Kolibri Színház’s new youth production, premiered on May 4, 2024. Their latest PlayOn! coproduction invites the audience on a special journey through time and space using immersive technologies and interactive elements. Realized within the framework of the ’Budapest Grand Novel’ project Urbán legendák – A tartozás / Urban Legends – The Debt invites the spectators to step out of the theatre space and into the city, where they can take part in an extraordinary „theatre audio walk“ with headphones on their ears. The play is based on Renátó Fehér’s Kaleidoscope, originally published as the 6th District/Terézváros chapter of the Budapest Grand Novel, which was adapted for Kolibri Theatre by István Tasnádi.
In the story, a father and son set out to collect a debt. They wander the streets of Terézváros from Jókai Square to Nyugati Railway Station, but find only fragments of the past: objects from a lost exhibition from the change of regime, a homeless man from a better time, moments from the ever-changing, much-seen Nyugati Square. The surreal walk, full of surprises, ends with the evocative opening of the shopping mall next to the station. „We got home. We are at home now.“
SZABOLCS RUSZINA
NORBERT CSERNÁK
MÁRIA KŐSZEGI
GÁBOR KRAUSZ
TAMÁS MÉSZÁROS
DÁNIEL NIZSAI
GYULA KORMOS
JULI ERDEI
BENEDEK DARVAS
and the drama students of Nemes Nagy Ágnes Art High School
Based on Renátó Fehér’s Kaleidoscope written by ISTVÁN TASNÁDI
Design, costume – PATRÍCIA PAJOR, ANETT HERMAN
Audio walk coordinator – MARIUS ZOSCHKE (DE)
Site-specific choreography – AGNIJA ŠEIKO (LT)
Augmented Reality (AR) design – CSABA KIRÁLYHÁZI
Music – ANDRÁS MONORI
Interactive sound – PÉTER MÁRTON
Motion capture optimalization – BEKA TCHARBADZE (GE/DE)
Motion capture double – LAURA WALTZ (DE/FR)
Technical manager – ISTVÁN FARKAS
Assistant director – ANDREA HAJSZ
Director – GYÖRGY VIDOVSZKY
Urban Legends was premiered on May 4, 2024 within the framework of the Budapest Spring Festival, as part of the Budapest Grand Novel event series. Supported by the ’Play On! – New Storytelling with Immersive Technologies’ international project co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union, the performance is a coproduction of Kolibri Theatre and the Akademie für Theater und Digitalität Dortmund.
Mail address: Endla 3, 10122 Tallinn
Information about this production will be coming soon.
Received the Bachelor Degree of Engineering Science in Computer Control and Computer Science in the field of „Intelligent Robotic Systems“ from the Riga Technical University, Latvia in 2015 and the Master Degree of Engineering Science in Intelligent Robotic Systems from the Riga Technical University, Latvia in 2017. In 2016 within ERASMUS+ program, Anete studied one semester of the „Simulation and Visualisation“ program at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Ålesund, Norway.
She is currently undergoing her Ph. D. research at NTNU in the field of path planning and collision avoidance of autonomous vessels in congested waters. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, autonomous surface vessels and robotic systems.
Michael Eickhoff studied history, German language and literature, and sociology in Bielefeld and Paris. Since 2000 he has been working as production manager, dramaturg, curator and lecturer for various theaters (Theater Bonn, Wiesbaden and Bielefeld) and universities. From 2010 to 2020 he was part of the artistic management team at the Schauspiel Dortmund under the artistic direction of Kay Voges. Here he has accompanied a large number of productions, curated discourse series, festivals and international guest performances, and co-created the concept and the funding of the Academy for Theater and Digitality.
He is particularly interested in theater in discourse with various social actors – in exchange with political-artistic activism, journalism and a variety of related disciplines of art.
Since summer 2020 he has been part of the Academy for Theater and Digitality where he is responsible for (international) networking and cooperation between art, science and business.
Piotr is writer, dramatist, director, culture animator and illustrator. 5th-year dramaturgy and theater directing student at the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków and a graduate of polish philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
He debuted as a dramaturg with „The Bible. Gen. 37-50” directed by Michał Zadara (Nowy Theatre in Warsaw, 2018). He was the dramaturg and writer/co-writer, among others, for „Community” directed by Marta Streker (Jerzy Grotowski Institute), „Czartoryska. Artifacts” directed by Mira Mańka (National Stary Theatre in Kraków), „Work, work” directed by Ewa Mikuła (Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków), „The Brothers Karamazow” directed by Marta Streker (Ludwik Solski Theatre in Tarnów) and „A Safe Place” directed by Tomasz Fryzeł (Łaźnia Nowa Theater). He directed on-line play „Kochanowski” (National Stary Theatre in Kraków) and performance „Altar Boys” (Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków).
In 2021 he is holder of a Warsaw art scholarship and creates the project „Dom. Plan sytuacyjny” that is series of dramatic and interactive hypertext reportages about Warsaw houses. In 2021 he is also holder of a Nowy Theatre scholarship (granted for innovation in the dramaturgy techniques and modern thinking about dramatic structure of the theatre performance).
