Theodoros Terzopoulos

Theodoros Terzopoulos, internationally acclaimed theatre director, was born in 1945, in Makrygialos village, in the Pieria area of Northern Greece. He was trained at Kostis Michailidis School of Dramatic Art (Athens, 1965-1967) and completed his studies at the Berliner Ensemble (Berlin, 1973-1976), while he worked as assistant director, close to Heiner Müller, who was his mentor, Manfred Wekwerth, Ruth Berghaus and Ekkehart Schall. He served as the Director of the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (1981–1983) and as the Artistic Director of the International Meetings of Ancient Drama in Delphi (since 1985 for about 15 years), inviting many leading figures of the international theatre scene. He has been the founder and artistic director of the International Meetings of Ancient Drama in Sikyon (2005 – 2011) and a founding member of the International Institute of Mediterranean Theatre (comprising 18 Mediterranean countries) since 1990.
As an outstanding theatre personality who has received local and international acclaim both for his inspiring artistic and constantly evolving educational work as well as for the promotion of interculturality, he has received a multitude of awards including the: Lorca Award (Spain, 1986), Stanislavski Award for Best Direction (Russia, 1993), Honorary Theatre Award (Turkey, 2006), Best Direction Award (Festival of Nations, Seoul, 1994), Best Assemble Acting (Beijing, 2011), Yuri Lyubimov International Theatre Award (2020), Sibiu Walk of Fame Star (Sibiu, Romania, 2024) and the Grand Theatre Award of the Hellenic Association of Theatre Critics and Performing Arts (Greece, 2024).
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Argyro Chioti

Argyro Chioti works in Greece and France as a director, actor and drama instructor. She graduated as an actor from the Morfes Higher Drama School of the Embros Theatre (2000) and holds a degree in Theatre Studies and a postgraduate degree (Master 2) in directing and dramaturgy (“Theorie et Pratique des Arts”) from the University of Provence in France (2006). In 2006 she co-founded the Vasistas theatre group, which operated first in France and then in Greece. She has worked across both classic and contemporary drama, and on productions that blur the boundaries between different art forms. Through regular foreign tours and other collaborations, she maintains an active and creative relationship with major European theatres and companies, including Théâtre des 13 Vents, Théâtre de la Bastille, Théâtre Liberté - Chateauvallon, and Comédie des Reims.

She has most recently directed Point of Refreshment at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival; Efthimis Filippou’s Big and Small Ships for the 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture; Vitsentzos Kornaros’s Erotokritos at the State Theatre of Northern Greece; Halepas by The Boy at the Onassis Stegi (a co-production with Italy’s Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione); Aristophanes’ The Frogs at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus; and Efthimis Filippou’s Eau de Cologne at the National Theatre of Greece. 

Cláudia Belchior

Cláudia Belchior was the President of the Executive Board of the D. Maria II National Theatre in Lisbon, Portugal, a position she has held from July 2015 - June 2022. Cláudia has been involved with the performing arts for all of her career, at the foremost cultural institutions in Portugal, having served as Director, Coordinator for the Performing Arts, and Deputy Director for Planning and Budget at the Belém Cultural Centre and as Director of Production at the Gulbenkian Foundation. She is currently the executive general coordinator of Centro Cultural de Belém. She has taught courses in Production Management, Stage Management, and Technical Direction in several institutions.

Milo Rau

Milo Rau, born 1977 in Bern, is the artistic director of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna. Critics call him the "most influential" (Die Zeit), "most interesting" (De Standaard), "most controversial" (La Repubblica), "most scandalous" (New York Times) or "most ambitious" (The Guardian) artist of our time. The director and author has published over 100 plays, films, books and actions. His theatre productions have been shown at all major international festivals, including the Berlin Theatertreffen, the Festival d'Avignon, the Venice Biennale, the Vienna Festival and the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, and have been touring in over 30 countries worldwide. From 2018 to 2024 Milo Rau was Artistic Director of NTGent (Belgium).

