the exchange of antiracist policies for more than 130 cities & supports them in building inclusive societies. As antidiscrimination officer at the City of Heidelberg she strives for more representation of BIPoC in institutions. As consultant she works with theatres, art institutions & NGOs to support them in reflecting internal power structures.

Leyla Ercan

Born in 1972 in the Lüneburg Heath, near Celle. After studying English/American Studies, German Studies and Social Psychology in Hanover, Aberdeen (Scotland), Los Angeles and Erlangen-Nuremberg, she lived abroad for several years and worked as a research assistant and teacher at educational institutions and universities in Turkey (Izmir) and the UK (University of Warwick). Since her return to Germany in 2008, she has been living in Hanover and has been working academically, practically and politically on issues of abstention, strengthening participation and inclusion of socially disadvantaged, marginalised and discriminated people, among others at the Ethno-Medizinisches Zentrum e.V., at the Foundation of Lower Saxony Memorials and the Bergen-Belsen Memorial, at the Georg-August University of Göttingen and most recently at the Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen e.V..
Since the 2019/20 season, Leyla Ercan has been working as a diversity agent at the Nds Staatstheater Hannover as part of the 360° programme of the Federal Cultural Foundation and is responsible for the diversity-oriented opening and development of the theatre in the areas of programme, audience and staff.

Ernesto Ottone Ramírez

Mr Ernesto Ottone Ramírez is the Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO. Prior to this position, Mr Ottone Ramírez served as Chile’s first Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage from 2015 to 2018. As Minister of Culture, he created a Department of First Peoples, a Migrants Unit and strengthened copyright laws and heritage protections. During this time, he also chaired the Regional Centre for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and the Caribbean (2016 – 2017).

From 2011 to 2015, Mr Ottone Ramírez served as Director-General of the Artistic and Cultural Extension Center of the University of Chile, which manages the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile, the Chilean National Ballet (BANCH), the Chile Symphony Choir and the Vocal Camerata. From 2001 to 2010, he held the position of Executive Director at the Matucana 100 Cultural Center in Santiago.

Mr Ottone Ramírez holds a Master's degree in Management of Cultural Institutions and Policies from the University of Paris IX Dauphine (1998) and a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from the University of Chile (1995).

Daniela Špinar

After graduating from Acting and Stage direction at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Daniela Špinar has served as a guest director in many regional and Prague theatres with a great success; she was also briefly a resident director at the Theatre in Vinohrady, where her most famous production, Vojcek, was created. Furthermore, she collaborated with the independent theatre Letí. Before joining the National Theatre Drama, she collected all the domestic theatre awards, some of them repeatedly.

Since the 2015/2016 season (after Ivan Rajmont, Josef Kovalčuk and Michal Dočekal) she has been the fourth post-1989 Artistic director of the National Theatre Drama. At this position, she evolved as an author and staged a number of his own dramatizations and text collages in addition to classics.

In 2021 Daniela Špinar came out as a woman and started a process of gender transition.

Nina van Tongeren

Nina van Tongeren is a Dutch playwright and dramaturge from a French and Senegalese background, currently graduating from the University of the Arts in Utrecht with a play for children’s theatre and researching on the importance of accurate representation. Nina aims to create plays in which every child should be able to find recognition, perhaps especially the children whose voices often aren’t heard. In this pursuit, she researches affairs like multi-lingual writing and storytelling, and the challenges children of colour and/or children from a lower social class have to face.

Matina Magkou

Matina Magkou is a cultural manager and researcher. After years in Greece, Spain, Belgium and Qatar working with and for cultural organisations and public institutions, she is currently based in France and employed as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Côte d’Azur investigating intermediary cultural spaces, digital transformation processes and the city. She continues working as a cultural manager and consultant as well as with cultural networks and organisations evaluating projects, facilitating learning processes and project managing complex projects.

Gilles Doré

Since March 2022, Gilles Doré is the new Executive Director of CINARS. For the past 30 years, he has developed an excellent knowledge of international circulation of the performing arts, show production and creation center management. He has been the general manager Art Circulation, the financial director of O Vertigo dance company and the general manager of the Caserne Letourneux TSF – a center for residencies and production. He was also a consultant on special art management studies for the Québec Art Council, the University of Montreal and also for the Art Council of the City of Laval.