Graduated in History of Art in 2004. Began her experience in informal production at FLUP, promoting and being responsible for production and finance for this university theater group from 2001 to 2005. Member of the management of Teatro Universitário do Porto in 2006 -2008, 2010-2013, responsible for the production of its events, shows and introductory courses in Theater. Assisted in production at Festival CARGOTOPIA – Festival do Cais (2010 and 2011); in the show CRUZADAS (Teatro do Frio – 2011); and executive production of the show SOMBRAS DA RUA DE TRÁS (FIMP – 2012). Collaborates with Pé de Cabra, Lda. from 2013 to 2018, being responsible for the executive production of several projects through this company, such as Festival MAP/P 2013 (Produtora de Risco, 2013), FIMP from 2013 to 2017, project ALMENARA (Theater O Bando, September/2017). Responsible for the production of Teatro do Frio from 2015 to 2019 and works at Bando since 2020.
Milena Noëmi Kowalski, born in Stuttgart, studied scenic arts with a focus on contemporary theatre, literature and media at the University of Hildesheim and dramaturgy at the University of Music and Theatre „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ in Leipzig. She worked for various theatre and film festivals and was a guest director and dramaturg at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, the theatre and performance festival Foreign Affairs in Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and the Staatsschauspiel Hannover, among others.
At the Osnabrück Theatre, Milena Noëmi Kowalski took on dramaturgies for drama and dance, realised city projects and was involved in the Spieltriebe 2017 festival. With her collective fuchs&flaneure, she produces audio walks and projects in public space. Her own works are created at the interface of theatre, installation and sound art, often as interventions in urban space and are strongly influenced by the local conditions of the place of creation.
Since the 2019/20 season, she has been working as a dramaturge for the Children’s and Young People’s Theatre (KJT) at Theater Dortmund.
Mary Stewart-David is a Musical Theatre practitioner and postgraduate researcher at The University of York, looking at immersive and interactive narrative design across digitally produced theatre and film. Her professional practice centres on writing and producing for West End musical theatre in London, where she is currently an associate of the Digital Maker Collective, a University of the Arts led group of visual designers and artists, and also in New York, as part of a ‘Broadway Tech’ initiative by theatre producers and virtual theatre-makers, investigating new digital platforms for live theatre performance. https://discord.gg/y4KMr5DTKq Virtual Theatre Makers on Discord
I am a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of York. My research is situated in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and explores the design and development of new interactive media content forms and tools to support their creation. This research combines my deep interest in new forms of interactive technology and media with empirical, theoretical and methodological perspectives, in the human-centred design of novel interfaces and interaction techniques for a broad range of artistic and everyday creative practices. My current research is focused on the design and development of new forms of responsive and immersive media content, with a particular interest in data-driven storytelling.
After a master degree in Information Engineering and a PhD degree in Information Technologies, Claudia Canali is now an associate professor at the Department of Engineering ‚Enzo Ferrari‘ of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Her main research interests focus on cloud and edge computing, Web technologies, social network analysis and gender equality in ICT.
Tibor Dessewffy PhD is an associate professor at the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary. He received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is the director of the Center for Digital Sociology at ELTE. His main research areas are digital culture, politics in the digital age, social transformation and technology.
Born in 1988. His involvement with the theater begins very early, at 5 years old in the amateur theater group called Teatro à Vela in a small village with 300 inhabitants.
He studied Artistic Studies, with specialization in Theater at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra.
In 2011, he integrate o Bando’s team in staging assistance to Anatoly Praudin in the show PEDRO E INÊS. He is the founder and artistic director of the theater group Gambozinos and Peobardos based in Vela, a small village near Guarda. He has been writing, performing and staging various shows of this group since 2005.
Since 2013, at O Bando, he integrates the cast of EM NOME DA TERRA directed by Miguel Jesus, ABSTENÇÃO a staging by João Brites, AUSÊNCIA (whose text he wrote), DOS BICHOS, ALMENARA and INFERNO (based on The Divine Comedy) at National Theatre D. Maria II in Lisbon. In 2016 he co-directed with Miguel Jesus, DO FIM creation of O Bando and in 2017 he was staging assistance and part of the cast of ADOECER, directed by Miguel Jesus, a co-production of Bando with Centro Cultural de Belém. In 2017, he was co-creator and actor of the show THIS IS (NOT) EUROPE, an international co-production inside Platform Shift+ with Collectif Le Nomade Village and Theatre Massalia of Marseille. In 2019, he was responsible for the dramaturgy and the direction of FILHO?.
Magda was born in 1975. She is a playwright, screenwriter, interior designer, and winner of the Gdynia Drama Award and the competition at the Polish Contemporary Art Exhibition. Magda Fertacz is a graduate of the College of Communication and Social Media and the Department of Journalism of the University of Warsaw. She made her debut as a playwright with the play Dust, staged at the National Theatre in Warsaw by Anna Trojanowska. As the author has explained, the story is about the inability to get close to other people. An emotionally crippled couple faces the challenges of parenthood. The appearance of the child exposes unconscious, deeply hidden emotions. „Is it possible to reach an agreement?“, asks Fertacz, and the director of the play adds that it is a powerful work which proves that the famous fairy tale ending ‘And they lived happily ever after’ does not usually occur in reality. Dust earned a distinction in the Radom Odważny contest in 2005.Fertacz is also the author of several other dramatic plays, such as Absinthe, which has been translated into many languages and shown at the Pozoriszte Lutaka Theatre in Mostar, the Tmuna Theatre in Tel Aviv and the Observatorija Theatre in Riga, among others.
Born in Hamburg in 1991, she lives and works in Berlin now. Here she studied Theaterstudies, Journalism & Communication (Bachelor of Arts) and Szenisches Schreiben at the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK). In 2017 she received the Kleist-Förderpreis für junge Dramatikerinnen und Dramatiker for her play TOD FÜR EINS ACHTZIG GELD (first premiere: at Ruhrfestspiele, by Schauspiel Hannover). For her libretto PROTHESEN DER AUTONOMIE – a sci-fi opera – she won the Berlin Opernpreis in 2018, together with Zsófia Geréb and Thierry Tidrow.
