The Rhodopi International Theater Collective

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The Rhodopi International Theater Collective (or The RITC) is an annual summer gathering of theater practitioners and scholars, which allows professional participants to work with and train students and each other in distinct approaches from around the world. Held in Smolyan, Bulgaria, in the center of the Rhodopi Mountains (or Rhodope Mountains), The Collective is hosted primarily by the Rhodopi Dramatichen Theater (or Rodopa Drama Theater) and organized by The Fourth World Laboratory for International Theater Research. Although individual professionals and students from theater companies and conservatories in several countries attend The Collective, the growing list of institutions that have provided organizational and financial support includes the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, the Academy of Dramatic Art at the University of Zagreb, The HyperMedia Studio at the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television, The Department of Theatre at Southwestern University’s Sarofim School of Fine Arts (Georgetown, Texas), and the Theatre Studies Program at Acadia University (Wolfville, Nova Scotia).

The Rhodopi Mountains are widely considered to be the mythological birthplace of Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as the original terrain of the cult of Dionysus, thus the mythological birthplace of Western theater and performance.

[edit] Past and Present Contributors/Participants include:

Mara Isaacs (Producing Director, McCarter Theater, Princeton, New Jersey).
Yuhuda Hyman (Actor/Writer).
Ozden Akturk (Choreographer/Master Teacher of Dervish dance).
Dostena Anguelova-Lavergne (International Delphic Council).
Jeff Burke (HyperMedia Studio at the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television and UCLA’s REMAP).
Dr. Sue-Ellen Case
Jonathan Chadwick (Az Theatre and Meeting Ground Theatre, United Kingdom).
Martha Coigney (retired Director of the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute and former President of the worldwide ITI organization).
Michael Devine (Canadian Director)
Valery Garkalin (Russian film and stage actor; IMDb profile, “Valeri Garkalin”).
Peter Karapetkov (Director).
Leon Katz (Professor Emeritus, Yale School of Drama).
Petya Koleva (European League of Institutes of the Arts).
Krustyo Krustev (Artistic Director, Rhodopi Dramatichen Theatre).
Lobsang Lama (Master Teacher of Cham Dance).
Tom Lee (Designer/Director, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club).
Darko Lukic (Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb).
Alexander Morfov or "Aleksandr Morfov" (Komissarzhevskaya Drama Theatre and Ivan Vazov National Theatre).
Benjamin Nadler (Dramaturgical Associate, Theatre for a New Audience).
Yasen Peyankov (Steppenwolf Theatre Company)
J Ranelli (Director/Writer).
Nyoman Sedana (Master Teacher of Wayang Kulit and Topeng Masked Dance).
Jared J. Stein (Director/Writer).
T. Adam Woods (Photographer).
Sergio Costola (Dramaturg).
Jed Allen Harris (Director/Professor, Carnegie Mellon School Of Drama).
Miroslav Tsvetano (Puppet Theatre Artist).
Yukio Tsuji (Composer/Musician).
Milena Davidova (Dancer/Choreographer).
May Adrales (Director).
Nelson Eusebio (Director).