Romanian/Hungarian playwright and director András Visky (Hungarian Theatre of Cluj)


Andras Visky (Playwright)is a poet, playwright and essayist and the resident dramaturg at Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Theatre, Romania, where he also holds the position of associate artistic director. His plays have been staged in several countries including Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and the United States. He has a DLA (Doctor of Liberal Arts) from the University of Theatre and Film, Budapest and since 1994 he is an associate professor of performance studies and dramaturgy at the Babeş-Bolyai University and a guest professor at Károli University in Budapest. In 2016 he became a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Budapest (MTA- SZIMA). Over the course of his play writing, Visky has developed what he terms a “barrack dramaturgy”. Having grown up in an eastern European gulag, he returns again and again in his plays to what it means to be a prisoner and the problem of being set free. He received many awards, including Salvatore Quasimodo Award (2001), ARTISJUS Award (2004), József Attila Award (2009), Szép Ernő Award (2002, 2017).

Hungarian designer Jackie Triste (Ovekk_Finn)


Jackie Triste is the endlessly reanimated pseudo of the artist Péter Szabó, co-founder of performance-noise band Alergische Platze at the end of the 90s, and the Ovekk_Finn duo in 2004. Jackie Triste is his latest sound solo-project (established 2008), making improvised music using an amplified metal box and guitar-pedals. 

American actor Melissa Lorraine (Theatre Y) 

Melissa Lorraine is the visionary co-founder of Theatre Y, an International Theater Company with a home-base in Chicago and worldwide critical acclaim.

Born in France, Lorraine was educated in America (graduating from Northern Illinois University in 2002 with a B.F.A. in acting) and became a company member of Studio K in Budapest, Hungary the same year. 

She co-founded Theatre Y with Director Christopher Markle, an International Theater Company, based in Chicago, IL in 2006. 

Premiered the English language version of Transylvanian writer András Visky’s JULIET with over two hundred performances worldwide. After the death of co-founder Christopher Markle, became sole Artistic Director and COO, selecting and casting all plays, and seeking ever more international artists with whom to collaborate. 

Starred in Visky’s I KILLED MY MOTHER, earning a Chicago’s Best Actress Orgie Award and a Ben Brantley feature on the cover of the New York Times Art Section when invited to present at LaMama in New York: "an almost elemental presence". Directed VINCENT RIVER, about which The Chicago Reader lauded Lorraine for turning even an “overwritten” and “implausible script” into “probing, harrowing, hallucinogenic truth,” and named her one of the 6 Stars of 2012 for her performance in Visky's PORN: 1989. A BUTTERFLY. 

In 2013, Lorraine directed the world premiere of The Binding, a collaboration between Theatre Y and two acclaimed Serbian/Hungarian choreographers, which was a cover feature of the Chicago Reader. Collaborating with Theatre du Soleil’s Georges Bigot for one year (2015-16), developed the Theatre Y Ensemble of 14 actors, according to the traditions of the Theatre du Soleil. 

She now leads this ensemble to discover a common language and a new way to work, searching for horizontal structures of decision making and creativity in the theater. 

In 2018, Lorraine began to research Movement Therapy for Trauma Rehabilitation, and teaches both harmed and responsible parties in Chicago’s prisons. With methods developed on herself with dancer/choreographer Heni Varga in Serbia, this therapy employs a melting pot of international practices, ranging from Slow Tempo techniques that were born in Japan after the bombs were dropped, to Authentic Movement used to heal Holocaust survivors. She partners with DePaul’s Inside Out Program to teach Restorative Justice courses for college credit and provides Movement Therapy throughout the course, at both Cook County and Stateville Correctional Center. Her acting, directing, and community building skills will combine in a new endeavor to plant the seeds of world-class theatre experiences in North Lawndale.

Egyptian cinematographer Mohamed Mahmud (The Square, 2013)

Laszlo Dunai - Budapest (Son of Saul 2015)