From October 2022 through March 2023, The Drama League’s International Directors Summit is bringing together ten of the world’s most exciting stage directors online to explore the changing nature of the theatrical art form in this time. Summit participants from the nations of Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and the United States will gather together share their experiences making performances at home and abroad, and investigating how the discipline of direction may change given the overlapping global challenges of climate change, economic uncertainty, global pandemics, and reemergent authoritarianism.


The goal of the International Directors Summit is to better articulate the central issues that are impacting the work of directors in a variety of cultural experiences, especially given the rapid changes to rehearsal, casting, and production. By sharing questions, challenges, and experience, the Summit participants will develop best practices that can be amplified to the global artistic community. Participants may reimagine and rediscover the director’s role in cultural citizenship and artistic cross-pollination.


This page will, over time, become a repository for the Summit Participants thoughts through transcripts of their meetings and future planned activities. Through discussion, participants will connect, advance global understanding, and bring collective expertise to our pursuit of a more inclusive, accessible, and resilient global theater industry.


2022/23 Participating Directors

Maksima Boeva (Bulgaria) | Avto Diasamidze (Georgia) | Natalie Ester (Romania) Dmytro (Dima) Levitskiy (Ukraine) Stefan Prohorov (Bulgaria) Lisa Rothe (United States) Anna Smolar (Poland) Mei Ann Teo (United States)

2022/23 Summit Coordinators

Gabriel Stelian-ShanksArtistic Director, The Drama League and Coordinator, United States | Kalina Wagenstein  Coordinator, Bulgaria | Giorgi ToradzeCoordinator, Georgia

2022/23 Summit Staff

Gwynn MacDonaldSummit Facilitator/Board of Directors, The Drama League NilanAssociate Artistic Director, The Drama League Andrew Coopman Artistic Coordinator, The Drama League Lake Sims-WinfreyArtistic Intern, The Drama League

The International Directors Summit is sponsored, in part, through the support of

Contact

For more information about the International Directors Summit and their 2023 findings, please contact Nilan, Associate Artistic Director, at education@dramaleague.org.