karagiozis exposed | the company
Who's us?
... the company - open arts
To get in touch with the company or its members, please email: info@openartstheatre.com
Open Arts was founded by Athina Kasiou in 2006 as a non-profit organisation active from both London and Nicosia. The aim of the organisation is to promote the work of Cypriot artists at home and abroad by initiating international collaborations.
For its first project Open Arts produced by Athol Fugard, directed by Peter Brook presented at Theatre Dionysos in Nicosia, Cyprus. This was the first time the work of Peter Brook was presented in Cyprus.
The Company grew in 2007 with the addition of Cypriot and International artists for the creation of a contemporary take on the traditional Shadow Puppet tradition, co-directed by Athina Kasiou and Euripides Dikaios. Extracts of the show were presented in the musical festival Dogstock at Pomos in August 2007. The show premiered at the Experimental Stage of the National Theatre of Cyprus in September 2007 where it succeeded a sold out run.
The show has since toured around Europe, starting from a prime-time slot at Divaldo Ná Pradle, the main stage of the Prague Fringe 2008, then visiting Greece (Athens and mainland), following up with an exhaustive tour in the countryside and towns in Cyprus. The tour is now at its last stretch, playing at the Arcola Theatre in London.
Open Arts’ work has been supported by the Ministry of Culture and Education of Cyprus, the French Cultural Centre and the National Theatre of Cyprus.
... the company - project members
Antonis Antoniou (composer, tzouras, oudi, vocals)
... is continuing his study of music at Goldsmiths College of London, while holding a BA in Composition from Goldsmith College and a two-year programme diploma in jazz from Athens. He has music performance, music harmony and guitar certificates from Trinity College of London, Thessaloniki Music College and the Royal School of Music respectively. He is a founding member, composer and performer of Trio Tekke, event producer of the Dogstock Music Festival in Cyprus and has recently released a personal album “Hey Maria Look!! I can play the guitar”.
Giannis Chantziantoniou (lighting designer)
... gratuated from IIEK Leica Academy of Photography. He works as a freelance photographer and lighting designer, projects include; Para Pente.(studio ATA), Italiana in Algeri (for Lyriki Skini), Katharevousa ( Vafeion Theatre 07); Neon... (Experimental Stage of the National Theatre of Greece). In 06, he founded Designer’s Dot Gallery. and his work has been exhibited in Vice Versa, Atitlo (06 - Designer Dot Gallery), Kifines (06 - Athens Video Art Festival), Black& White Mode, Digital Persons and Cronomusica (06, 05, 03 - Festival Diarroes).
Kiriaki Defteraiou (movement director)
... was born in Athens in 1978. She studied architecture at the Architectural School of Thessaloniki. In 04 she studied dance at the Professional School of Dance of Rallou Manou. In theatre she has worked as a choreographer for Neon... conceived by Antonis Tsioutsiopoulos and Katharevousa ... by Lemoni, directed by Marina Vronti.
Euripides Dikaios (director, percussionist)
... directing and producing credits: Karagiozis Exposed (Cyprus and European tour), Who Stole Mee? - First Love (Canal Cafe Theatre, London),Bali-Troy (ISI, Bali), The Bequest (Athens, 3rd directing prize), Rosemary with Ginger (Athens), Tango (Athens), Victoria Station/Request Stop (London), Japes (assistant to Michael Fry for NTNT, UK tour) and others. Acting credits: Crescendos in Blue (Maison Francaise, London and Oxford), Garden of the Philosophers (street theatre, Athens), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Athens) and others.. He is an active percussionist and has experience in contemporary dance, writing and translation. Studies:Middlesex Univ MFA in Theatre Directing (distinction), GITIS (Moscow) ISI (Denpasar, Bali), traditional music (Greece), Bsc Chemistry Nottngham Univ.
Angelos Ionas (guitar, vocals)
... is a session musician-guitarist taking part in various music bands presenting greek folk-traditional music, rock music and blues. Since last year he has been the lead guitarist and the singer of the Triple Jam performing blues.
Athina Kasiou (director)
... directing credits include: Karagiozis Exposed (Experimental Stage of National Theatre of Cyprus, and currently on a European tour), Mr Marmalade - staged reading (Finborough Theatre), Tasting Apples/Who Stole Mee! (Canal Cafe Theatre), Laba Laba (ISI, Bali), Play by Beckett (Mdx, London), Action by Shepard (Semel Theatre, Boston). Assisting directing credits include: On Emotion(Soho theatre), Gianni Schicchi and Yolanta (Royal Academy of Music), Private Jokes, Public Places (The New End Theatre), Hamlet, the Outsider (Southwark Playhouse), Our Lady of 121st Street (Speakeasy), Athina holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University and a BA from Emerson College, further training at GITIS Academy of Dramatic Arts Moscow, ISI Indonesian Art Institute in Bali. She is the founder of Open Arts.