She was the German delegate at the International Young Playwrights Festival of Interplay Europe in Izmir and a scholarship holder at the Centre National des Ecritures du Spectacles La Chartreuse, Avignon.
The experimental opera MERCHANDISE MEDEA, for which she wrote the libretto, was invited to this year’s Performing Arts Festival Berlin.
Michael Eickhoff studied history, sociology and German literature in Bielefeld and Paris. Since 2000 he has been working as production manager, dramaturg, curator and lecturer for various theaters (Theater Bonn, Wiesbaden and Bielefeld) and universities. From 2010 to 2020 he was part of the artistic management team at Schauspiel Dortmund under the direction of Kay Voges as (chief) dramaturg. Here he has accompanied a large number of productions, curated discourse series, festivals and international guest performances, and co-created the concept and the funding of the Academy for Theater and Digitality.
He is particularly interested in theater in discourse with various social actors, political activism, journalism and a variety of related disciplines of art.
Since summer 2020 he has been part of the Academy for Theater and Digitality, a model project for artistic research into digital technologies for the performing arts.
Lisa Bunse studied German and Englisch Literature (BA) followed by a Master’s programme in Comparative Literature, both at the University of Paderborn. Along with her studies she was part of the student body of the faculty of Germanistik, Anglistik and Romanistik – her voluntary work included organising the annual students elections, working as a tutor and starting as well as caring for the Social Media Pages, mainly Facebook and plans expanding the Social Media presence further.
She did several internships at publishing houses, mainly in the editorial office, where she worked part time as a student assistent. In spring 2016 she did an internship in the PR at Schauspiel Dortmund. From summer 2016 on she now works in the PR department together with her colleague Djamak Homayoun.
In September 2019 she spent a month as part of the staff exchange programme of the European Theatre Convention at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
From the next season on she will be responsible for the Social Media pages of the Schauspiel Dortmund.
Kjersti Solenes, 42 years old. Worked with marketing for Teatret Vårt since almost 6 years. Before that I was a production manager for Molde International Jazz Festival (4 years) and for the Norwegian Broadcasting Coorportaion´s entertainment department (7 years).
Lucy is currently Project Producer and Marketing Manager for Pilot Theatre. Her projects have included several immersive plays and experiences including A Restless Place in some eighteenth century cells, a gig with John Foxx in a Cold War Bunker and the interactive theatre show Traitor, directed by Esther Richardson and Cecilie Lundsholt, where audiences broke into a building after dark. Lucy has also presented and hosted at several conferences including Culture 24: Let’s Get Real, The Immersive Storytelling Symposium at Liverpool John Moores University, Sharing is Caring: Shared Experiences in Mixed Reality panel at Tribeca Film Festival, the BFI Film Academy and PlatformSHIFT+ Creative Forums in Tallinn and Budapest. As Creative Producer and Director, Lucy’s most recent project, also called ‘Traitor’ (adapted from the play) combines, virtual reality, film and a live actor. The piece recently premiered in competition at Tribeca Film Festival 2019.
During my lifetime I have worked in very many different positions: as an accountant, dressmaker, sales person, journalist etc. The last 16 years I have been working in VAT Theatre as Organizational Manager and PR Coordinator, seven years ago I graduated from Tartu Uneversity as cultural manager. I am happy to have so different work experiences in my life and I feel that all what I have done before, helps me to do my job now as good as I can.
Born in Vienna, he was a member of the Vienna Choir Boys and studied musicology, communication science, philosophy, Finno-Ugristics and sociology in Vienna, Innsbruck and Budapest. Since 2014 he is press spokesman and head of the communication department at the Landestheater Linz. From 2007 to July 2014 he worked at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music (head of communication, head of the international Singing Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti, head of the artistic operations office of the Innsbruck concert series Meister & Kammerkonzerte including artistic concert planning for the 2014/2015 season. Before that, he held various positions at the Attersee Klassik Festival and other cultural organizations in Vienna. In addition, Brunnader founded the artist, PR and event agency oan Consulting supporting artists like Manu Delago, Christoph Pepe Auer and Asya Sorshneva.
Martina Parenti is graduated in history of theatre and cinema at Pisa University. Since 2013 she works in Elsinor as press officer, head of promotion and social media manager. Martina also collaborates with Swiss Radio, she writes critical reviews for several swiss magazines and, since 2016, she works for Babel Literature Festival in Bellinzona.
Anikó has been working in the Kolibri Theatre for Children and Youth as a press and PR officer since 2015, added to which she took on the responsibilities of international coordinator in 2018. She graduated in English Language and Literature and Cultural Anthropology from Eötvös Loránd University’s (ELTE) Faculty of Arts, where she also completed a Ph.D. Program in Modern English Literature. She has been a translator and editor of books and specialized texts since 1993; she worked as an executive assistant on international film productions, as well as a university lecturer and researcher of South American Indian cultures.
Katie is a Digital Consultant and Producer who has worked with organisations across the UK to produce digital work on new platforms, with a focus on young audiences. She currently works as a Digital Producer for The Space, supporting arts and cultural organisations in the UK to deliver commissioned digital projects.
She has worked in a range of strategic and digital management roles in the public, charity and academic sector, including all of BBC’s major youth brands, Youth Sport Trust and University of Birmingham.