Christy Romer

Christy studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. After internships at political consultancy firms and national newspapers, he spent four years as a journalist at the arts policy magazine ArtsProfessional, then contributed articles as a freelance writer to The Guardian, The Independent, El País and City Lab. He joined ETC in October 2020.

Hélène Gauthier

Hélène Gauthier studied Political Sciences and International Cultural Management in France and India. She started her professional life at the French Embassy in Berlin as a Cultural Officer in 2011. She moved back to France in 2013 to work at ARTE, the European cultural TV channel, as an Advisor to the Presidents, where she contributed to securing EU funding for the channel's project "ARTE Europe", of subtitling French-German audio-visual content in four further European languages (English, Spanish, Polish and Italian). After four years at ARTE, she moved back to Berlin and first worked with the Daniel Barenboim Foundation and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra before joining the ETC team.

Paulien Geerlings 

Paulien Geerlings is a dramaturge, translator and yogi. After her high school education, she studied Philosophy and Theatre studies at the University of Amsterdam. In 2004 she graduated at DasArts, an international, multidisciplinary Master of Theatre, based in Amsterdam and founded by Ritsaert ten Cate. Between 2004 and 2006, she has been working with Theatre Company Dood Paard. In 2006 she became dramaturge of Ad de Bont, playwright and artistic director of youth theatre company Wederzijds. This company merged with Liesbeth Coltof’s Huis aan de Amstel in 2009 and became De Toneelmakerij, the Amsterdam theatre company for young audiences. Since its establishment, Paulien Geerlings is the in house dramaturge of De Toneelmakerij. As dramaturge, she has a strong focus on new writing, coaching of playwrights and supporting writers initiatives. She translated several plays for De Toneelmakerij. Her latest work entitled "2022 Witnessing U: Testimonials from the Frontline" was created together Bogdana Orleanova and Iana Gudzenko based on testimonials from the war.

Bogdana Orleanova

Bogdana Orleanova graduated from the I.K. Karpenko-Kariy National University of Theatre, Film and Television in Kiev, Ukraine and holds a master's degree with honors. Since her graduation she has worked as a Drama Theatre Director. She has been Director and Acting Trainer at Obraz Theatre, INSE Academy of Arts and Katapulta Art Music School in Kyiv, Ukraine; Head of the Drama Department at the Golden Gate Theatre (Kyiv/Ukraine), Creator and director of Without Borders theatre project (Kyiv and Poltava/Ukraine) and Programme manager of the Young Stage Directors Festival (Theatre Platform NGO, Kyiv/Ukraine).

She has also participated in various theatre projects throughout Europe: She was a resident Theater und Orchester Heidelberg (Germany) as part of ETC´s “Theatre is Dialogue – Dialogue of Cultures” programme, a Resident of V4@Theatre Critics Residency (Divadelna Nitra, Slovakia), finalist of The British Drama Competition for Directors – Taking the Stage organized by British Council Ukraine, finalist of The Open Doors International Laboratory for Young Directors in Odesa, participant of Commedia dell’Arte workshop by Matteo Spiazzi (Italy).

Her interests as an artist are oriented towards such topics as feminism, the role of the artist in a society, Ukraine's place on the European map, and death. She has worked with various forms of theatre, such as physical theatre, theatre/video performance, immersive and site-specific theatre.

Her latest play was at De Toneelmakerij (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) entitled "2022 Witnessing U: Testimonials from the Frontline" which she created with Paulien Geerlings and Iana Gudzenko based on testimonials from the war.

Natasha Syvanenko

Natasha Syvanenko, born in Ukraine in 1995, studied cultural studies at the Kyiv University of Arts and drama directing at the Kyiv National University of Theater, Film and Television.

Started working in Ukrainian professional theaters from 2014, combining the first steps in directing with theater management.

Curator and founder of projects in the State Theater (Molodyy Theater), in the independent sector (Art Asrenal, Wild Theater), and international cooperation with the European Theatre Convention.

Director of musical, choreographic and social performances at the Molodyy Theater, Wild Theater, Personality Theater (Kyiv).

