Anastasia Koumidou

Anastasia Koumidou, a Thessaloniki native, is a stage director, actor, dramaturg, teacher and mother. She has worked exclusively as a theatre artist for 40 years in Europe and the USA. An acting graduate of the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece, she initially worked as a professional actress. Andreas Voutsinas, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Tony Church were among her teachers. During 1989-1991, funded by major international scholarships, she extended her career in London, where she studied Shakespeare at RADA and kabuki at Almeida Theatre and Dublin (circus and street theatre). In 1992, she succeeded in becoming a Fulbright Arts scholar. In 1997, she graduated with honours from the Master of Fine Arts in Theatre (Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts of the Ohio State University), majoring in acting and stage directing. Among her teachers were Patsy Rodenburg, Anne Bogart, Marcello Magni. In Greece, she worked for the Greek National Opera, National Theatre of Northern Greece, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Greek Art Theatre Karolos Koun, municipal and regional theatres, among others. Abroad, she collaborated with professional acclaimed stages (The Arden Shakespeare Company, Almeida Theatre, The Reality Theater, Wexner Center for the Arts, ViewChasm Prod) and avant-garde companies (Total Theatre, Bread & Circus Company, Mylo Arts). In 1997, she received the Best Actress Critics award for her Agave in Euripides’ Bacchae (dir. Dee Shepherd). In 1999, Greek American Women’s Network honoured her with the Helen Papanikolas “Distinguished Career” award. In 2014, her play Capo d’Istria received the Karolos Koun Honours.