Theatre
PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts, Kraków
PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków was formed in 1946. The school runs one season of master studies leading to a Master of Fine Arts at the Acting and the Drama Directing Departments in Kraków, the Acting and the Puppetry Departments in Wrocław, and the Department of Dance Theatre in Bytom. The goals of the Dance Theatre programme are centered on the compound processes of artistic versatility of a dance theatre performer. The curriculum is built on the precept of interdisciplinary education, such as modern dance, ballet, acting, art theory, philosophy, music, anatomy, improvisation.
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Brian Michaels | Director
Studied Philosophy at the University of Sussex (England) and was the artistic director of the university’s theatre. Lives and works in Germany since 1973. Founder and director of the first German immigrants’ theatre Teatro Siciliano Frankfurt (1978-1985) – a project he was awarded many prizes for. Since 1985 freelance director for both theatre and opera, participation in festivals. From 1994-2013 professor of directing at Folkwang. Since 2014 he is a guest professor for acting and directing at PWST (dance theatre department in Bytom) and teaches at the University of Art and Design Linz.
Photo: Nina Gschlößl
Durban University of Technology
The Department of Drama & Production Studies, Faculty of Arts and Design, Durban University of Technology evolved from a part-time instruction offered in Music and Drama in 1977. The Department, an integral part of the cultural scene in Durban, is unique to South African tertiary institutions in that it is the only conservatory styled Drama and Production Department training young professionals for work in the entertainment industry and related arts. The Department annually mounts student and staff driven productions, e. g. in 2014 it boasted 65 presentations.
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Deborah Arlene Lütge | Director
Award-winning performer/director Lütge acknowledged for Drama pedagogy in VASTA, and “forward–thinking” leadership by critics, is credited with building a Drama Department “… among the most visionary, effective, industrious and productive … in the country”. Published academic, poet, playwright, and founder of three festivals, Lütge is a professional Theatre Judge for The Mercury Durban Theatre Awards, is Board Member of: The Twist Theatre Development Project (a Dutch/SA initiative); Durban’s Film Guild; RITE Studios, plus elected provincial KZN CCIFSA General Councillor: Arts Education and Training.
Photo: Morgan Kisten
University of Melbourne
VCA Theatre produces some of Australia’s finest theatre practitioners. BFA Theatre Practice is an intensive studio actor training program drawing together elements of contemporary theatre practice – writing, theatre making, devised work, actor skills, direction and stagecraft. The course structure allows intensive skills training and practice alongside rehearsal processes and performance situations. Collaborative practice is regarded as an important element of contemporary theatre and is therefore integral to our training. Graduate programs focus on performance writing, theatre direction and dramaturgy.
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Tony Smith | Director
Tony worked as an actor in Brisbane and is a graduate of Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art Voice Studies. He is Head of BFA Theatre Practice (VCA), teaches Voice, Acting and Shakespeare and has directed and coached on many plays and new works. He is an Alexander Techniques (AT) teacher and led Australia’s first AT and the Performing Arts Conference. Research interests include the integration of AT into voice, movement and actor training. He also has an established private practice as a performance consultant working with teachers, lawyers and other professional voice users.
Photo: Ponch Hawkes
Alister Smith | Regie
Alister is the founder and Artistic Director of The Smith Company, a Melbourne based production house of new theatre (est. 2005). He has worked as a director, choreographer, producer and writer across a broad stream of artistic disciplines. He graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance Creation (Directing) in 2012 from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Whilst at the VCA Alister directed the third year students in The Howard Barker Project, The Dumb Woman’s Ecstasy and Yakiniku Dragon, in association with the Victorian Arts Centre for the Southeast Asian Playwrights’ Festival. His graduating production was John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning play DOUBT.
Folkwang University of the Arts
The Folkwang University of the Arts is the central artistic training centre for Music, Theatre, Dance, Design and Academic Studies. Since 1927, the various disciplines have been united here under one roof in accordance with the Folkwang concept of a collaboration between the arts spanning every discipline. Approx. 1,600 students and a teaching staff of over 400 come from all over the world. Folkwang is represented in the Ruhr Metropolis with campuses and venues in Essen, Duisburg, Bochum and Dortmund.
In May 2014, the new Folkwang Theatre Centre was opened in the Folkwang Bochum Campus. Since then, this has been the home of the eight-semester Folkwang Acting and Directing study courses, which are among the most prestigious in the entire German-speaking world.
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Simina German | Director
Simina German, born in 1982 in Cluj/Romania, took her Master in Art History at the Sorbonne in Paris, where she also studied Acting. From 2009 to 2013, she studied Directing/Acting at the Folkwang University of the Arts. She completed her study with her diploma staging of "Phaedra's Love" by Sarah Kane (Körber Studio Junge Regie/ITs Festival Amsterdam in 2013). Following her study, she staged "Malaga" at the Theater der Keller in Cologne and developed the "Bluebeard" project at the Maschinenhaus Essen venue. In October 2015, she staged "A Sheep for Life" at the Junges Schauspielhaus Theatre in Düsseldorf.
Photo: Katalin Moldvay