International Artists at NSDF08

Nick Rongjun Yu from China – Playwright, Producer, Director of Programming & Festival for Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center

Nick Yu is involved with many aspects of the theatrical community.  As well as a professional playwright, he functions as the director of programming and marketing for the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center.  Since 2000 he has been a professional playwright who written more then twenty works for stage and screen with performances in other countries as well as in China.  He has also translated works, which have been performed in China and other countries.  His plays have been presented in English and Japanese as well as other languages with performances in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Egypt, Hong Kong, Taipei and Macao.

As the manager of the Arts Theatre, Drama Salon, and the D6 Studio of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, he hosted more than three hundred projects for three stages in Shanghai.  Such projects included productions from all the major theatre companies from all over China as well as more then sixty productions from abroad. He has also facilitated more than ten plays of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center to tour world-wide. Since 2003 as a dramaturge and producer of the SDAC, he also has co-produced several productions with theatre companies from abroad. From 2004 until the present time he has been the director of the Shanghai University Theatre Festival. He is also the organizer and chief director of the Asia Contemporary Theatre Festival, which is an annual festival for all theatre companies from all over Asia.

Andrei Kureichyk from Belarus – Playwright, Dramaturge and Teacher

Andrei has written 24 plays and adaptations, 2 screenplays and nearly 70 critical articles in the central Belarusian weekly newspapers. He has had 30 productions in major theatres in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. He has also received many prestigious literature awards and has won prizes at international theatre festivals.

Andrei founded the Centre of Contemporary Drama and Directing and held the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre, The Open Format, in Minsk. He was recognized as Person of the Year by Belarus’ national TV-channel ONT. He also has two books of his plays published in Minsk.

Szilárd Mezei, ethnic Hungarian from Serbia - Director

 studied composition for four years at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Serbia with Zoran Eric. As a violinist, violist, double bass player and composer he held concerts in various formations, from duo to nonett, in different places in Sebia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Italy and UK. Since 2001 he's been working with theatre director and choreographer, Josef Nadj in the Centre Choreographique National D'Orleans, France. Their project Les Philosophes became the theatre piece of the year 2001 in France. The show was successfully performed in Cannes (2001), Avignon (2002), Brugge (EU culture capital, 2002), Orleans (2002), Paris (2003), Regio Emilia, Le Havre, Nantes (2004) and London (2005). In 2006 they've premiered their new project Asobu (with composer S. Akos) at the Avignon festival.

Theatre credits include: Bell; Wozzeck; Hamlet; Blue Land; Amnesty; Orestes; Withdrawal; Under Milk Wood; Les Enfants Terribles; Tameings; Les Philosophes; Yerma; Hírnökök; Pác; Another Paradise I-II-III-IV-V; Children; 8, rue Usorska; Könyök Kanyar; Via Italia; Tišina Treznih;  A Mennybe vitt leány; 0,1 mg; Fabula; 7 steps; Waiting for Godot; The Girl Who Barked at the Moon; Asobu.

Szilard has played with many musicians including: Matthias Schubert, Tamás Geröly, Róbert Benkő, György  Szabados, Mihály Dresch, Michael Hornstein, Tim Hodgkinson, Albert Márkos, Peter Ole Jörgensen, Jens Balder, Ákos Szelevényi.

Gabor Nagypal, ethnic Hungarian from Serbia - Actor, movement director and director

Gabor graduated from the Department of Acting at the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad, in 1999. From 1998 to 2004 Gabor was a member of the ensemble of the Hungarian speaking theatre Ujvideki Szinhaz. From 2002 to 2003 he worked as a lecturer at the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad. In 2004 became a member of ensemble of Barca Theatre Budapest, Hungary.

Gabor has played in more than 60 theatre shows and a number of films. Theatre credits include: Six Characters Are Looking for Writer; Hair; Good Person of Sechuan; Pac; Chicago; Blood Wedding; Platonov; Hamlet. Besides acting, Gabor is a director of stage movement and stage fights.

Kinga Mezei, ethnic Hungarian from Serbia - Actor and director

Kinga was born in Senta, Vojvodina, Serbiaher. During her high school days she established a partnership with Kata Gyarmati (writer & dramaturge), Gabor Nagypal (actor and choreographer) and her brother, Szilard (composer and musician) that lasts to this day.

Kinga studied in the Department of Acting at the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad. She is a member of the ensemble of the Hungarian speaking theatre Ujvideki Szinhaz where she was involved as actress, director, stage designer and music consultant. In her own theatre work she’s dedicated to examining the link and mutual interaction between movement, music, poetry and visual arts and thrives towards bringing those elements to equal level of importance. Since 2004 Kinga has been working at Barka Theatre, Barka Szinhaz in Budapest. So far she has been involved in more than 60 productions.

Acting credits include: The Maids; The Suicide; Death in Purple; They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?; Chicago; Fiancee; Blood Wedding; Platonov; Hamlet; Threepenny Opera; Liliom.

Directing credits include: The Maids; Taming; Via Italia; The Silence of Sober; Tajtek; Fabula; Cickovac.

Stefan Peca from Romania - Writer

Stefan won the dramAcum prize (the Romanian award for best new playwright) in 2002. His education includes New York University and he was one of the Royal Court International Playwriting Residents in 2005. Currently, he has productions of 5 of his plays in Bucharest, Romania: The Sunshine Play, New York [Fuckin’ City], Bucharest Calling (MONDAY Theatre @ Green Hours), I H♥TE HELEN (ArCub), Station (Comedy Theatre), Colors (Small Theatre). His play Romania 21 is currently in production at the National Theatre in Timişoara.

His plays have been translated into English (The Sunshine Play, Bucharest Calling, Colors, Romania 21, The Complete Truth About the Life and Death of Kurt Cobain, New York [Fuckin’ City], I HATE HELEN), French (U.F.), German (Romania 21, Nils’ fucked-up Day, Jazz), Turkish (Romania 21), Italian (The Sunshine Play) and Bulgarian (I H♥TE HELEN, The Sunshine Play). His work has been presented in New York (The Lark Theatre, New York University), London (as part of the Royal Court International Residency), Dublin (Dublin Fringe Festival), Berlin (Schaubuehne Theatre), Wiesbaden (New Plays From Europe Biennale), Graz and Leeds (JANUS project), France (Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Avignon), Sankt Petersburg (RAINBOW Festival), Rome (Teatro Valle) and in many national festivals in Romania.

Stefan is the founding member of the BLA Theatre Company and has started the Scrie o piesa programme for high school playwriting. He is currently the executive producer of the one hour drama TV series California (Media PRO Studios, Romania).

As NSDF08 gets closer you will be able to sign up to be part of these remarkable workshops and readings.