Katie worked as part of the BBC’s Digital Content Innovation group, a team of digital specialists developing content for BBC TV, Radio and Digital with a focus on young and diverse audiences. While there, she worked with digital partners including Radio 1, CBBC and BBC Three before joining BBC Three full time.
Tibor Dessewffy PhD is an associate professor at the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary. He received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is the director of the Center for Digital Sociology at ELTE. His main research areas are digital culture, politics in the digital age, social transformation and technology.
Rachel Briscoe is creative director of fanSHEN. By training, she is a playwright, with work performed at the Royal Court and Soho theatres. She also works as a creative consultant, helping organisations like the National Trust and Tyne and Wear Museums create more playful environments.
With fanSHEN, Rachel created The Justice Syndicate (Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology: Future Now; Lumen Prize longlist; presented at York Mediale and Doc/Fest 2019). In 2019, fanSHEN created interactive digital commissions for organisations as varied as NESTA, Museum of London, the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science and Seven Stories: the National Centre for Children’s Books. In 2020 we are working on projects for Alzheimer’s Research UK, the Scottish Government and the Wellcome/ EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, as well as artworks exploring what a decolonising artistic practice could look like.
Richard Hurford is an award winning theatre, radio and multi-media performance playwright and dramaturg whose work has been produced throughout the UK and Europe.
He has long-standing relationships with York Theatre Royal, Sheffield Theatres and Pilot Theatre Company and have held writer-in- residence posts with all three.
Richard worked as playwright in our previous projects Platform 11+ and Platform Shift and he was part of the application team for PlayOn.
H.E. Max Haarich (DE) is a consultant on arts and technology with a focus on ethics in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He studied Communication Science at RWTH Aachen and worked on the topics of Innovation and Strong AI in academia and industry. In 2017 he became ambassador of Užupis. His Munich Embassy builds bridges between arts and technology to make innovations more inspired, accessible, and ethical.
Johannes May is an actor, tinkerer and interested in transformation processes in society.
He studied acting at the Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden-Württemberg and worked at the theatre.
He decided to do his own projects in self-chosen constellations and since then he plays in the independent scene.
He moved back to Ludwigsburg and became a mentor at Tinkertank. Tinkertank conducts workshops and creative seminars with technology, digitality and interactive media.
He began to engage with technology, programming and the maker scene and with digital transformation.
Besides working for Tinkertank, he also started working for King Racoon, a studio for board games. There he works as an editor and is constantly expanding his expertise in the areas of analog game design and storyworld building.
Johannes May is currently working on a Sarah Kane project and the first step in this project is programming a chatbot and working in the field of AI.
Julian Jungel is a director and coder of the interactive arts. His interest lies in the space where craftsmanship and sensors, generative design and music, animation and digital technology meet. Here he creates fascinating and fun user experiences through fast iterations of design and prototyping.
His toolset includes design process skills, hardware hacking techniques to interact with physical objects as well as classic programming languages like c++ and c#, arduino, processing and vvvv. He visualizes and animates with Cinema 4D and After Effects.
Julian did his BS in Computer Sciences at Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten then worked as a freelance programmer and 3D-Artist before he joined the Interactive Media class at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg from 2010 to 2013. Since 2015 he is senior lecturer on interactive arts at the internationally renowned Animationsinstitut in Ludwigsburg, Germany.
Furthermore he helped build TINKERTANK, a non-profit initiative aiming to reanimate creativity in kids, youths and adults with the help of agile technology and curates their workshops on animatronics, robotics, VR, wearables – anything that can be built from or enhanced with electronic scrap.
Today Julian works as lecturer for creative technology in M.A. Spiel && Objekt at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin.
Emese Bodolay studied Theatre Studies and „Szenische Forschung“ (Scenical Research) at the Ruhr University in Bochum. Since 2011 she is working on interactive theatre-forms with the performance collective Anna Kpok. Their works are based on a mix of game- and theatre dramaturgy and always involve the audience as co-player on the shared playground, a.k.a. the stage. Anna Kpok developed the Live Jump and Run, which is mainly inspired by the early Jump and Runs as Super Mario, but follows an Open World dramaturgy by now. The audience is a group of five and they have to guide a Performer through the interactice scenery. In their new work „Shell Game – Lost in Paranoialand“ Anna Kpok is focussing more on multi-layered narrative spaces and uses Augmented Reality for the first time.Anna Kpoks works were shown at the Ringlokschuppen.Ruhr (Mülheim an der Ruhr), Theater Dortmund, Schaubude Berlin, Ruhrtriennale Bochum and Junges Schauspiel Hannover.
Performer in numerous performances at Theater am Ortweinplatz (among other things, preferably not, the audition, between the trees, socialist intervention Druppe) and Das Planetenparty Prinzip (Please play me !, the part of the game game, smart ass). 2018 director and production management at Spleen * Trieb-Produktion Do you know the truth ?. Actors in short films and cinema commercials.
At Planetenparty Prinzip responsible for conception, production, performance, video.
Graduate of Theatre Studies at the Jagiellonian University. Worked in the several cultural institutions in Cracow as a coordinator of educational and cultural projects for children and ethnic minorities like Gypsys and Slovaks. She worked as a manager of marketing department in Teatr Łaźnia Nowa in Cracow. Now she works in education and literary department in The Ludowy Theatre. Shes’s responsible for coordinating special projects and international cooperation with festivals. She loves cooking.
