Projekt Europa & Mercury Theatre Announce Projekt Elevate Beneficiaries

PROJEKT EUROPA and Mercury Theatre have announced plans to commission works from migrant theatre makers Ailin Conant, Sacha Plaige and Andreea Tudose as part of PROJEKT ELEVATE.

PROJEKT ELEVATE will support a total of 9 migrant artists from across the UK to develop ideas for co-created work with local communities, in a first-time collaboration between PROJEKT EUROPA and the Mercury, Rose Theatre and Royal & Derngate.

Following an open call-out, PROJEKT EUROPA will provide artistic and dramaturgical support as the artists develop their project concepts. These commissions will broker new relationships between the artists, the theatres and their communities, with a view to seed new co-created productions by migrant artists across the country.

Artistic Director of PROJEKT EUROPA, Maria Aberg, says:

"These artists represent everything PROJEKT EUROPA stands for - a diverse, multilingual and truly international selection of theatre makers from all over the UK who are committed to making bold work guided by curiosity and authenticity. We are thrilled to champion and support these extraordinary migrant artists to connect with local communities and create collaborative, ambitious theatre for our times."

Creative Director of Mercury Theatre, Ryan McBryde, says:

"In Ailin, Sacha and Andreea, PROJEKT EUROPA have found three really exciting voices and we are looking forward to supporting them in developing their ideas and fostering new relationships in our community with fresh new stories, that we hope will bring people together from different backgrounds to celebrate each other's cultures in a creative way."

Ailin Conant

Ailin is a Japanese-American director with a passion for daring new works of theatre that engage audiences with under-told stories in a visual, visceral way. She runs Theatre Témoin, a 1ºEast and Without Walls portfolio company based in the South East. Ailin has worked freelance for various companies including the RSC, Bush Theatre, Yellow Earth, and Theatre503, and has also directed and produced work in Gaza, Mexico, Lebanon, Sweden, Switzerland, Montreal, Rwanda, Israel, Kashmir, France, and the USA.

Sacha Plaige

Half-French half-Russian, Sacha is a theatre-maker, performer and movement director. She trained at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq and is a founding member of award-winning Clout Theatre Company. Prior to that she graduated from the 4-year acting course at the University of Cinematography in Moscow and was an ice-dancer for 10 years. She holds an MA in Movement: Directing and Teaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and divides her time between teaching, movement directing and creating with her theatre company. She is passionate about creating emotional connections, working with the intangible, and making the invisible visible.

Andreea Tudose

Andreea Tudose is an actor and theatre-maker. Originally from Romania, she moved to the UK as a child, and later trained as an actor in France, Colombia, and Estonia. Her practice centres around the notion of diaspora. She seeks to document and reflect on the relationships that members of the diaspora forge to work, land and language. She writes and translates, and over the last few years has become interested in making multilingual work that aims to destabilise the dominance of the English language. She holds a BA and an MA in languages and literature.

About PROJEKT EUROPA

Founded in 2020, PROJEKT EUROPA is an international theatre company making new work by migrant theatre makers for local and global audiences. We make theatre from an international perspective, exploring new sustainable ways of collaborating across borders. We are resident company at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, and from this base we originate, develop and produce our work. www.projekteuropa.org

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