the
Team
Angelika Fink – artistic direction / director, performer
Director, actress and author, Munich and Styria. Since 2010 curation of international theatre productions and EU projects of Pathos Munich. 2009 – 2018 Artistic director of Pathos Munich. 2017 Graduated from the script workshop at HFF Munich and works for film/television. Angelika Fink studied psychology and sociology, graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. Performances in film and television, readings, radio plays, radio. Permanent and guest engagements at Munich Kammerspiele, Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Stadttheater Trier, Landestheater Tübingen, Steirischer Herbst Graz, SPIELART Munich, Teatr Cinema, HAU Berlin, among others. Founded the independent Munich group Theater & Company/
Katja Kettner – artistic direction / dramaturg
Dramaturg, author, curator, studied theatre, dance and literary studies and cultural management. She is an expert in national and international networking and cooperation projects such as NORDWIND FESTIVAL, ENTROPIA FESTIVAL and PHONE HOME. She also works with many artists and companies as a dramaturge and project manager. She is co-founder, dramaturge and author of KANALTHEATER.
Elsa Büsing – project manager
As a project manager and dramaturge, Elsa Büsing creates, develops and supports music-theatrical forms, performances in the context of digital technologies, artistic actions in public space and participative cultural formats. She studied theater studies and musicology, philosophy and theology in Munich. A focus of her work is on strengthening international cooperation and networks. In 2018 Elsa Büsing was a member of the organizational team of the IETM Plenary Meeting in Munich and regularly oversees as production manager and dramaturge international cooperation projects.
Ivica Dimitrijevic – project coordinator / director
Ivica Dimitrijevic is actor, musician, director born in Kumanovo, Macedonia . He graduated acting on The Faculty of Dramatic Arts in. After graduation, he started working in the National Theatre, Kumanovo and from 2012 he relocated in Skopje, as part of the Macedonian National Theater acting team. He is taking an active role in many of the drama plays on stage and acting in number of movies, short films and commercials.
Since 2017 together with Martin Ivanov they established independent movie production MI Film, working as a director , producer with the aim to demonopolize and initiate changes in the film and theater making practice.
Ivica is passionate about playing a guitar and has been on stage with many post punk and rock and roll bands. At the moment he is actively playing with RIB and SIZ. Besides acting as his main profession, he’s been restless in other fields as directing, art performance and social activism by co-founding and a nonprofit cultural organization. Currently working asproject coordinator and director on the Creative Europe funded international project “The ChorusProject” (2019-2021).
Jasmina Vasileva – project assistant / workshop leader / director. ass
Jasmina Vasileva, actress. Graduated at The Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje in 2003. After working
as a guest actress in various theaters in Macedonia, she became a member of The National Theater in Kumanovo in 2008. Member of Dramski Teatar Skopje since July 2019. Part of independent
performative projects at the Youth Cultural Center in Skopje and various events such as “Rediscovering the Path of Culture”, “Days of Italian Culture in Macedonia”, Festival of Contemporary Arts “Akto” in Bitola, “ПичПрич/PeachPreach” and many more. Participant in national and international theater festivals in Macedonia, Ukraine, Slovenia, and Italy. Winner of the “Trajko Chorevski” – Best Young Actor Award at the Macedonian Theater Festival “Vojdan Chernodrinski”. Winner of the “best stage duet” prize at the “XXIX National Festival of Small Theater Forms и VIII International Festival of New European Theater Action – NETA” in Vratsa, Bulgaria, in 2018. Holder of M.A. Degree in Cultural Studies since 2016 – master thesis titled “PROTEST AND PERFORMANCE” – The connection between political protests and performative activities”. Women’s Rights Activist. Collaborator of the independent, informal initiative “Бори се женски“ / “Fight like a woman”. Currently working as project assistant and workshop leader on the Creative Europe funded international project “The Chorus Project” (2019-2020).
Kristina Bozurska – scenography / set and costume design
Kristina Bozurska is a visual artist from Macedonia. Graduated at the painting department in the Faculty of Fine arts, Skopje in 2008, and got her MA at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Skopje in 2017, with a main research in social art practice. In her practice Kristina utilizes a multitude of techniques and materials, including ready-made objects, painting, drawing, text and video. Socio-political observation is the core of her practice, highlighting problems and glitches of the contemporary context through a selection of materials and visual references. She has had number of solo shows and participated in numerous of group exhibitions, art festivals and workshops in the country and abroad. In 2011 she accomplished a residential stay in ISCP New York and in 2013 got a scholarship for the Arte Utile workshop led by Tania Bruguera at the Salzburg Summer Art Academy. She has won few awards: The best video in category “Nano Minute” of the International video festival in Brazil (2008); (YVAA) ”Denes” an award for best young artist for 2010, Skopje, Macedonia and BuzArt award at the Art Residence “Togetherness” in Tirana, organized and founded by the Swiss Cultural Fund Albania and gallery Kalo.
Tom Mansfield – artistic director
Tom is Artistic Director of Upstart Theatre. His productions as director include Phone Home, Silent Planet, The Situation Room and The Falling Sickness (alongside James Blakey), Oh Well Never Mind Bye and Water Sculptures. Producing work for Upstart includes Marco, The Last Ones, The Identity Project and The Maddening Rain. Tom is one of the programmers of the annual DARE Festival.