Andrea Ligabue, Modena 1972. Married with Serena. Caterina (2001) and Francesco (2006) father. Master degree and Ph.D in Theoretical Chemistry at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. From 2006 employed as computer programmer for University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and assigned to the Game Science Research Center in November 2019. Artistic Director of Play – The Games Festival, Italian greatest games event, since his 1st edition back in 2008. Game’s reviewer and member of the International Gamers Awards committee is working with games from 2010 collaborating with designers and publishers including LEGO and Centro Studi Erickson. Game Based Learning and Game Design are his field of interest. Own more than 1500 board-games and several role-playing-games and videogames.
Dr Ben Kirman is a designer, developer and lecturer in Interactive Media at the University of York and Digital Creativity Labs. His PhD is in game design for social interaction, and his research uses playful approaches to develop and explore unusual, surprising and unexpected experiences. This is usually digital games, but also includes speculative fiction, board games, twitter bots, and other kinds of weird technology. Ben’s work is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, including domains such as science fiction, social justice, gig working, animal-computer interaction, non-league football, education and esports. In 2017 he was shortlisted as a BBC New Generation Thinker, and has provided evidence to the House of Lords on the future of AI. His work has been covered widely in the popular press, including Wired, TIME, New Scientist, The Guardian, New York Times, Metro and Your Cat Magazine.
Csaba is creative director at Overon Ltd. Budapest, where he works on B2B Virtual Reality experiences and VR computer games. He was responsible for several business related VR application production which used the interactive storytelling techniques in the subject of gamification. As writer, he has numerous short stories published and also there is some rather popular comic strip series from him available in the internet. Csaba has some connection with theater as he wrote and directed some stage plays including two plays in the famous world of The Lord Of The Rings as a founding member of the Hungarian Tolkien Society. As a computer game creator and half theater man, Csaba is interested in the interactive storytelling techniques using in stage plays.
Álvaro Magalhães was born in 1951, in Porto. In 1982 he published his first book for the youngest, “História com muitas letras” (History with many letters), and, from then on, he has built a work with more than 70 titles, which integrates poetry, essay, dramatic texts, children’s literature and which is characterized, mainly for its originality, either for the chosen themes or for its treatment,
Five of his books were awarded by the Portuguese Writers Association and the State Secretary for Culture. The book “O Limpa-palavras e outros poemas” (The word cleaner and other poems), was considered by the International Board Book for Young Children as the best text published in 2000 and 2001 and included in the “Honor List” of the Hans Cristian Anderson Prize. The book “Hipóptimos – Uma amor de amor” (Hipóptimos – a love story), received in 2002 the Grand Prize Calouste Gulbenkian for Children’s Literature. In 2013, his book “O Senhor Pina” (Mister Pina), received the “Authors” award for the best children’s book of that year.
Part of his work (21 titles) is published in France, Spain, Brazil, Italy and South Korea.
It has 14 dramatic texts taken to the scene, since 1992 “Na Ilha do tempo”( On the island of time), by Companhia “Pé de Vento” and “Miséria” (Misery), by the Teatro de Marionetas do Porto, until the most recent, in 2016 “Um urso com poucos miolos”, (A bear with few brains), by Companhia Trigo Limpo Teatro Acert. In 2018, “O Senhor Pina” (Mister Pina), was co-produced by National Theater of Porto, S. João, and Companhia “Pé de Vento”.
In 2004, he published “Natural History of Football”, an essay that results from more than ten years of intense research and penetrates domains hitherto kept ignored, revealing to us the most intimate reality of the game, that is, its essence. Operating a synthesis of the partial views of disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, or sociobiology, unveils the most persistent mysteries of the game and answers, finally, so many questions that have remained unanswered. Where does football come from? What is its true origin? And your remote past? And your concrete genealogy? What, then, is its profound meaning? And why has it become a scandalous need for modern man, „this evolved but denatured animal“?
He also published the chronicle book “Jogo Perigoso” (Dangerous game), which brought together chronicles published in the newspapers “Jornal de Notícias” and “Le Monde Diplomatique”. Currently, he writes a fortnightly chronicle for the newspaper “O Jogo”.
My name is Julian Gądek, I’m 21 years old.
I have been studying Visual Communication at the Faculty of Art of the Pedagogical University of Krakow since October 2019.
I have been passionate about all kinds of games since I was a child. One of my first favorite games, apart from the ones I played between age of 0 and 6, was Magic and Sword. This is the legendary „board game” that I play to this day and I think it will accompany me for many years to come.
I am also a committed film lover and amateur of cinema, also from behind the camera.
For five years I have been dealing with broadly understood computer graphics – from designing simple logos and infographics to creating pages in WordPress software and 3D graphics.
As for the profile education, I graduated from secondary school: the Zenon Klemensiewicz Technical School of Printing and Multimedia on the profile Technique of Digital Graphic Processes. Then I started bachelor’s studies at Pedagogical University of Krakow.
I’m also interested in acting, the creative process that takes place on the stage or film set, as well as the mechanisms that build games.
My interest in the subject is consistently high, regardless of whether it involves engaging in a group of friends who creates the „mafia” game, or embodying and identification with the characters from computer games
Sven is a freelance game designer and ux designer working in Berlin and The Hague. He graduated with a university diploma in communication design, and worked since 2008 in the games industry, where he contributed to several shipped titles. Among them, massively-multiplayer-online games, but also smaller indie mobile games. One ongoing project, Phoenix II (iOS), is a featured “Game of the Day”, and a demo game installed by Apple on showroom devices.
