Danai Paraskevopoulou

(She/her)
My name is Danae (Tha-na-i) I am from Greece and I am a professional theatre maker. I came to England to continue my studies and work in the theatre industry. I am really interested in working on devised projects and movement/ physical theatre. I am passionate about mythology especially Greek mythology and ancient Greek tragedies, my favorite is 'The Bacchae'.

During my studies I worked as an assistant director at the youth company (ages 19-21) of The Marlowe Theatre for the play Troilus and Cressida and I was assisting the director while I was emphasizing on the movement of the actors on stage. My dissertation was PaR and I worked on the 'Contemporary Medea' using Grotowski's method in order to physicalize the characters' emotions. My aim was to find different ways in order to physicalize the contemporary Medea's emotions with the main question; 'What would Medea say to us now?'. After my graduation I worked as an assistant director for the RSC- Shakespeare Nation on a devised project with the title ERRORERRORERROR, directed by Atri Banerjee, based on the Comedy of Errors. Working for the RSC as an assistant director was an amazing opportunity for me as I worked with people from a broad spectrum of physical and learning disabilities. My main goal was to facilitate the smooth running of the entire production process. I have participated as an actor in the project Maryland, a hand script performance by Portrait theatre. This performance had aim to raise funding for the 'East Kent Rape Crisis'. Finally, I have worked as an assistant director at The Marlowe Theatre-National Connections Festival (ages 13-19) for the play Remote. I was assisting the director on her creative vision and assisting the young people to feel confident being on stage. More recently I have joined a theatre company of 3 members called OIDA! which gave me the chance to work as an actor/movement director and be able to manage budget, scheduling/booking rehearsal spaces in advance. Currently I am assistant director for two projects at the youth company at the Marlowe theatre.

I am interested in directing, movement directing and organizing projects.

Credits

09/2022-present Marlowe Theatre - Canterbury, Kent
Assistant Director
 Youth Company: age groups 15-17 and 18-21
 Devised performance
 Assisting in the direction of the play
 Leading exercises and warm-ups to support the company

10/2022-02/2023 Freelancer- Canterbury, Kent
Casting Assistant
 Play: EGYPRINAS written by David Greig
 Got in contact with male chorus actors (phone + emails)
 Assist with their schedule and availability
 Assist director with casting

08/2022-08/2022 University of Kent - Canterbury, Kent
Workshop Experiment: Actor /Director
 Title of workshop: 'Inappropriate' Anger
 Support vulnerable participants (Bipolar and trauma)
 Create a movement piece in one day

12/2021-02/2022 Marlowe Theatre & National Theatre - Canterbury, Kent
Assistant Director
 Title of performance: Remote
 Leading exercises and warm-ups to support the company
 Youth Company: Worked with 12 actors age 11-16

08/2021-10/2021 Marlowe Theatre & Royal Shakespeare Company - Canterbury, Kent
Assistant Director
 Title of performance: ERRORERRORERROR, Director: Atri Banerjee
 Shakespeare Nation: Working with 15 actors ages 18+
 Assisting the direction of the performance


01/2020-03/2020 Marlowe Theatre - Canterbury, Kent
Assistant Director
 Title of performance: Troilus and Cressida, Director: Paul Ainsworth
 Assisting in the direction of the play
 Leading exercises and warm-ups to support the company
 Youth Company: Worked with 30 actors age 15-21

Training

STUDIES
09/2019– 09/2020 MA Theatre Making, University of Kent
10/2011– 12/2016 BA Theatre Arts, DEREE – The American College of Greece

WORKSHOPS
10/2022 RSC: Introduction Classical Acting
02/2020 Introduction to Laban, by Wil Wollen
01/2020 A workshop by John Britton, DUENTE company
10/2019 Being a Creative Freelancer, Gulbenkian theatre company
10/2019 A Conversation with Peter Brook, National theatre of United Kingdom
11/2019 Working with Grotowski, by Paul Allain
11/2019 Arts Council England - How to apply for funding free workshop, with Kevin Grist and Claire Soper (Arts Council)
10/2018-01/2019 Theatre Games Workshop Certificate, (for ages 6-12) by To Politexno