Tom is a visiting practitioner at the University of Birmingham and the University of Cumbria, a Connections Director for the National Theatre and an Artistic Associate of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. He has previously worked as Youth Theatre Director at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and as Resident Assistant Director at West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Emma Sampson – executive producer
Emma is a producer and director. She has worked with arts organisations in Australia and the UK including Sydney Festival, Tamasha Theatre Company, Candoco Dance Company, Lightbox Theatre Company, the Handlebards, the Space and Tristan Bates Theatre. In 2012 she co-founded Riff Raff Productions and has produced their new writing festivals Bits of Obits, Lost Soles and Nick Myles’ Mistaken. She is currently producing Broken Water by Michele Winstanley. In 2016 she produced Phone Home for Upstart Theatre. Her directing credits include Mugs Like Us (the Space), Richard III and Hamlet (the Handlebards UK and International tours), Tartuffe (the Space) and Small Lives, Global Ties (Tamasha Theatre Company, Unicorn Theatre). Her work as an Associate Director includes Macbeth, Twelfth Night, A Comedy of Errors and Romeo & Juliet (the Handlebards) and A Doll’s House (Space Productions, The Arcola).
Hannah Tookey – producer
Hannah is an independent theatre and film producer focussed on making bold, dynamic new work about socio-political issues. She is a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, an RSA Fellow, and an alumnus of The Clore Emerging Leaders course and Stage One’s New Producers’ Workshop, MGCfutures and York Theatre Royal’s Producer Training Day, Raindance’s Producer Foundation Certificate, Roundhouse’s Festival Producing Course, and was one of 15 people selected for mac Birmingham’s Creative Producer LAB in 2015. Hannah is the founder of theatre and film production company Voxie.
Credits as a producer include Ad Libido (Vault Festival, Pleasance Edinburgh Fringe); and Roman Candle (Theatre503, Greenside Edinburgh Fringe); Isaac Came Home from the Mountain(Theatre503, Carla Kingham Productions); Mumburger (Old Red Lion Theatre); Custody (Ovalhouse, Faith Drama Productions); All The Little Lights (UK Tour, Fifth Word); Angry (Southwark Playhouse, Tramp); Eggs (Vault Festival, Orphee Productions); Dry Land (Jermyn Street Theatre, Damsel Productions); and documentary short film Wargames (Film London, London Calling recipient).
Contact: hannah.tookey@upstart-theatre.co.uk
Edith Draxl/artistic director/project coordinator
Studied literature, theology, and psychology. Training as a theatre pedagogue. Assistantships in directing. Worked first as a teacher, then as a director. Founded uniT in 2000 and co-founded Theater am Lend in 2007. Since 2000, director of international projects, work as curator and dramaturge. In addition, development and implementation of support programmes for writing for the theatre. Always involved in community arts projects.
Madeleine Lissy /workshop leader
Training in dance, dance and theatre pedagogy. Since 1990 work in this field, initially mainly dance projects. Since 2000, ongoing projects for uniT. Direction of community art projects.
Christian Winkler/ Playwright/Artistic Director
Christian Winkler is an Austrian playwright and director (working under the pseudonym “Franz von Strolchen”).
2002-2005 B.A. in German Philology at Karl Franzens University Graz
2005-2007 M.A. in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy, Goldsmiths College London
2005-2007 Diploma in Directing and Performance-Making, Goldsmiths College London
2007-2009 Course for dramatic writing at uniT, Graz
He is represented by the theatre-publishing company and theatre-agency “SchäfersPhilippen TM”.
Franz von Strolchen deals in his works with the boundaries between reality and fiction. He is always interested in creating new ways of communication, perception and in establishing new communities with the means of a performative setting. In the projects that he has created since 2010 he has turned a whole corporate building into the brain of a criminal, discussed strange utopian ideas of living together in traditional pubs, turned a night-club into a fictional state or built an outsider-sculpture on a theatre-stage, so the audience could install it then in the public space. His projects always try to blur the line of documentary and fiction / authentic and falsified stories.
Previous projects include (amongst others): RÄUBERZELLE (Theaterhaus Jena, 2010), STAMMTISCH – Trilogie des Zusammenlebens Vol. 1 (Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2012), FICTIONAL STATE – Trilogie des Zusammenlebens Vol. 3 (Fleetstreet Hamburg/Forum Stadtpark Graz/Theaterdiscounter Berlin/MKC Skopje, 2014), GOLDEN ANGST (Goethe Institute Bangalore/India), MAIDORF – Trilogie des Zusammenlebens Vol. 2 (Pathos Theater München/Theater am Lend Graz, 2015), MY PERSONAL CHERNOBYL (Uraufführungsfestival Theaterland Steiermark/86Festival Slavutych, Ukraine 2016), DIGGING (National Theatre Macedonia/DramatikerInnenfestival Graz 2017), THE IMPOSSIBLE VASTNESS (Theater am Lend Graz, Kampnagel Hamburg 2018). DIE UNSCHEINBAREN (Luzerner Theater 2019), TAYLOR AG – Series in 30 parts (Luzerner Theater 2020), TELL – A True Story (Luzerner Theater 2021)
Markus Boxler – stage and costume design
Markus Boxler is a stage and costume designer. He graduated at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 2001. He designed sets and costumes for numerous theater productions. Several productions have taken him to various theaters and opera houses in Europe, including Gran Theatre del Liceu Barcelona, Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, Ständetheater Prag, Palace of Arts Budapest and Théâtre du Châtelet Paris.
As a cultural educator, he developed and implemented a variety of educational formats for contemporary art at the steirischer herbst festival in Graz.
As a part of “The Chorus Project” he designed the set and costumes for “Proteus – A Missing Piece of Memory”.