Sven attended several GDC Game Developer Conferences in Cologne, Austin and San Franscisco, mainly with focus on game writing; worked with D&D author and fantasy writers to develop new franchises; and gave several two-day workshops for students on interactive storytelling and narrative design.
Sven has a research interest in (game) metaphors.
Marion Jõepera is a writer, creative and a user journey designer. She is focused on creating multi-platform experiences and is passionate about combining digital and video game dramaturgies with real life adventure games.
Dr. Juergen Hagler is an academic researcher and curator working at the interface of animation, game and media art. He studied art education, experimental visual design and cultural studies at the University for Art and Design in Linz, Austria. Currently, he is a Professor for Computer Animation and Media Studies in the Digital Media department at the Hagenberg Campus of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. He became the academic coordinator for the Digital Arts master’s degree programme in 2009. Since 2014 he is the co-head of the research group Playful Interactive Environments with a focus on the investigation of new and natural playful forms of interaction and the use of playful mechanisms to encourage specific behavioral patterns. He has been involved in the activities of Ars Electronica since 1997 in a series of different functions. Since 2017 he is the director of the Ars Electronica Animation Festival and initiator and organizer of the symposium Expanded Animation.
Zsófia Geréb was born in Budapest. 2010-2015 she studied stage directing at the University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest in the class of Gábor Székely and Viktor Bodó. In 2018 she gained another master’s degree in opera directing at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. In 2017 she staged My Corporate Identity by Thierry Tidrow at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In the same year she directed Tannhäuser für Kinder at the Bayreuther Festspiele, which production she also staged in San Juan, Argentina in 2019. In 2018 she and Thierry Tidrow won the Berliner Opernpreis for Prosthetics of Autonomy – a sci-fi opera. Also in 2018 she led a Shakespeare workshop at the University of California, Berkeley. Since the autumn of 2019 she teaches acting for singers at the Hanns Eisler Berlin.
Thierry Tidrow is a Canadian composer working in Germany. He holds a B.Mus. (Hons) in composition from McGill University, an M.Mus. from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he studied with Richard Ayres, and is an Alumnus of the Akademie Musiktheater Heute fellowship. His music has been performed across North America and Europe and recent works have focused on vocal and text-based music, including five chamber operas. Thierry has won many prizes, including the Berliner Opernpreis 2018 and the Canada Council’s prestigious Jules-Léger Prize. He is currently composer in residence for Oper Dortmund. His work, described as both “exuberant”and “macabre”, explores the grey area between humour and darkness as well as truth and lie, walking a tightrope between comedy, tragedy, and horror.
Director, teachers at the Łódź Film School, director of the Ludowy Theatre in Kraków’s Nowa Huta district. She has directed over 40 plays, including Vladimir Zuev’s Osaczeni / Trapped, Ingmar Bergman’s Jajo węża / Serpent’s Egg, and Gabriela Zapolska’s Ich czworo / Four of Them at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, Amanita Muskaria’s Daily Soupat the Narodowy Theatre, Marek Modzelewski’s Dotyk / The Touch at the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, Artur Pałyga’s Tato / Dad at the Bagatela Theatre in Kraków, Anton Tchekhov’s Trzy siostry / Three Sisters at the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw, and Artur Pałyga’s Rewizor. Będzie wojna / The Government Inspector. There is Going to be a War and Paweł Wolak and Katarzyna Dworak’s Gdy przyjdzie sen / When Sleep has Come at the Ludowy Theatre. Winner of numerous awards for direction, notably recipient of three prizes at the National Competition for the Staging of Polish Contemporary Plays, and a further three prizes (including the 2019 Grand Prix for directing When Sleep has Come) at the Portrayed Reality Contemporary Drama Festival in Zabrze, and at the Live Classics Competition for the Staging of Historical Works of Polish Literature.
Actor and director, born in Cesena.
Graduated like actor at the “Scuola d’arte drammatica Paolo Grassi” in Milan, in 2005. He interprets contemporary dramaturgy texts such as: “Ritratto di donna araba che guarda il mare” by Davide Carnevali, “Trainspotting” by Mouawad, “Circeo il massacro” by Elisa Casseri and Filippo Renda, “Il generale” by Emanuele Aldrovandi”. In 2015 he founded in Cesena Alchemico Tre Company. The company divides its activity between: production of contemporary dramaturgy plays with the support of the theaters of Emilia-Romagna (including Ert, Ater, Cronopios) and cultural projects, with theatrical lab or theatre events with the young generations of Emilia Romagna in collaboration with Municipalities, Schools, Region and Associations.
Born 1985 in Trondheim, Norway. Masters degree in Performance Studies from University of Oslo. Approached theatre through dance and music. In theatre she has worked as freelance dramaturge and director, with performance groups and at theatre houses. She was in-house dramaturge at Trøndelag Teater (Trondheim, Norway) 2014-2016, and Den Nationale Scene (Bergen, Norway) 2016-2017.
Born in Lisbon in 1987. She graduated as an actress from the Cascais Professional School of Theater in 2006 and the School of Theater and Cinema, Lisbon, in 2009.
She has worked with several creators and directors such as João Lagarto, Cristina Carvalhal and Carlos Avilez.
Since 2008 she has been doubling for television and in 2012 has given Dramatic Expression classes to Basic Education.
She also attended the Portuguese Sign Language course for two years, where he also coordinated dramatic expression exercises with the deaf community.
In March 2014 started a Professional internship and currently performs in the most important plays of O Bando Theater
She is currently responsible of the area of Reception of Audiences of O Bando Theater and involved in the Artistic Team, Technical Team, Production Team.