Collaborated with the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, and with the support of the UN. Women created a documentary performance at the Wild Theater about domestic violence. Over the past year,  has been a full-time director of the  Ukrainian Theater named V.Vasilka (Odesa)  where  worked on Ukrainian and German modern dramaturgy, as well as the musical "Pippi".

Iana Gudzenko

She holds a Master's degree from the National University of Kyiv (Department of Theatre), a Bachelor degree from the Russian Institute of Theatre Art GITIS (Department of Musical Theatre) and has been teaching acting for over 10 years. In 2019-2022, she was the chief director and playwright at the Municipal Theatre -Workshop "Vie" in Zaporozhe, where she presented "Demons" by Edward Albee, and "RedioHamlet" by Shakespeare. In 2019, she made a social theatre play for the German-Polish-Ukrainian Society titled "Grandpa Tomas". This play focused on the social-psychological rehabilitation of children , who have experienced severe psychological trauma. She has also served as a director of the Academic Youth Theatre of Dnipro, the Wild Theatre (Kiev) and the Kiev Opera. In 2020, she participated in ETC's Artists in Residency program , where she worked as an assistant director at the Magdeburg Theatre. In 2022, Iana produced "Industry Baby or A death Of supernova" as part of Cph Queer Theatre Festival (Folketeatret , Copenhagen, Denmark). Iana is interested in experimenting with the editing of different texts and creating new meanings in classical, dogmatic works .

Emma Rogerson

Emma Rogerson is an award-winning performance writer, dramaturg and researcher from Lancashire, United Kingdom. She advocates for radically inclusive creative practise, by utilising scripts as material tools for liberation in the rehearsal room and beyond. Currently, she’s researching formal experimentation and multimedia interventions in performance text construction on the inaugural MSt. Writing for Performance at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. Previously, she’s participated on the Northwall Artslab Catalyst residency and a Wysing Arts Centre self-directed development residency, and trained on various professional development schemes, including Menagerie Young Writers Programme and the S+K Project. Emma’s work has been commissioned in several socially engaged contexts, and as a critic she’s written extensively about systemic participatory barriers in the arts, winning an NSDF Judges Award in 2019. Her work has been widely performed across the UK, and she regularly collaborates with artists from other disciplines, striving to make meaningful, relevant and resonant work. In 2022, she participated in ETC's Artists in Residency Programme, where she assisted the creative team of the Slovak National Theatre (Slovakia) as on the production of The Crucible, directed by Marián Amsler.

Magrit Coulon

Magrit Coulon, a director of Franco-German origin, was born in 1996 in Strasbourg. She trained as a director at the INSAS in Brussels, and gradually moved away from text-based theatre to stage writing, which is informed by documentary research. At the heart of her process: architecture and time. How does a space tell its story? How does time unfold? For her final thesis, she set out a first framework for reflection on time as a staging tool. An exploration that runs with great delicacy through Home - pieces of nature in ruins, which won the Maeterlinck Prize - Best discovery in Belgium and was selected for the Impatience Festival in Paris in 2020. This first creation, based on observations and encounters with residents of a Brussels retirement home, highlights the sparks of life that persist beneath the routine organisation of institutions dedicated to the care of the elderly. As part of ETC's  Artists in Residency Programme, she joined the dramaturgical team at Schauspielhaus Graz (Austria) for four weeks.

Loreta Vaskova

Loreta Vaskova (b. 1986) is a theatre director. After graduating from Klaipeda University, she continued her master's studies at the Vsevolod Meyerhold Centre, Moscow. Loreta Vaskova obtained PhD in Art at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA) and in 2014, started to teach there Documentary Theatre subject. Besides this, as a theatre director, Loreta Vaskova practices documentary theatre beyond the walls of the Academy: her numerous publications and various seminars are all dedicated to the topic of documentary theatre. In addition to her research work, Loreta Vaskova has always been devoted to the theatre: she has directed 15 drama performances, 5 contemporary operas, and as many as 15 non-traditional theatre projects for play readings. Loreta Vaskova is a passionate life-long learner, continuously developing her professional skills in internships and seminars in the USA, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Denmark, Portugal, Great Britain, France and other countries. She was selected to participate in ETC's Artists in Residency Programme to  assist the creative team at the Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre (Ukraine) as Assistant Director on the production of The Idiot, directed by Andrii Bilous.

