Artist statement
Throughout my life, I have always enjoyed telling stories, helping people laugh and dream, escape reality and search for the “right” questions. I realised quite early in my studies and career, that what I enjoy the most in diving into texts, exploring writer’s words and worlds, being able to communicate and share ideas and exploring structures, traditions and the history of stories in relation to culture and society.
In 2011 I graduated from the drama school of the Greek Art Theatre (Diploma in Acting) and since then, I have been working as an actor in Athens, Greece. Meanwhile my need for further development lead me to attend Mr Andreas Manolikakis’ (Chair of the Directing Department at the Actors Studio Drama School, Pace University) workshop held in Athens on Method Acting and text Analysis, for seven years, gaining an understanding of directing actors, and working with texts. This, along with workshops I attended in the Grotowski Institute in Poland, the Actor’s Space in Barcelona and my training as an Improviser in Athens, has lead me into teaching Improvisation and Acting in Athens since 2015, and creating Dεcadēre Theatre Company, in 2017, where I had the chance to adapt and direct the play “King Matt the first” for young Audiences, as well as direct and dramaturge the site specific performance “ Waterline, an ode to Decay” for the Greek Festival 2018, among other performances.
Other than that, since 2015, I have been working as a dramaturge and director for theatre companies in Athens and Patras, Greece until September 2019, when I moved to London, in search of a course that will expand my knowledge and a postgraduate programme that will help me develop my skills and make me a professional with the courage and assets to create fresh and vibrant performances. I attended the Director’s Course at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and once more, I verified that I am interested in further studying dramaturgy, as it is one of the most underrated, but most essential factors when creating a performance.
Thus in 2021 I completed a Dramaturgy MA in Birkbeck University of London, focusing on performances created by participatory observation, a methodology that bridges the fields of theatre and anthropology.
All this led to creating in 2022 “Floating Orchard Theatre Company”, based in Piraeus, the company is due to produce an opera for young audiences, commissioned by the National Opera of Greece, where, under my direction we will present “Where are the toys?” a new Greek opera by Kostis Kritsotakis and Marivita Gramatikaki.
My goal has always been to introduce to the audience new writers and texts, to create performances that offer both to the artists and the audience an experience rather than just a story and that question the audience’s and participants ideas of how our communities are shaped. My intention is to create playful performances that explore the limits between humor and sorrow, that embrace, deconstruct and rebuild traditions and that speak with an honest humble voice to the heart.