Nele Neitzke received her master´s degree in german literature and educational sciences at the university of Hannover and worked parallel as directors assistant and in the department for theatre education. From 2007 on she was engaged as theatre educator, dramaturg and director at Theater Ulm. In 2011 she joined a further training in Theatremanagement in Munich. From 2012 to 2016 she worked at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg as head of the department for young audiences.
Her theatre works were invited to the KUSS-Festival 2011 and the Bayerische Theatertage 2013 – 2015, where 2015 her play JUNGER KLASSIKER – FAUST SHORT CUTS was labeled with the first price. Since the season 2016/2017 is Nele Neitzke head of the department for young audiences at Landestheater Linz.
Born in 1984, he has a degree in Performing Arts from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon. He is a member of the Direction of the Cooperative O Bando Theater and member of the artistic direction, where he works as a playwright, writer, director and production coordinator.
In 2010, he founded Galateia – edition and cultural production, where he published his poems books First Road and Quarantine and the play Inês Morre (2011), which originated: Pedro and Inês, staged by Anatoly Praudin
Wrote the text and co-staged Quarantine, the commemorative spectacle of the Bando’s 40th anniversary; In 2015, he conceived the dramaturgy and staged the show In the Name of the Earth, from Vergílio Ferreira.
In the context of the European Project Platform Shift+ and under the aegis of António Maria Lisboa, in 2016, wrote and co-staged with João Neca the community show Do Fim; and in 2017, he was co-creator, actor and musician on the show This Is Not Europe, an international co-production with Collectif Le Nomade Village.
In the company: Direction, Artistic Direction, Artistic Team, Technical Team, Production Team.
(b. 1973) is an actor and director of VAT Teater since 1997. He has directed multiple productions with the topic of digitality and internet (“Born online” in 2013, “Estonian Hikikomori” in 2015 and “Web Demon” in 2016).
Matthias Keller’s first contact with classical music was in his childhood, when he started studying violin and sang in children’s choirs. Later this passion should become his job. After graduating from school he spent two years in Israel and Palestine, then he studied business administration (Universität Mannheim) and cultural management (Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar). He has worked for different theaters (Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Theater Freiburg), festivals (Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) and orchestras (West-Eastern Divan Orchestra) in different positions, for example as an assistant director, in orchestra management, dramaturgy or music education.
Since 2018 he works at Oper Dortmund as a dramaturg, mainly responsible for opera for children and young people.
Marcus Lobbes has been working as a director and set designer in opera and theatre since 1995. His focus is on uncompromising classic productions as well as numerous premieres and first performances in many renowned theatres in Germany (Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Theater Freiburg, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Staatstheater in Kassel, Mainz, Saarbrücken, Darmstadt and Braunschweig, Schauspiel Dortmund, Wuppertaler Bühnen and many others). New forms of collective work with the ensembles and his close contact to contemporary authors distinguish his artistic signature. In addition to numerous invitations and awards, his approach has also found its way into the training of young talent: He has recently been invited as a guest lecturer and speaker to the Academy of Performing Arts in Ludwigsburg, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the University of Rostock, the Mainz University of Music and Performing Arts, the Graz University of Art and the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. Since 2019 he has been the Artistic Director of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund.
Born in 1980 in Molde. Norwegian dramaturg and playwright. He was graduated from the University of Oslo, master in Nordic literature. Studied dramaturgy at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He has previously worked at the Teatret Vårt (Molde), Rogaland Teater (Stavanger), Den Nationale Scene (Bergen), Theatre Kabul in Afghanistan and Nationaltheatret (Oslo). Made his debut as a playwright with the Havfruens sønn. Uncle Sam produced at Litteraturhuset (Oslo) 2011. Til Kongo (play) was produced at Teatret Vårt in 2012. Other plays; Til Valhall (produced at Dramatikkfestivalen 2013), Vi er Norge (Nationaltheatret, Dramaten and Cafeteatret 2014) and Festning Europa (Det Norske Teatret 2017). From 2014 until 2016 Playwright-in-Residence – The Norwegian Centre for New Playwriting). Artistic Director Teatret Vårt from August 2019.
Katharina John was born in Heidelberg and studied German, history and political science in Heidelberg and Kiel. Since 1995 she has worked as a dramaturg for opera, concerts and ballet. She has been Director of the Opera Department for Theater Trier, Director of the Opera Department for Theater Augsburg and Deputy Director of Drama for Deutsche Oper Berlin. As guest dramaturge she worked at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Badische Staatstheater Karlsruhe and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. She has also devised concert and interdisciplinary events including a Zemlinsky symposium (Deutsche Oper Berlin) and a music theatre project based around La bohème, Die Bohème am Kottbusser Tor (Berlin). Since 2017/2018 she works for the Landestheater Linz (Austria) first as dramaturge and production manager of the dance company TANZLIN.Z and since 2019/2020 again as a music theater dramaturge in the opera division.
Literary manager of the Ludowy Theatre in Krakow, former literary manager of the Opole Theatre. The author of the interdisciplinary educational program of a culture-making „Theater passages“ implemented at the The Opole Theatre, cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, co -author of the concept and coordinator of the projects of the Ludowy Theatre: artistic, educational, culture-making implemented in cooperation with: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Adam Mickiewicz, Institute of Raszewski, the National Center for Culture. The author of the program concept of a 3-year project for the blind and partially sighted peoples has been implemented at the Ludowy Theatre . Coordinator of the international project for children and youth „From children for children“.