Oleksandra Matviichuk

Oleksandra Matviichuk leads the human rights NGO Center for Civil Liberties and coordinates the activities of the initiative group Euromaidan SOS. The Center for Civil Liberties promotes human rights and democracy in Ukraine and the OSCE region. It works on legislative reforms, conducts public oversight of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, organizes educational initiatives, and implements international solidarity programs.
Euromaidan SOS was established in response to the violent suppression of a peaceful student protest in Kyiv on November 30, 2013. Throughout the three-month mass protests known as the Revolution of Dignity, thousands of volunteers provided round-the-clock legal and humanitarian assistance to persecuted individuals nationwide.
Since the onset of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014, the initiative has monitored political persecution in occupied Crimea, documented war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Donbas region, and spearheaded international campaigns like #LetMyPeopleGo and #SaveOlegSentsov to secure the release of political prisoners held by Russian authorities.In response to the full-scale war beginning in February 2022, Oleksandra Matviichuk and other partners launched the Tribunal for Putin initiative to document international crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in all regions of Ukraine targeted by Russian attacks.

Oleksandra Matviichuk has authored numerous reports submitted to various UN bodies, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE, and the International Criminal Court.

Katerina Evangelatos

Katerina Evangelatos is an acclaimed theatre and opera director and since 2019 Artistic Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. 
She is the first woman and youngest person ever to hold this position. Under her direction, the Festival focuses on international co-productions and world premieres, as well as innovative approaches on ancient drama, significantly  enlarging audiences and attracting young spectators. Throughout her tenure, the Festival has established its position as one of Europe’s leading cultural organisations and has extended its activities during the winter, inventing new  platforms and spinning dynamic discussions within international and local audiences. 
She has directed over 30 big-scale theatre and opera productions at major venues and institutions in Greece and abroad, including the National Theatre of Greece, the Athens Epidaurus Festival, the Onassis Stegi, the Greek National Opera, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russia, and the Augsburg State  Theatre in Germany.
For her productions she has gained international recognition and has been awarded with several prestigious distinctions. Most recently, she was awarded one of the highest honors of the French Republic, the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, in recognition of her contributions as a theatre director and as the Artistic Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival.
Evangelatos is repeatedly invited to give master classes, seminars and lectures both in Greece and abroad (NYU, University of Athens, Harvard in Greece, University of Bari, and more).

Jeffrey Eric Jenkins

Jeffrey Eric Jenkins is Professor and Chair of Theatre Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, where he is also Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre, and affiliate faculty of Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago. He served two terms as Chair of the University Senate Executive Committee (SEC), and one term as Vice Chair of the University Senates Conference (USC) for the University of Illinois System, before his election as Chair of USC for 2024-25. He is a member of the University Faculty Advisory Committee and a 2024-25 Fellow of the President’s Executive Leadership Program (PELP).

Jenkins is in his second term as the 14th President of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC). The Paris-based nongovernmental organization advocates for building relationships between and among global performance cultures while working to enhance freedom of expression and democratic values. He has been executive editor of the bilingual, peer-reviewed journal Critical Stages/Scènes critiques since 2013.

Vladislav Troitsky

Vladislav Troitsky is a renowned Ukrainian theatre director, dramaturg, and actor. He is well known for his unconventional and experimental approach to theatre, often blending genres and pushing the boundaries of conventional theatre. He is widely considered one of Ukraine's most influential cultural figures.

Savas Patsalidis

Savas Patsalidis is Professor Emeritus in Theatre Studies at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he has taught at the School of English for close to 35 years. He has also taught at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece, the Hellenic Open University and the graduate program of the Theatre Department of Aristotle University. He is the author of fourteen books on theatre and performance criticism/theory and co-editor of another thirteen. His two-volume study, Theatre, Society, Nation (2010), was awarded first prize for best theatre study of the year. In 2019 his book Theatre & Theory II: About Topoi, Utopias and Heterotopias was published by University Studio Press. In 2022 his book-length study Comedy’s Encomium: The Seriousness of Laughter, was also published by University Studio Press. In addition to his academic activities, he writes theatre reviews for various journals. He is on the Executive Committee of the Hellenic Association of Theatre and Performing Arts Critics, a member of the curators’ team of Forest International Festival (organized by the National Theatre of Northern Greece), and the editor-in-chief of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, the journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics.

