Meet the 2024 scholars participating in the ETC Artists in Residence programme. Five emerging directors and dramaturgs from all over the world have been chosen to assist on one or several specific productions in ETC Member Theatres.
The residency placements are taking place at the following ETC Member Theatres:
- Teatro do Noroeste – Centro Dramático de Viana (Portugal/Viana do Castelo)
- Göteborgs Stadsteater / Backa Teater (Sweden/Gothenburg)
- Slovak National Drama Theatre (Slovakia/Bratislava)
- Deutsches Theater Berlin (Germany/Berlin)
- Slovensko Narodno Gledališče Nova Gorica (Slovenia/Nova Gorica)
- National Theatre of Kosovo (Kosovo/Prishtina)
SCHOLARS 2024
Kristijan Atanasov
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia
Kristijan Atanasov acquired his BA in Theatre Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts – Skopje in 2023. He is currently doing his MA in Theatre Directing at FDA – Skopje. For his graduation play, he staged Lee Blessing’s 'A Walk in the Woods'. During his studies, he has directed and acted in his own exam productions, as well as other faculty productions, ranging from Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare, and Chekhov. He has also participated in various workshops, both curricular and extracurricular, from site-specific performance, and set design, to play analysis, acting and stage movement techniques. During his last year of studies, he worked on two projects at the Skopje Drama Theatre – as an assistant director on 'My Name is Goran Stefanovski', compiled scenes from the plays of Goran Stefanovski, directed by Branislav Mićunović and as an assistant director (observer) on 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' by Simon Stephens, directed by Zoja Buzalkovska. In June 2022, he staged an adapted version of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” for the non-competing programme of Shakespeare Fest – Bitola. During 2023 he also worked as a collaborator for lighting design on 'Pool' by Mark Ravenhill, directed by Shenay Mandak and produced by 'Hybrid' and 'Artopia', and acted in 'Behind closed doors' (No Exit), by Jean-Paul Sartre, directed by Ivan Vrtev and produced by FDA - Skopje.
Kristijan is doing his residency at Slovensko Narodno Gledališče Nova Gorica (Slovenia), joining the creative team for the production of 'Much Ado About Nothing' as assistant director/dramaturge.
Laora Climent
Talence, France
Laora Climent graduated from Sciences Po Bordeaux in 2015, and holds a Master 2 in “Management of Cultural Projects and Territorial Development”, a Master 2 Research degree in “Performing Arts” from Bordeaux Montaigne University and a law degree in Political Sciences from the Autonomous University of Madrid. She also had training in acting and directing at the Studio Théâtre d'Asnières, from 2015 to 2017. Laora Climent produced her first professional production in 2017, 'Misterioso 119' by Koffi Kwahulé, with her fellow students. Building on this first experience, she created the Compagnie Okto in 2018, of which she is the playwright, director and artistic director, as well as an actress in certain creations. Her work is based on in-depth historiographical research. She is interested in historically marginalised people, domination mechanisms and the intersectionality of struggles. Her writing is based on the principle of Uchronie and she works there jointly with a musician, Justine Gaucherand. Her productions are based on chorality and direct address to the audience, with a significant number of actresses and actors on stage.
Laora is joining the creative team of Teatro do Noroeste – Centro Dramático de Viana (Portugal) on the production of '18262 Madrugadas' (18262 Dawns) as second assistant director.
John Livesey
London, United Kingdom
John Livesey (he/him) is a writer, dramaturg and director. He has directed multiple shows including 'random' (Actor’s Centre, 2020), 'Heather' (Southwark Playhouse, 2021), and 'Amphibian' (King’s Head Theatre, Hannah Barry Gallery; 2022). John trained on the StoneCrabs Young Directors Programme and with OUDS, the Oxford University Drama Society. For his work on 'random', he was selected to take part in the National Student Drama Festival. John is a member of The North Wall ArtsLab programme and, in 2022, took part in their annual Catalyst residency. In 2023, he was also selected for the Independent Film Trust’s Talent Led: Next Generation programme and the Punchdrunk young talent network. He is currently working on a PhD with University College London, and is the recipient of an AHRC research scholarship.
John is joining the Deutsches Theater Berlin (Germany) as a dramaturgy intern.
Dzmitry Sialitski
Venlo, The Netherlands
Dzmitry Sialitski is an emerging arts professional building his career at the intersection of theatre and cultural heritage. During his recent postgraduate studies, in addition to analysing cultural management practices, he explored how living heritage (such as traditional rituals) shapes a sense of identity and community. Having completed this programme (MA in Arts & Culture) with distinction, Dzmitry took a chance to combine both of his professional interests by taking part in an ethno-theatrical project focused on the revival of the Carolling tradition in Eastern Poland, creating a (ritual-based) performance and presenting it to people in small villages and towns. With the same idea of bringing culture to people who lack access to it, he helped to coordinate and organise an international street theatre festival aimed at blurring the boundaries between art and nature (cultural and natural heritage) in the same region. Although he is a strong advocate of taking art out of the 'box' of (established) cultural institutions and building a closer dialogue with people, this time Dzmitry will be helping to deliver a fundamental message in a more classical way during his residency.
Dzmitry is joining the creative team of Göteborgs Stadsteater - Backa Teater (Sweden) as an assistant director on the production of 'Bad Roads'.
Paula Veidenbauma
Riga, Latvia
Paula Veidenbauma (born in 1997 in Riga, Latvia) is currently living and working between Baltics and Vienna, Austria. Interested in the overlap between Baltic State’s transition into a market economy and the following private-public segregation, she explores the spatial turn towards a neoliberal condition where her own body is a material for explorative praxis. Having studied Theatre and Film at the BA University of Vienna (Theatre and Film Studies), and Urban Studies (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts, she is trying to answer questions related to contemporary urbanism through performance art means. Recently, Paula was one of the performance artists working at the Venice Biennale of Architecture Estonia Pavillion 'Home Stage' (curated by Aet Adler, Arvi Anderson, Mari Möldre), where she was living at the national pavilion as a resident performer in September/October 2023. Interested in interdisciplinary approaches and merging artistic and academic practices, Paula is transitioning between various art-related roles, ranging from visual arts and performance to urbanism. Interested in the absurdities of private and public segregation, Paula’s explorations gravitate around nuances of everyday aesthetics and the examination of postcolonial processes and practices in the context of a contemporary post-Soviet space. She is part of an artist duo pau/a, and an artistic research unit gel, currently facilitating an artist network Baltic Lines exploring potentialities of Rail Baltica infrastructure as a metaphorical space for investigating the concept of inclusion of Baltic States in the context of Nordic Europe.
Paula is joining the creative team of Slovak National Drama Theatre (Slovakia) as assistant director on the production of 'Odliv' (Outflow).
Mostafa Meraji