Claudia Benkő

Claudia Benkő studied directing at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest and currently participates in the Freeszfe Emergency Exit Program in order to finish her diploma. She holds a BA degree in Psychology and wrote her thesis about the hypnotizability of acting students. Her deepest interest in theatre is ’ordinary’ trauma: stories from everyday life that people are afraid to tell or consider taboos. Seeking for the roots that are embedded in history and culture, Claudia wants to talk about a generation that is frustrated by the inability to grow up. She is curious about deconstructing texts, ’hacking’ classic storytelling and experimenting with live cinema. As part of ETC's Artists in Residency Programme, she joined the National Theatre Prague in Czech Republic as assistant director for the production of The Father Watches Over The Daughter, directed by Jan Frič.

Ivan Orlenko

Ivan Orlenko is a theatre and film director, screenwriter, and art director. Ivan studied scenography and theatre directing in Kyiv, Ukraine. He began his work in theatre as an assistant director with Andriy Zholdak on productions of "Woyzeck" and "Lenin Love, Stalin Love”. His first production as director was “Shakespeare vs. Ionesco. Macbeth”, with dramaturgy focused on the tension between the classical and modernist text. Later he studied directing from Boris Yukhananov in Moskow. Ivan's debut film, based on Franz Kafka's unfinished novel "In Our Synagogue," won more than a dozen awards at international film festivals. In 2019, he directed “In the Basement”, the first theatrical production based on the film “The Green Elephant” (1999 dir. S. Baskova). In 2021 he finished his new film, which is waiting for its festival premiere.
He was selected to participate in ETC's Artists in Residency Programme to assist the creative team at the National Theatre Belgrade (Serbia) as Assistant Director on the production of War and Peace, directed by Boris Lijesevic.

Jaz Woodcock-Stewart

Jaz Woodcock-Stewart is a Theatre Director from the UK. She won the Jury Prize with CIVILISATION at Fast Forward Festival at Dresden Staatschauspiel and has been the finalist for several directing awards in the UK; Genesis Future Directors Award 2017 and 2019, the RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award 2018 and the JMK Award 2016.
Her theatre credits include: ELECTRIC ROSARY (Royal Exchange) GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (Unicorn), FEN, (LAMDA); LEARNING PIECE (The Place); CIVILISATION (Hellerau/New Diorama/HOME); LANDS (Bush Theatre); WIFMON (National Theatre Studio); IF I WERE ME (Soho Theatre)

Lee-N Abela

Leigh Anne Abela has been practising performing arts for over 20 years. She has played important roles both in Malta and abroad. Ms. Abela received training in Arts Awards Advisor in 2011 where she continued her studies in Theatre Directing in 2013 at Morley College, London. In 2018 she formed part of Teatru Malta’s Il-Qarċilla, touring Maltese cities and towns during Carnival, also reprising her role for the 2018 Arts Awards showcase. She has performed in 2019 in Teatru Malta’s one-woman show Min Hi?, bringing to life Trevor Zahra’s and Ruben Zahra’s masterful interpretation of the text ‘Gerita’. She has also recently directed Teatru Malta’s L-Interrogazzjoni, successfully opening the season with a unique two-hander that involved the audience’s voyeuristic gaze into the intriguing and intimate relationship of a couple in a constant power struggle. Leigh Anne Abela strives to achieve the best artistic result and output, while keeping a professional balance between performer and director, with a can-do attitude towards any task at hand.

Anne Mulleners

Anne Mulleners was born in Amsterdam (Netherlands) in 1994. In 2013 she moved to London (UK) to study Drama and English Literature at the University of Greenwich. After graduation, she completed a Master's degree in Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. During and after her studies, she gained directing and dramaturgy experience at several theatres, including The Yard Theatre, New Diorama, Camden People's Theatre, and the British Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has worked as both an assistant and stage manager with artists such as Roy Alexander Weise, Jade Lewis, Yolanda Mercy, and Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu.

Since the 2019-2020 season, Anne Mulleners has been assistant director at Schauspielhaus Graz. Here she was responsible for the staging of several micro-dramas from the #neuesdramazuhause series and directed the stage version of the German language premiere of Zitronen Zitronen Zitronen by Sam Steiner, as well as developing its Theaterstream version together with Thomas Achitz.
From the summer of 2022 onwards, Anne Mulleners will resign as an assistant director at SH Graz and focus solely on directing.