Barthélémy Meridjen (performer)
... studied at the Conservatoire National de Region de Montpellier in France taking part in; Cendres de Cailloux, Canevas, Mann ist Mann, Cabaret Onirique, Le Mariage de Figaro. He continued his studies at the City Conservatoire of Paris and Departmental School of Corbeil-Essones, where he took part in Les Bas-Fond;Blind.;Grandgousier ,Les Guerres Picrocholines; Laievsky, The Duel; Surena; Baal, Three Penny Opera; 13 Objects. Other Roles include; Collision’s “Who Stole Mee - Tasting Apples” as Becker in London; “Crescendos in Blue” in London and Oxford; “Karagiozis Exposed” in Cyprus. He has directed “Alles oder Nichts” and has presented on stage “100 women”, a poem by Sony Labou Tansi as part of “900 mots dans un aquarium”, produced at Corbeil-Essonnes’s theatre.He holds a Diplome D’etudes Theatrales and graduated Philosophy at Universite Paris X.
Charis Billinis (puppet maker)
... was born in Nikaia in 1983. At the early age of nine he studied with reknown shadow puppeteer Vaggos. He has collaborated with some of the greatest shadow puppeters such as Eugenios Spatharis, Thanasis Spyropoulos, Manthos Athinaios, Giannaros, Mimis Manos, and Giorgos Charidemos and from the age of 14 he has been performing in various festivals and exhibitions. In ‘06 he started teaching shadow puppetry at I..E. Koridallou.. He is a member of the greek union of puppeteers and on the artistic board. In ’99 he took part in the movie “The tragic story of Jackson Pollock” under the direction of Apostolos Doxiades and the music of Dimitris Papadimitriou.
Pavlos Sideris (set design)
... holds an R.I.B.A. part 1&2 Honours diploma from Architectural Association - School of Architecture in London. He has carried out research trips in Brazil (Recife and Sao Paolo), setting up a dynamic membrane structure for environmental protection purposes, Paris, Venice and Ghana, where he has directly involved in creating a space for children’s learning. He has worked at the London Metropolitan University, lecturing and workshopping on membrane systems and has supplied plans and sections of estates for Key Property Management and Real Estate. He has published in A.A , Files 54, MORPHO- ECOLOGIES, DOMUS, BLUEPRINT and ICON. He has attended Art School for three years, focusing on oil and charcoal paintings.
Christos Tatsis (guitar, vocals)
Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos (performer, puppeteer)
... has graduated from “Iasmos” Theatre School in Athens. He has been a member of “Below Zero Studio” (Athens) for four years. As an actor he has taken part in “ Is this your way?”, based on “ Each in His Own Way” by Pirandello (dir. N. Karagiorgos), “The Snow Queen” by H.C. Andersen (Theatre Research Ensemble, dir. E. Dikaios), “Lysistrata” (Megaron Athens Concert Hall, dir G. Michaelides), “A Comedy” by I. Kambanellis (Anoikto Theatre, dir. G. Michaelides), “Playback. PlayWhat?” based on playback theatre techniques (dir. N. Karagiorgos), “Deadline”, based on Canetti’s “ Numbered” (dir. N. Karagiorgos), “Shirley Valentine” by W. Russell (dir. N. Karagiorgos), “Tragedy in the Head” by E. Voutsinos (dir. Pemy Zouni), “Katharevousa” by N. Lemonis (dir. M. Vronti). He has written, directed and played in “Neon...” for The Empty Space at the Experimental National Theatre in Greece. He has taken part in the feature films “Death on a Roll” (A. Kollatos), “Theatre Creatures” (P. Portokalaki), “Tsiou” (M. Papadimitratos), as well as the shorts “Apothymia” (M. Giamalaki) and “Washing Up” (G. Kouvelis).
Giannis Zaronis (guitar, vocals)
other participants
... technical scenic design - Nikos Kostopoulos
... assistant puppeteers in the tour - Valia Blessiou (Greece), Raissa Aggeli (Cyprus), Ozlem Ozhades (UK)
... lights, sound and surtitles operators, photography, production, translation, general help and hard labour - Stephanie Polycarpou, Giorgos Ioannou, Maya Aggeli, Petros Giorkatzis, Antreas Michopoulos, Dimitris Bechlivanidis, Froso Zagoraiou, Marina Hadjilouka, Cemaliye Tulin Ulusoy, Hasan Tuna, Efthymia Alpha etc etc etc...
Thank you to all that have helped us make this whole tour possible.
