Theatre for children and youth

Athens, 24/11/2018, Working Group Conference 2018, coordinated by Georgina Kakoudaki

ATHENS CONFERENCE 2018
WORKING GROUP: "Theatre for children and youth"

Athens, 24/11/2018
Coordinator: Georgina Kakoudaki, theatre theoretician, director, head of educational departement of Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Greece

Speakers:
Thodoris Ambazis, composer, theatre director, debuty Artistic Director of National Theatre, Greece,
Maria Tsima, actress, Greek language and literature teacher, deputy Director of National Theatre of Northern Greece,
Myrto Lavda, Head of Educational Programs, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece,
Janna Tsokou, Phd in Theatre Studies, chairperson of Theatre Committee of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, Greece (Reporter)


This working group will discuss the parameters of professional theatre performances aimed at children/youth audiences, and their specific relation to education: current situation internationally; collaborations between schools and theatres, TiE programs in theatres/schools. The working group will also focus on different perspectives of the field, through the presentation of good practices.

Georgina Kakoudaki is a theatre theoretician and director. Since 2009, she’s been directing youth theatre performances such as Vivid Film/After the foam (devised), Jack Thorne’s Burying your brother in the pavement, Αristophanes’ The birds, Shakespeare’s  Midsummer Night’s Dream, Goethe’s Faust, Sophocles’ Antigone, Aristophanes’ The clouds, Euripides Eleni, (October 2018, at the Neos Kosmos Theatre and high schools in and around Athens). Georgina has also collaborated with over 30 theatre and dance companies as a dramaturg. Shehas taught at the Theatre Studies Department of the University of Patras and the University of the Peloponnese in Nafplion, the Department of Early Childhood Education in University of Thessaly as well as in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She’s also taught drama and theatre education at numerous public organizations specializing in educating adults and in International Theatre in Education Programmes. Currently she teaches Theatre History and Dramaturgy at Drama Schools. She co-wrote the books: Theatre and Theatre Education (IDEKE 2007) and Paths of Experiential Learning (Kedros publications 2011). She has written the Arts Schools Students’ course book specializing on Theatre Directing and Film Directing/Film Aesthetics (IEP 2015). Since April 2016, she is the Head consultant of Educational Programs of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival.

Theo Ambazis, Greek composer and theatre director, was born in Athens in 1967. He studied piano and music theory at the National Conservatory and N.Skalkotas Conservatory. He also studied music composition at the Music Academy of Utrecht with HenkAlkema and orchestra conducting with David Porcelyn and Kenneth Montgomery. At the same time he collaborated with the Theatre Academy of Utrecht in music-theatre productions and seminars. As an Onassis Foundation Scholar in 1993 he continued his studies on music composition with the professor Tristan Keuris and for the period 1993-95 he studied along with DimitrisTerzakis at the Music Academy of Bern. He is the Deputy Artistic Director of Greek National Theater. He has been the Artistic Director of the Municipal and Regional Theatre of the city of Patras (2015-13) and of the town of Kavala (2010-2012), and Treasurer, General Secretary and Vice-President of the Board of the Hellenic Centre of the International Theatre Institute (Unesco) from 2004 to 2010. He teaches theatre improvisation and acting at the Drama School of Athens.

MariaTsima was born in Kefalonia, Greece.  She studied History and Archaeology at the University of Ioannina, Greece.  She also graduated with honors from the Drama School of the Athens Conservatoire. She is a founding member of the Theatrical Organization “Stigmi”. She works as an actor in Theatre, Television and Cinema. She has adapted for theatre the novel “Trelovgenio” by Inès Cagnati and “The 13 Clocks” by James Thurber. She has been awarded by “Metaixmio” publications for her novel “Kristella”. In 2016 her play “Fair rights” has been presented  at VaultTheater in Athens while in 2017 her novel “Wooden Path” was published by Stereoma publications. Currently she serves as Deputy Artistic Director at the National Theatre of Northern Greece.

Myrto Lavda studied History of Art and pursued her post-graduate studies at Teachers College of Columbia University, New York, in the field of Art Education. She has worked as in the Education Department of the MoMA and in the Education Department of the Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art in Greece. Since 2010 she has been the head of the Educational Program at the Onassis Cultural Centre (OCC) in Athens. At the OCC she has developed programs for infants, children, adolescents and adults, programs for schools (primary and secondary) as well as projects focusing on special needs groups. The education program covers all the fields that are included in the OCC’s program; theatre, dance, music, visual arts, new media.

Janna Tsokou was born in Germany in 1958. In 1980 she graduated from the Roula Pateraki Drama School and continued her studies in Theatre and History of Art at the University of Vienna. In 2000 she got her Ph.D. She collaborated with the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1989-2003) in their publishing activities, curating exhibitions. She participated in scientific publications and papers in theatre conferences and worked as freelancer critic for newspapers. Collaborated with the ‘Athens Festival’, under the direction  of Giorgos Loukos writing theatrical texts for the festival programs. In 1989-90 she worked for the Macedonian radio Station and from 1994-1996 for the ERT, (Greek Radio and Television’s) ‘9.58 station of culture’ as a producer and presenter for cultural programs. She organized educational programs for schools and  teached theatre history in the ‘Andreas Voutsinas’ Drama School (2008-2017), where she instigated the branch ‘Theatre art in education’ designed for teachers.In 2015-16 coordinates theatre classes for The Open University of Thessaloniki City Council. She has translated german plays into greek.  
She is a member of the Theatre Committee for Thessaloniki City Council where she holds the  presidency since 2014.