Lotta Lekvall

Lotta Lekvall is Director/CEO at Folkteatern, a theatre based in Göteborg, Sweden, since 2015. Folkteatern has had an incredible development artisticly, organizationally, with the internal working climate, audience development and ticket sales, strengthened economy and marketing strategies.  Folkteatern has had several successes artisticly as well as in audience and critics response. IT’s a pricewinning theatre for the plays Hamlet, Ett drömspel, and Bobby Fischer bor I Pasadena. Folkteatern has also been nominated to the Theatre Critics Price for the development and changes at the theatre and in marketing and communication as well as mentioned in The Guardian (February 8, 2020) for being a high-quality theatre and contributing to the area being chosen as one of the ten coolest neighbourhoods in Europe. Lotta Lekvall has attended the one-year programme Executive Diploma in Organisational Leadership, Oxford University, in 2023, and published the book “Performing Arts Leadership. Challenges in the 21st Century” (2024). She was nominated the twenty-fifth (out of a hundred) most influential persons in the city of Göteborg by the daily Göteborgs-Posten in 2023 for saving the theatre from eviction from the localities in the centre of the city.

Lotta Lekvall has worked with art and culture most of her life. She is a former Director of Nätverkstan, an independent cultural and civil society organization. Lotta Lekvall has worked in a broad sense with education, international exchange projects, surveys and studies on local, regional and national level. She has been in the board of The Royal Opera House in Stockholm, The Arts Grant Committee in Sweden, The Council of Cultural and Creative Industries, the network Encatc based in Brussels to name a few. She has been co-author of several reports and books, and performed studies of both an opera house and concert hall, as well as worked with several projects and advisory roles in cultural and creative industries. She has long experience of artist exchanges as well as training around Europe as well as building long-term networks, exchanges, and training with colleagues in for example in India, Serbia, East-Africa and Georgia.

Tom Leick-Burns

Tom Leick-Burns was born in Luxembourg and initially trained as an actor at the Drama Centre, London. Since then, he has appeared in over 20 professional theatre productions, starred in numerous films and was awarded the prestigious Studio Hamburg Shooting Star Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004. His career took a different turn when he was approached to work as a freelance production manager for the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg. Using his knowledge of British theatre and excellent language skills, he was hired to facilitate and look after international projects. Since then, he has been able to work on an eclectic range of theatre, dance and opera productions, using his organisational skills and gaining invaluable experience in project management. With his hands-on approach and indomitable spirit, Tom quickly adjusted to his new role while at the same time taking on new challenges. In 2008, he facilitated the first professional English-language production in Luxembourg and programmed parts of the Grand Théâtre English-language season.

Pr. Dr. Shuyan Liu

Shuyan Liu is a Junior Professor of Global Mental Health at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and a Brain City Ambassador in Berlin. Her research focuses on the complex interactions between the environment and mental health on a global scale. She is particularly interested in understanding the ubiquity of loneliness and its impact.

Marina Maleni

Marina Maleni has worked successfully as an actress, TV host and radio music producer for several years before 2001, when she started her work as Theatre Development Officer for Cyprus Theatre Organisation.  In charge of State theatre subsidies and policy forming for two decades, European collaborations, playwriting development, non-professional theatre, theatre education programmes, festivals, and the Curator for PQ National Participation of Cyprus since 2007 (Golden Triga 2023).  Additionally, Marina hosted a prominent CYBC TV talk show focused on culture for six years.

Marina Maleni has worked extensively in the Committee for Theatre in Schools (THOC - Ministry of Education and Culture, is a member of the advisory body of the Cyprus Youth Board, a Board member of the Cyprus Theatre Museum, is an honorary member of the Board of CYCSTAT and ASSITEJ Cyprus and is a member of the Advisory Board of World Stage Design. She has coordinated several very successful European culture program collaborations for Cyprus. She has been a Member of the Board of the European Theatre Convention since November 2023.

Isabel Andreen

Isabel Andreen discovered European networks with Philippe Grombeer and Trans Europe Halles.
In 2000, she met the choreographer Joel Borges, whose company IXKIZIT was then in residence at Mains d'Œuvres (Paris). As project coordinator and production manager, she developed several cooperation and support projects for young European choreographers (supported by the EU Culture programs 2001-2006). Between 2009-2021 she was artistic adviser (Europe / International) at Spectacle vivant en Bretagne (Regional Agency for performing arts). Since 2021 she has been working part-time as an independent consultant and is employed as International development manager at Theatre National de Bretagne.  She also collaborates regularly with the network On the Move for specific missions on international professional development programs, particularly the PARI! Program (supported by the French Ministry of Culture and the Institut français) and the program Avignon&Beyond in partnership with the Théâtre des Doms. 

