Meet the Participants

Eliza Girod

Eliza Girod is an international cultural manager with experience in Switzerland, Germany, France, and the U.S. She currently works at Schauspielhaus Zürich as executive assistant to the artistic director. Previously, she managed projects for mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli. Her work focuses on communication, organisational development, change processes, and cultural mediation.

Lennart Goebel

Lennart studied communication science and German literature in Bamberg. During his Master's degree in Modern German Literature, he took his first steps in dramaturgy at the Gorki Theater in Berlin and the Burgtheater in Vienna. He was then part of the dramaturgy team at the Stuttgart State Theater from 2022. Here he assisted numerous times and supervised his own productions. In addition, he conceived a participatory discussion format and realized his own small stage plays. He is the author of the anthology Pop goes literature (2022) and was a fellow of the Heidelberger Stückemarkt (2023).

Zofia Gustowska

Graduate of the Faculty of Directing and Dramaturgy at the Academy of Theater Arts in Cracow, Zofia Gustowska also completed Theater Studies at the Academy of Theater Arts in Warsaw. She has directed the plays: „NIKO, or a Simple Ordinary Story”, „A Room of One's Own”, „kasandra" and „Spring Awakening”. Her work has been recognized at the Forum of Young Directing in Cracow. Her play „NIKO, or a Simple Ordinary Story” was part of the Competition for the Staging of Polish Contemporary Play final. She is artistic assistant of the JK Opole Theatre since September 2024.

Henna Holländer

Henna Holländer is a multilingual Nordic actress currently based between Helsinki and London, working across both Nordic and international productions. Originally from Lapland, she has a strong background in dance and movement that shows in her work. She trained at the Copenhagen International School of Performing Arts and has since built a diverse portfolio of acting credits in TV, film, and theatre. Alongside acting, she also works as a self-producing artist, creating and performing in projects that span borders and disciplines.

Kateryna Ianiuk

Kateryna Ianiuk is the head of international relations and project management department, producer at the Left Bank Theater, Kyiv. She is focused on productions of the emerging directors and new technologies. COO of Kyiv International Short Film Festival and DOCUDAYS UA, documentary films, TV shows; Expert in the audiovisual program at UCF (Ukrainian Cultural Fund), photographer.

Boyan Kracholov

Born in Sofia in 1992, Boyan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Directing (NATFA, Bulgaria), a Master’s Degree in Philosophy (Sofia University, Bulgaria) and a PhD in Stage Arts (NATFA, Bulgaria). Since 2024, he is a resident director in the “Ivan Vazov” National Theatre in Sofia, Bulgaria. His newest performance, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead,” is on the main stage.

He has also written two books of short stories and two plays.

Diana Merkel

Diana Merkel studied directing for theatre and musical theatre at the Mozarteum/Salzburg. During her studies, she assisted a. o. Johan Simons, Hans Neuenfels, Amélie Niermeyer and Andreas Kriegenburg. She then completed a master's degree in culture and music management at the HMT Munich. After working in the development department at Bayrische Staatsoper, at the international theatre festival Spielart and as a producer in the concert department of the Salzburger Festspiele, she has been employed as a dramaturge for music theatre and drama at the Tiroler Landestheater since the 2022-23 season.

Jakub Molnár

Jakub Molnár is a dramaturge at the Jan Palárik Theatre in Trnava (Slovakia) and a collaborator of the Husa na provázku Theatre in Brno (Czech Republic). However, he is also involved in theatre reflection, both in magazines and books. He is the author or co-author of studies and publications on the history of amateur theatre.

Marta Queiroz

Marta is a production manager with a background in performing arts, cultural management, and event production. She studied performance at Escola Profissional de Teatro de Cascais, holds a BA in Literature and pursued a Master’s in Cultural Management. She has worked in independent theatre, large-scale events in the Sports industry, and currently supports the performing arts programme as a Producer at Centro Cultural de Belém.

Rafika Saouis

Rafika Chawishe (Rafika Saouis) is an award-winning actress, director, and performer. A graduate of the National Theatre of Greece and the University of Athens, her work explores memory, gender, trauma, and post-colonial identity. She has collaborated with major institutions in Europe and the U.S., including the Venice Biennale, Ibsen Festival, and La MaMa Theatre. Artistic director of Mikro Gloria Theatre since 2022, she co-founded THE BLIND PLATFORM and promotes interdisciplinary, socially engaged art.

Inna Solodkova

Inna was born in Moscow in 1983 and graduated from the Journalism Faculty at Moscow University. She began her career in PR and advertising, then moved into TV, documentaries, and live broadcasts as a production manager. Later, she shifted to theatre PR, then theatre production. From 2015 to 2022, she worked as a producer at the Gogol Centre under Kirill Serebrennikov, until it was shut down for political reasons after the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Since 2023, she has been a producer at Nanterre-Amandiers Theatre in France, led by Christophe Rauck.

Stavros Stavrou

Born in 1988 in Cyprus, Stavros Stavrou is a writer, cultural manager and producer. He holds a BA degree in Greek Literature, as well as an MA degree in Cultural and Creative Industries, both from King’s College London.

He is the Artistic Director of Humart, an organization which focuses on the internationalization of the performing arts in Cyprus. He is also the President of ASSITEJ Cyprus, Member of the Executive Committee of ASSITEJ International and Member of the Board of the Cyprus Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI).

Dragoș Stoica

Dragoș Stoica was born in Rahova, one of Bucharest’s most stigmatised neighbourhoods, into a middle-class family of police officers. Growing up between the raw energy of the streets and the discipline of a law-enforcement home shaped his identity — he carries both freedom and structure within him. In time, he has come to see theatre not as mere entertainment, but as a mirror of society: it must challenge, unsettle, question, and reveal.

Valeriia Tiahun

Valeriia has six years of experience in the theatre field. She has worked as an assistant and producer in more than 20 theatre projects. During her time at Wild Theatre, she held every theatrical position, from actress to executive director. She currently works as the head of the directing department at the Mariia Zankovetska National Theatre in Lviv, where she is responsible for making performances happen.
 
 
 
 

Koen van Seuren

Koen (he/him) is a director and writer based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His work is rooted in a deep engagement with contemporary Marxist philosophy. He approaches repertoire as a site of ideological excavation, believing that all art is ideological, and that theatre can function as a lens that briefly makes visible the 'invisible' ideas shaping our daily lives. Through satire and humour, Koen seeks to provoke his audience into thinking beyond the paradigm of liberal capitalism. His aim is to create philosophical theatre that resonates with a broad and diverse public.

Anouk Wallerath

Anouk Wallerath is an international cultural manager with experience in Switzerland, Germany and France. Currently she is the Personal Assistant to the Director at Schauspielhaus Zürich and previously held the same role for seven years at Deutsches Theater Berlin. With a passion for the arts and strong organizational and communicational skills, she supports artistic leadership, ensures smooth operations and is dedicated to cultural mediation and compassionate leadership.