Justo Moret was born in Valencia, Spain. After finishing his education as a professional dancer in the Netherlands, he performed with established dance companies as well as in the independent dance scene in the Netherlands and in Germany. He studied classical dance pedagogy and, in addition to his work as lecturer for dance at the Folkwang University of Arts, has been responsible for the educational work of Ballett Dortmund since 2008. There he regularly choreographs full-evening performances for young, non-professional dancers from different cultures, using a wide variety of technics and styles. He also regularly guests as ballet master, rehearsal director and choreographic assistant at various theaters. He is a board member of the German Professional Association for Dance Pedagogy.
Born in 1984, in Carregosa, where she began her theatrical activity in the Amateur Theater group of the Friends of the Earth URATE Recreational Association, initially as an actress and later as the founder and director of the Fantochola youth theater.
In 2006, she graduated with a degree in Biology and Geology from the University of Aveiro She participates in forest watchers in the promotion of walking paths and in providing school support to disadvantaged students, among other projects.
In 2007 she works in dramatic expression workshops for children and participates in the Amateur Theater Training Course organized by the Ephemeral – Aveiro Theater Company.
She graduated as an actress in the School of Theater and Cinema, Lisbon, in the course of Theater Actors branch.
She is a member of the Direction of the Cooperative O Bando Theater and she performs in the most important plays of O Bando.
She is currently coordinating the Actor on Stage Awareness Training Workshops developed by the O Bando Theater and involved in Direction, Training, Artistic Team, Technical Team, Production Team.
Christine Härter grew up in Stuttgart, Germany. She studied at the Universities of Siegen and Tübingen and graduated as MA in Literary and Cultural Theory. At the Zimmertheater Tübingen and the Staatstheater Stuttgart she had her first internships in professional theatre. Form 2013 on, she worked as an assistant director at the Badische Landesbühne Bruchsal, where she also directed Kassandra by Christa Wolf in 2016, and at the Stadttheater Gießen. From 2017 on she has occasionally been working as a dramaturg and just started in the late autumn of 2019 in this position at the young theatre department (Junges Theater) at the Landestheater Linz, Austria.
György is a theatre director and drama pedagogue from Budapest, Hungary, working as principal director in Kolibri Theatre, the leading theatre for children and youth in Hungary. I divide my life between Dublin and Budapest, since my family is living in Ireland, and I am a PhD student at Dublin City University.
I have worked as a drama- and film-teacher for seventeen years in Budapest. Since 2001 I have directed nearly 50 professional productions, mainly for young audiences, in Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Romania, and Ireland.
I have been a Board member of the Hungarian Centre of ASSITEJ since 2010. I am part of the organising team of our national ASSITEJ festival and representing Hungary in various international events, like the ASSITEJ World Congresses and Artistic Gatherings.
Born in Rimini, she graduated with honour in Classical Literature at the University of Bologna. Her theatrical training began in the Compagnia degli Scalpellini theatre laboratories then with other maestri, such as Antonio Latella, Letizia Quintavalla and Konrad Zschiedrich. She has worked professionally since 1997 and in 2000 she joined Elsinor Teatro, as both an actress and a playwright. In 2010 she started directing plays for young audience. Since 2012 she’s artistic director of the Teatro Testori, in Forlì, and artistic co-director of Elsinor, together with Gianluca Balestra, Stefano Braschi and Rossella Lepore. From 2014 to Jan 2017 she was a member of the national board of Assitej Italia. In September 2016 she’s been appointed artistic co-director (with Renata Coluccini) of Segnali, one of the most important festivals of theatre for young audience in Italy organized in partnership by Elsinor and Teatro del Buratto.
Helen is a freelancing director, who specialises on visual theatre. She has directed three productions in VAT Teater – two of them (Mister Green and #deleteme) were created in the international theatre project PLATFORM SHIFT+.
János Novák is a cellist, composer, and the executive director of Kolibri Theatre for Children and Youth since 1992. He produced his most well-known fairy tale play, Auntie Pepper in 1981. Since then, he has directed 45 performances for children and adults. As a composer he has worked in more than 50 productions, including theatre performances and movies as well. Since 2000, he is the president of the Hungarian ASSITEJ Centre.
Esther has been the Artistic Director of Pilot Theatre since 2016. In this role her work has been to reinvigorate the companies national touring, and to integrate the technological work of the company into the art.
Pilot’s major recent productions have included acclaimed adaptations of Crongton Knights, Noughts and Crosses and Brighton Rock, as well as work which has explored interactive theatre and the fusing of immersive technology into live performance.
Over almost a twenty-year career, Esther has directed and/or produced over thirty productions. She is also a filmmaker and a renowned UK dramaturg who has nurtured many award-winning plays and playwrights.
Career highlights include: creating the Momentum Young Writers’ Festival, nominated for The Stage’s award for Special Achievement in Regional Theatre (2006); co-directing the first theatrical response to the economic crash of 2009 for Soho Theatre (mentioned as a highlight of Michael Billington’s year); adapting and directing the short film The Cake, which represented the UK at the Women in Film and Television International Showcase (2012); and directing the sold-out run of Noughts and Crossesthat played to transfixed teen audiences all around the UK (2019).
Tiina Rebane is the executive director of VAT Teater since 1994. She is one of the founding members of the theatre in 1987. She has worked as an actress and director (also done many works in radio theatre).
Artistic Director of VAT Teater since 1993. He is one of the founding members of the theatre in 1987. He has done over 50 productions (also written many of them) in VAT Teater and also directed many productions all around in Estonia and abroad.