Ana Konstantinovic

Ana Konstantinović is a theatre director from Belgrade. She is currently working as education coordinator at the National Theatre in Belgrade. She is also co-founder and artistic director of the performing arts collective Eho animato (Belgrade). She holds a degree in theatre and radio directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where she is currently finishing her doctoral studies in multimedia performance.

She has directed theatre performances, radio plays, public readings and digital performances, as well as short documentary films. Some of her works include Mirror Glaze and Venoms in the Kitchen (LaMaMa e.t.c & CultureHub, New York), In der Glaskugel (Kulturzentrum Pavillon, Hannover), The Tempest (Regional Theatre Novi Pazar), I bei tempi and Home (Paolo Grassi Academy, Milan, Italy). As part of the collective Eho animato, she co-produced and directed performances Fragments of Disquiet (with National Theatre in Belgrade), The Best Intentions (with Yugoslav Film Archive), Rosmersholm (with Belgrade Drama Theatre), After the Play and The Glass Menagerie (with Belgrade Youth Centre) and others.

She worked as coordinator of the IFTR (International Federation for Theatre Research) World Congress in Belgrade in 2018. Throughout her career she has taken part in numerous workshops and international projects, including Terre Promesse / Bussole rotte (Milan, Italy), Europe Unlimited (Hanover, Germany), Augenblick mal! (Berlin, Germany). She also mentored and moderated youth theatre workshops, as well as workshops aimed at young theatre professionals. Currently, she is one of the mentors of the emerging playwrights workshop New Stages South East, regional project by the Goethe Institute.

Simona Hamer

Simona Hamer (1984) is an award-winning freelance playwright, writer and dramaturg based in Ljubljana (Slovenia). Hamer studied Dramaturgy and Performing Arts at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (University of Ljubljana) and is a recipient of the Prešeren’s University Award for her academic achievements. As a dramaturg and an author she has co-created more than forty theatre performances and radio plays, winning several awards on theatre festival in Slovenia and abroad. For her playwriting work she has been awarded with National award for best play (Postcards or Fear is hollow on the inside and empty from the outside, 2017), best libretto (Roommates, 2019) and nominated for best play (Everything OK, 2020). Her plays, adaptations and dramatizations were staged in SNG Drama Ljubljana, SNG Nova Gorica, Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, Ljubljana City Theatre, Mladinsko Theatre, Prešeren’s Theater Kranj and on Slovenian National Radio. Her plays (with theoretical studies) were published in books (Dramober 2008, Dramober 2009, The Act, Third Reading, 2011), literary magazines and scientific journals (Theater der Zeit, Literatura, Sodobnost, November, Dialogi), theatre programmes and have been translated to English, German, Serbian and Croatian language. Her plays were already presented in Germany (Neue Stücke aus Europa Wiesbadenn, Lettrétage Berlin), Austria (Dramatiker_innen Festival Graz), USA, Serbia, Croatia and Italy. Hamer is a three-time recipient of a Slovenian Book Agency Literary scholarship (2018, 2020 and 2021) and was chosen by Slovenian Ministry of Culture to be an artist in residency in New York (June-July 2014) and Berlin (January 2018).

Evangelos Kosmidis

Evangelos Kosmidis is a Greek stage director, actor and writer, with a focus on devised theatre, documentary theatre and “theatre of the experts”. He has worked at the National Theatre of Greece, the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, the Athens & Epidaurus Festival among others. Since 2008, as a member of the EnDynameiEnsemble, a group of artists with and without disabilities, he invented and participated in all kinds of projects and tours in Greece and Europe. His work Rendez-Vous?, which he both directed and produced, was staged at the Theseum Theatre in Athens.

Michaela Rýgrová

Michaela Rýgrová is Environmental Activity Coordinator at Národní divadlo - National Theatre Prague. Based in Prague, working around the world, she is driven by a passion for culture, innovation, sustainability, art, communities and a better world. She has over a decade of experience in creative industries, event production, multicultural teams coordination, developing, supporting and strengthening of various networks, alongside work in PR, presenting and writing.