Charlotte Orti

Orti studied German, philosophy and art history at the University of Hamburg, was assistant director and dramaturge at the Theater Vorpommern in Greifswald and Stralsund and guest dramaturge at the Staatstheater Kassel. In 2001 she went to the Staatstheater Braunschweig as a dance dramaturge, where she switched to drama dramaturgy in 2007. From 2010 she continued her work with artistic director Joachim Klement and took over the direction of drama dramaturgy for the 2016/2017 season. As a dance and drama dramaturge, she has gained experience in numerous play and project developments as well as in international collaboration. From 2011 she also coordinated the European festival for young directors Fast Forward, curated by Barbara Engelhardt , and was responsible for the festival's supporting program. She also held teaching positions at the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts.
With the 2018/2019 season she succeeded festival founder Barbara Engelhardt as curator.

Paulien Geerlings

Paulien Geerlings (Amsterdam,1970) is a Dutch theatre-maker with an Indo-European background and boardmember of the European Theatre Convention (ETC). After her high school education, she studied Philosophy and Theatre studies at the University of Amsterdam, gaining her MSc in 1997. In 2004 she received her MA at DasArts (currently DAS Theatre), a master’s programme for artistic practices in the field of theatre at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Since her graduation in 1997 she has been working as a freelance dramaturge with several theatre directors, including Ola Mafaalani, the South-African based Bratt Bailey and Marcus Azzini. For the last fourteen years, she has been head of dramaturgy and international collaborations at De Toneelmakerij, the Amsterdam theatre company for young audiences. Both at De Toneelmakerij and at ETC, her key focus is on diversity policies and gender equality. Next to this, she translated several plays, wrote theatre adaptations, taught at the Amsterdam University of the Arts and was a founding board member of Assitej NL. As a dramaturge, she has a strong focus on the development of new repertoire and the coaching of playwrights.

Irene Moundraki

Irene Moundraki has obtained a BA, an MA and a PhD in Theatre Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Faculty of Theatre Studies). She also studied Arts at the University of Milan, Italy.
She has worked at the National Theatre of Greece since 1999 as a special artistic collaborator and she is head of Drama, Library, Archive and International Relations Departments.
Irene Moundraki is also a visiting professor at the Departments of Theatre Studies of the Universities of Athens and Peloponnese. She teaches History of Theatre and Dramaturgy at Drama Schools. She taught Theatre in the Army (SAN) for five years and has directed several plays with her students.
She is the founder and head of the Greek Play Project, a dynamic platform in Greek and English for the promotion and study of contemporary Greek theatre.

Norbert Rakowski

Norbert Rakowski graduated from the Faculty of Drama Directing at the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw. Since 1997, he has worked as an assistant director of Krystian Lupa and as a director of documentary films in the Polish Television Theatre. As a theatre director, he debuted with his original production Suddenly (Studio Theatre in Warsaw) and in 2001 he staged his diploma production of Robert Anderson's Solitaire (Contemporary Theatre in Warsaw). Since then, he directed several dozen plays and co-operated with many theatres in Poland and abroad (such as Poznan, Cracow, Warsaw, Prague, Szczecin and others).

He was awarded a few times with the Golden Mask for Direction. He mainly directs plays concerned with contemporary topics or works with classics in contemporary aesthetics. A special place in his career is occupied by a period of laboratory work focused on working with dancers and research in combining dramatic language with contemporary dance theatre (performances such as Bluebeard, Flow).

Since 2015, he is the General and Artistic Director of JK Opole Theatre and Director of the Festival of Polish Classic Drama 'Konfrontacje' in Opole. In 2016, he created a new space of unusual characters called Modelatornia. His idea was to create and consistently develop a place that would serve the implementation of postulates of Jerzy Grotowski - providing the basis for experimental explorations in the field of theatre.

Norbert Rakowski invites artists to Opole who want to confront fundamental ideological problems on the stage and who are not afraid of creative dialogue with the audience through their original stage language.